New resource to help Mississippi students and parents plan for postsecondary education

USA Funds awards grant for Mississippi college-planning Web site

INDIANAPOLIS — USA Funds^®, the nation’s leading education-loan guarantor and the designated guarantor for Mississippi, announces the award of an $80,000 grant to develop a Web site that will help Mississippi middle- and high-school students and their parents prepare for, apply to and pay for postsecondary-education programs. USA Funds awarded the grant to the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning, which is responsible for policy and financial oversight of Mississippi’s eight public universities.

“The generous grant from USA Funds will enable Mississippi’s Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning to create and implement a full-scale education Web site specific to Mississippi and her potential and current students, parents and high-school counselors,” said Mississippi Commissioner of Higher Education Thomas C. Meredith. “We are deeply appreciative of USA Funds’ commitment to education in Mississippi.”

The Web site will serve as a comprehensive clearinghouse of information specific to education on both a state and national level. Although middle- and high-school students and their parents are the primary target audience, the site also will offer information for school counselors, elementary-school students, college students and adult learners.

In conjunction with the Web site, the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning will distribute to eighth-grade students in the state binders containing information about the college-preparatory curriculum, university admissions, planning for a postsecondary education and financial aid. The binders and the Web site will complement and promote each other.

The new Web site is scheduled to be launched by early spring 2007. The Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning will partner with the Mississippi Library Commission to market the Web site in every library across the state and will investigate additional partnership opportunities as the site goes live.

A recent research report, “Mississippi’s Mandate,” which was underwritten by USA Funds, disclosed that Mississippi could dramatically reduce social-welfare costs and significantly improve its economy and overall quality of life by enhancing access to higher education.

“USA Funds is pleased to partner with the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning on this and other projects to enhance access to postsecondary education,” said Henry L. Fernandez, USA Funds executive director of scholarships, outreach and philanthropy. “We believe this Web site will heighten awareness of the value of postsecondary education and help more Mississippi residents reap the significant benefits of higher education.”