The University of Notre Dame’s Enrollment Division has established a Matriculate chapter on campus and held a training session from Jan. 23 to 24 to prepare 45 students for participation in the program.
Founded in the fall of 2014, Matriculate is a college-access organization based in New York City that helps high-achieving, low-income high school students make the transition to college by pairing them with advising fellows at leading colleges and universities nationwide. Matriculate is a partner in CollegePoint, a Bloomberg Philanthropies college access and success initiative.
“It is a national concern shared by Notre Dame that high-ability, low-income students are under-matching in their college search process, preventing exceptionally gifted and determined students from reaching their full potential,” said Don Bishop, associate vice president for undergraduate enrollment. “We’re confident that Matriculate’s near-peer, virtual mentorship model in partnership with the University’s enrollment division’s expertise, and support of our students’ involvement, will enable many deserving students to make the transition to highly selective institutions like Notre Dame. We’re hopeful that by having exposure to current Notre Dame undergraduates, these talented high school students will recognize that educational opportunities at the nation’s best colleges and universities are within their reach and that the top universities are ready to embrace them.”
The advising fellows, who are selected from the student bodies of the member universities, lead their advisees through the college selection and application process through a virtual mentorship model. Other Matriculate chapters have been established at Columbia, Howard, Princeton and Yale Universities and Williams College.
Current sophomore Ashley Kyalwazi was selected this past fall as the head advising fellow for the Notre Dame chapter and was tasked with recruiting other Notre Dame students to become advising fellows. Following the training session, the Notre Dame advising fellows will be matched with high school fellows from across the country.
“Notre Dame’s involvement with Matriculate is the enrollment division’s most recent effort to develop a dynamic program of outreach to low income families,” Bishop said. “In the past few years, Notre Dame has become a strategic alliance partner with KIPP, Posse, Cristo Rey, YES Prep and other community-based organizations dedicated to providing more support and expertise to families that have been underserved in the college planning process. Notre Dame meets the full demonstrated need of all admitted students. The students from the lower-income households receive full scholarships without loan burdens. In addition, Notre Dame’s newly formed Fighting Irish Initiative to provide additional support to low-income students that enroll at the University will assist students with additional services to enhance their full college experience and sense of comfort and belonging.”
More information on Matriculate is available at matriculate.org.
Contact: Staci Hundt, interim director, Office of Outreach and Engagement Recruitment, 574-631-4509, shundt@nd.edu
Originally published by Dennis Brown at news.nd.edu on January 25, 2016.