$110,000 in Scholarships Awarded, 57,000 People Reached with College Information during The Sallie Mae Fund's 4th Paying for College Bus Tour

Completing a coast-to-coast journey of 60 cities, The Sallie Mae Fund’s 2007-2008 "Paying for College” Bus Tour motored to its final stop today in Reno, where it will conduct its final financial aid workshops for area families through Friday. The tour, which kicked off in Des Moines in September, is designed to educate families, particularly Latino, African-American, and low-income students and parents, about their options for attending, paying and saving for higher education. On its journey, the Paying for College bus traveled nearly 14,000 miles—the equivalent of crossing the country four times—to reach an estimated 57,000 students and parents with college-going information. Along the tour, The Sallie Mae Fund gave more than $110,000 in scholarships. Since its launch in 2004, the bus tour has touched 150,000 people nationwide and has awarded approximately $450,000 in scholarships. The Sallie Mae Fund, a charitable organization sponsored by Sallie Mae, supports programs and initiatives that help open doors to higher education. The Paying for College Bus Tour features bilingual workshops and counseling sessions offering hands-on access to information on scholarships, grants and federal aid. Workshops are presented by Arnold Hernandez, who grew up in a migrant farm worker family picking apples and onions in the fields of Texas and Idaho. Determined to pursue a higher education, Hernandez graduated from St. Edward’s University in Texas, and went on to work as a TV journalist in Austin. Now, as The Sallie Mae Fund’s Paying for College Bus Tour national spokesperson, he says, "Growing up, I thought college was not for me. My message to students and parents around the country is that college is possible for everyone.” The Paying for College Bus Tour is rooted in research from The Sallie Mae Fund, which found that lack of information about financial aid for college was a key factor preventing many promising students from seeking higher education. Nearly three out of four young adults would have been more likely to attend college if they had been aware of their financial aid options. "Information shapes a family’s decision about college,” said Kathleen deLaski, president of The Sallie Mae Fund. "Too many people are surprised to learn that federal financial aid, state aid and scholarships are available to help cover the cost of college. We want to bridge the information gap for any student who dreams of a higher education.” The likelihood that a 9th grader in the United States will enroll in college four years later is less than 40 percent, with students from low-income and minority families even less likely to do so. The Sallie Mae Fund’s Paying for College Bus Tour is designed to increase those numbers. The tour’s message of attainability is being heard: 82 percent of families who participated in a Paying for College workshop said they believed they would be able to pay for college, as opposed to 27 percent prior to attending the event. One high school student from Homestead, Fla., wrote thanking The Sallie Mae Fund for coming to his school. "What you told us about not allowing ourselves to believe for any reason that we’re not capable of getting into college and getting money to put toward college really encouraged me,” the young man wrote. "Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your sincere effort to help us and to make society better.” In each community, the tour collaborated with school districts, high schools, and community groups to reach families most in need of financial aid information. Nationally, the bus tour partnered with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, National Association for College Admission Counseling, National Council for Community and Education Partnerships, MTV Tr3s, and Project GRAD USA. A number of Congressional offices also participated, including Reps. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), Rubén E. Hinojosa (D-Texas), John Lewis (D-Ga.), Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz (D-Texas), Donald Payne (D-N.J.), Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), and Albert Wynn (D-Md.). Rep. James P. Moran (D) served as honorary chair of the events in his northern Virginia district. "In order to thrive in the modern U.S. economy, a college education has become a necessity,” he said. "Unfortunately, for too many minority students in America, access to a college degree is out of reach due to a lack of money, not motivation. I salute The Sallie Mae Fund’s Paying for College Bus Tour and am proud to hitch a ride in support of making college more affordable for all Americans.” Along the tour, the Paying for College bus also participated in community events such as Iowa’s Latino Heritage Festival, the Fiesta Indianapolis Latino fair, Black Brown and College Bound education summit in Tampa, Fla., and the Collegiate World Series in El Paso, Texas. In Los Angeles, The Sallie Mae Fund joined forces with Univision 34, the Los Angeles affiliate of the Spanish-language television network, to offer a toll-free call-in show to answer questions from Latino families about planning and paying for college. Twenty-three bilingual volunteers from local colleges, universities and community groups counseled nearly 2,900 area families during the program, which reached an estimated audience of 3 million people. Through the Paying for College Bus Tour, The Sallie Mae Fund is responding to studies indicating that minorities are lagging behind in higher education. According to the U.S. Department of Education, Hispanics have among the lowest educational achievement levels of all minority groups. If current trends continue, of every 100 Hispanic children entering kindergarten, 63 will graduate from high school and only 11 will obtain a bachelor's degree by the age of 29. African-Americans also graduate from college at lower than average rates. If current trends continue, of every 100 kindergarteners who are African-American, 87 will graduate from high school, but only 18 will achieve a bachelor's degree by age 29. Graduating from college pays lifelong dividends: according to the U.S. Census Bureau, college graduates on average earn over $1 million more during their lifetimes than high school dropouts. The 2007-2008 Paying for College Bus Tour began in Des Moines, Iowa, in early September and visited 24 states across the country, conducting 236 financial aid workshops. For a list of The Sallie Mae Fund Paying for College Bus Tour stops and additional details, visit www.salliemaefund.org. Editor's Note: Tour spokesperson Arnold Hernandez is available to speak to the media about the tour, his own experiences overcoming obstacles to pursuing higher education, and tips for families in planning and paying for college. The Sallie Mae Fund Web site, www.salliemaefund.org, offers photos of the tour bus, statistics on education, and video clips of past tours. The Sallie Mae Fund, a charitable organization sponsored by Sallie Mae, achieves its mission—to increase access to a postsecondary education for America’s students—by supporting programs and initiatives that help open doors to higher education, prepare families for their investment, and bridge the gap when no one else can. For more information, visit www.salliemaefund.org.