ACCESS Expands Financial Aid Advising Beyond Boston Public High Schools for First Time in its Twenty-Two Year History
ACCESS advisors to serve students at MATCH Charter Public High School, Boston Collegiate Charter School, and Cathedral High School.

Boston, Mass. (January 9, 2008) – The Action Center for Educational Services and Scholarship (ACCESS), a not-for-profit group based in Boston, Mass. that provides financial aid advising and scholarships to thousands of students in every Boston Public High School and beyond, today announced it has expanded its financial aid advising services beyond Boston Public Schools for the first time to include charter and parochial schools in the Boston area.

“ACCESS looks forward to working collaboratively with school staff to shore up a promising future for these students. With this expansion, ACCESS is one step closer to ensuring that all Boston young people can attain their dreams of higher education,” said Bob Giannino-Racine, executive director of ACCESS.

ACCESS will provide in-school financial aid advising services to students at MATCH Charter Public High School, Boston Collegiate Charter School, and Cathedral High School. This expansion will allow ACCESS to reach hundreds more Boston students in need of financial aid advising and scholarship support to help make their college dreams a reality. ACCESS had previously provided advising services to Boston charter and parochial school students through referrals from school administrators.

“Students who attend Boston’s thriving network of charter and parochial high schools face the same risk of not realizing their higher education dreams as their district high school peers,” said Giannino-Racine. “Additionally, these schools have similar resource constraints that do not allow for the specialized financial aid support that is necessary for first-generation college applicants and low and middle-income families.”

Last year, ACCESS financial aid advisors, working on an individual basis with 88 percent of Boston Public High School Seniors, helped leverage a record-breaking $26 million in financial aid for Boston’s college-bound students, a $12 million increase over the previous year. ACCESS financial aid advisors counseled 2,098 Boston Public High School Seniors in individual advising sessions and reached 3,623 Boston students through group advising sessions. Additionally, ACCESS provided nearly $650,000 in Last Dollar Scholarships to fill unmeet financial needs of Boston students.

“We are incredibly fortunate this year to benefit from ACCESS’s experience and expertise,” said Kathleen Sullivan Executive Director of Boston Collegiate. “At Boston Collegiate we prepare all of our students for college. Understanding the financial aid process and learning how to access resources are critical components of their success. ACCESS offers the opportunity for our first generation college-bound students to become financially literate and tackle the number one obstacle between college acceptance and college graduation.”

“ACCESS has proven to be an invaluable partner in preparing our students for the financial aid process,” said Jason Marshall, the MATCH College Counselor. “As a result of meetings with the financial aid advisor the students are a lot further along in terms of knowledge of the process than they have been in any of the three senior classes prior to now. This speaks to the dedication that ACCESS has shown in building relationships with seniors as well as the rest of the MATCH community.”

About Cathedral High School
Located in the South End neighborhood of Boston, Cathedral High School, is an urban, co-educational private Catholic, college-preparatory learning center of excellence. Students are prepared to think, read and formulate intelligent opinions and express those in an articulate, credible and convincing manner. Most of the students at CHS are from low-income families and receive a tuition-free education through the Cathedral High School Academic Scholarship. Students learn to take responsibility for their actions, make morally acceptable decisions and help the less fortunate. CHS believes education is the outcome of careful deliberation and direction by a teacher’s commitment and responsibility toward excellence for each student in order to develop the strength to conquer life’s challenges.

About MATCH Charter Public High School
Located in Boston’s Allston/Brighton neighborhood, MATCH Charter Public High School prepares inner-city Boston students to succeed in college and beyond – including those who have no family history of college attendance. Their mission is to instill courage and perseverance and provide relentless personal academic attention and an old-fashioned “no shortcut” approach to education. Nearly 70% of the students live in poverty and represent the diverse culture in the city of Boston. Most arrive at MATCH well behind grade level in math and reading. All members of the first three graduating classes – 2004, 2005, and 2006 – are attending four-year colleges.

About Boston Collegiate Charter School
Located in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood and originally founded as South Boston Harbor Academy Charter School, Boston Collegiate Charter School was established in 1998 as a college preparatory middle and high school serving 360 students in grades 5-12. The majority of the students reside in Dorchester and South Boston, with an additional number of students coming from other neighborhoods throughout the city, representing the diverse fabric of the city of Boston. Most of the graduates are the first in their families to earn college degrees. Today, BCCS has been recognized as one of the leading middle and high schools in the city of Boston and offers an academically rigorous college preparatory curriculum to ensure that its students are prepared for college and that each student earns an acceptance from a college or university.

About ACCESS
ACCESS is Boston’s leading provider of financial aid advising and scholarships and has provided financial aid advising and scholarships to more than 40,000 Boston students since 1985, helping them realize their higher education goals and giving them a better foundation for a successful and productive future. ACCESS services are provided free of charge and serve students from every public high school and beyond and every neighborhood in Boston.

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