Access Reports

Message from the President of The Sallie Mae Fund

Kathleen M. deLaski, president of The Sallie Mae FundThe Sallie Mae Fund just wrapped up our largest bus tour yet—77 cities. Our presenters visited with 44,500 students since leaving home last July. I was interested to hear that Orlando Espinosa, our lead presenter, is now recognized on the street as a celebrity. As we plan next year’s financial aid workshop tour we look for the best models to leverage the “college is possible” message. We had an effective set of events in Los Angeles which reached a significant portion of the Latino population through Univision, the leading Spanish-speaking network in the U.S.

But we still search for ways to leave a network in place after our bus leaves town. One thing we have learned on the tour: first-in-my-family college aspirants need assistance in all stages of planning and paying for higher education. Our tour may give them confidence and some good starting points, but many of these families need one-to-one mentoring over at least a two-year time frame. That is a difficult set of resources to provide, but it has the potential to literally change lives.

Kathleen deLaski
President, The Sallie Mae Fund
Kathleen.deLaski@thesalliemaefund.org

Also in this issue of the Access Report:

Worth checking out :

The links provided in this "Worth checking out" section are third-party web sites not hosted by The Sallie Mae Fund.