Student Mentors Can Help Prospective Community College Students To Get Student Aid

  Student aid forms like federal government FAFSA are complicated and difficult for students and parents of first generation college students to fill out. There are a myriad of complex college and state aid programs as well. The Illinois Student Assistance Corps is serving as a guide for potential first-generation college students from low-income families to navigate the paperwork and search process of securing grants, scholarships and financial aid. The state-operated organization launched in 2009 with a team of  college student and adult mentors based out of the state’s communities colleges visit high schools and community centers. Statewide filings for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid increased 8% in the organization’s first year