To create and maintain pathways to college across the state, MSU College Advising Corps, or MSUCAC, in an innovative new partnership, has brought on University of Michigan’s Michigan College Advising Corp, or MCAC, as a subgrantee to continue both institutions’ missions of helping students navigate the college application process.

As a statewide initiative embedded in high schools across Michigan, MSUCAC and MCAC directly support first-generation, low-income and underrepresented students on their pathway to college.

In a state where persistent opportunity gaps remain a barrier to postsecondary access, MSUCAC and MCAC advisors serve as near-peer mentors, usually recent college graduates, who demystify college and career planning, provide individualized support, and cultivate a college-going culture in communities that have historically been underserved.

Since 2011, MSUCAC has partnered with more than 70 Michigan high schools — 33 rural and 24 urban — reaching over 20,000 students annually and directly supporting more than 5,000 high school seniors each year as they consider their next steps. With the growing partnership with MCAC, over a dozen more schools will be brought into MSUCAC’s greater family.

A full-circle return to Yale

At Yale High School, Holly Iseler remembers being that uncertain student herself. In high school, she thought she’d go into law. Then her own MSUCAC advisor helped her see broader possibilities. “She was the one who opened the door,” Iseler says. “She gave me options I didn’t even know existed.”

Years later, after graduating from Saginaw Valley State University, Iseler saw an opening to become an advisor at her alma mater. “I was living back home and thought, ‘What more could I do that I didn’t get back then?’”

Her return made an immediate impact. Students felt comfortable coming to her, not just because she’d been in their shoes, but because she already knew their families, teachers and the culture of the school. “The biggest gap I saw was just a lack of knowledge,” she says. “The biggest gap I saw was just a lack of knowledge,” she says. “How to send a transcript, what a FAFSA is, how to apply to college. There were students who didn’t want to go because they didn’t know where to start . . . students tell me, ‘If you weren’t here, I don’t know what I’d do.’”

Connecting opportunity in rural communities

At Holton High School, Abby Wisniewski sees the same story play out daily. A Holton graduate herself, she now serves as the school’s MSUCAC advisor, helping students navigate everything from transportation and food insecurity to the financial barriers of college. “There truly is no one else to do this work,” Wisniewski says. “In rural schools, counselors are stretched so thin they just don’t have time for college advising.”

Wisniewski organizes scholarship workshops, college rep visits and application days. On campus tours, she’s watched students’ worlds expand. “I’ve had students say, ‘I love this campus. I didn’t know I could go here,’” she says. “Seeing that realization, that it’s possible, that’s everything.”

For Wisniewski, the work is deeply personal. “Every high school deserves access to a college advisor,” she says. “If students aren’t educated on all their postsecondary options, they can’t make fully informed decisions about their future.”

Without college advisors like her, students also miss learning about options beyond four-year degrees. “We’re not just talking about college,” she says. “We talk about trades, the military, all of it. We’re an objective resource. Students will lose not only an educator, but an objective person who can give them postsecondary resources without bias or judgment.”

A model for public impact

In November 2024, for the first time, MSU submitted its own grant application for a competitive AmeriCorps grant. Prior to that since 2011, MSUCAC operated as a subgrantee of the Michigan College Access Network; however, considering MSU’s size, scope and expertise, the prospect of operating with direct funding could provide greater programmatic autonomy and flexibility. Ultimately, in July 2025, MSUCAC received a competitive federal AmeriCorps grant, administered through the Michigan Community Service Commission, to continue its important work.

But while MSUCAC was awarded funding, many AmeriCorps college access programs lost funding for 2026, including MCAC, which had primarily focused on Detroit area schools and specific rural areas throughout the state.

With greater capacity and resourcing, MSUCAC soon became a viable solution to allow MCAC to maintain its programs and teams, while getting administrative and compliance support from MSU’s robust services and experienced staff.

In an innovative collaboration not modeled anywhere in the nation, MSUCAC brought MCAC on as a new subgrantee of MSU’s AmeriCorps-funded grant.

Both MSUCAC and MCAC follow the College Advising Corps near-peer model that places recent graduates, sometimes from the same communities or backgrounds, directly into high schools to guide them on their journey to starting college.

Combining resources to prepare advisors, including co-hosting training, creating joint communications, maintaining shared data tracking and exploring greater funding opportunities are just a few of the efficiencies the collaboration will offer. Establishing this initial model will also open the door to expanding the model to other universities and colleges in Michigan, establishing a program structure that could be replicated across the nation.

“We’re excited for what’s to develop out of this,” says Manuel Rivera, director of MSUCAC. “We are building processes that don’t exist, and we believe this model can be replicated across the state and nation.”

Michael Turner, program director for the Michigan College Advising Corp at the University of Michigan shares similar excitement. “An immediate win for both programs is the ability to approach the state of Michigan with a unified yet nuanced strategy,” Turner explains. “By aligning around a shared statewide vision while still elevating our institutions’ regional priorities, we’re able to build a more informed, holistic and coordinated strategy for serving students across Michigan.”

Ultimately, MSUCAC’s scalable, data-driven model with MCAC will expand on both institutions’ commitments to research-informed practice and strategic partnerships. By increasing opportunities for collaboration with school districts, community organizations and state education agencies, this program serves as a model for institutional collaboration in community transformation.

Finding direction through guidance

When Angela Magbag was a senior at Waverly High School in 2015, she was valedictorian but unsure of what to do next. She knew college was part of her future, but not how to get there. Then she met her MSUCAC advisor, Ashley Justice.

“Ashley helped me see that college wasn’t just something for other people,” Magbag says. “She helped me understand my options, walk through financial aid and believe that I could do it.”

Magbag went on to MSU, where she struggled at first. “I picked a major for the money, not for me,” she says. When things got hard, she called Ashley, who again pointed her toward resources and support. Magbag then switched her major to English, graduated and returned to serve in the same program that changed her life.

“I wanted to be the advocate Ashley was for me,” she says. “It’s personal. I wouldn’t be where I am without MSUCAC.”

Discovering purpose through advising

Evan Dubey didn’t set out to be an advisor; he was a film major at MSU when he first applied for the position at Everett High School. What began as a curiosity about education became a life-changing experience, largely due to the contrast with his own background. Having graduated from a large high school where a college track was the norm for all 600 of his peers, Everett presented a different reality. There, Dubey worked with many first-generation students whose parents were learning the complexities of higher education alongside their children.

He quickly realized how important it was for students to have a safe, trusted adult to talk to about their future. “Being that person was eye-opening,” he says. Now, two years later, he’s changed career paths entirely. Evan now attends NYU in the mental health counseling master’s program. Evan recognizes the impact of his work and knows that without advisors like him, students lose access to a dedicated advisor who has time to connect. “Without programs like MSUCAC, students fall through the cracks,” Evan says.

Making it count

Federal cuts to AmeriCorps funding put MCAC at risk and threatens the future of programs like MSUCAC. With these programs in place, thousands of Michigan students who depend on one-on-one guidance and mentorship will continue to receive that support.

In a carefully orchestrated delineation of funds, MCAC will capture just under half of the approximately $1.1 million AmeriCorps grant as a subgrantee of MSUCAC. This support will directly assist MCAC in retaining 19 advisors to deploy across the state in efforts to expand college access.

With the remaining grant dollars, and through cost-sharing with partner schools and additional donor and grant-funded partnerships, MSUCAC administers the financial, human resources and compliance aspects of MSUCAC and MCAC, as well as managing the over 26 member institutions part of MSUCAC.

“Serving in MSUCAC is often a privilege,” Rivera explains. “Advisors earn a modest living allowance, so it really takes someone who is financially able to commit full-time. That’s why it’s so important to create these opportunities for graduates who want to give back and start their professional journey.”

Joining forces, Turner feels, is the strategic lens needed to continue assessing the communities the advisors serve and their overall needs. “By looking collectively at our universities’ geographic reach and access points, we’re better positioned to identify areas of need and provide sustainable, targeted programming support across the state,” Turner says.

At the core, the ability for MSUCAC and MCAC to continue supporting the professional journeys of recent graduates and students at under-resourced schools falls to adequate funding. “Without adequate funding, our programs often reduce the number of advisors we place in schools, resulting in increased caseloads and diminished individualized support for students,” Rivera says. “These losses are especially acute in rural and urban communities where college-going rates are already disproportionately low and where our advisors often serve as the sole resource for college and career planning.”

With a reach that goes far beyond the classroom, MSUCAC and MCAC together will continue to directly impact Michigan communities. “Communities benefit when young people are empowered to pursue higher education, break cycles of poverty, and return as leaders and professionals,” Rivera explains. “Curtailing the reach of our programs undermines these long-term community investments and slows economic mobility.”

“This role is such an important opportunity to shape a school’s culture,” Dubey says. “Even after students have moved on to college, I still hear from them and their families,” he continues. “I’d hear from families who told me they didn’t know what they would have done without this program, and now they’re moving on to college and becoming leaders in their campus communities, including at MSU.”

Adding the innovative collaboration with U-M and MCAC, and with continued investment, collaboration, campuswide and inter-institutional support, MSUCAC will continue to expand its advisor corps, reach more communities and elevate MSU’s role as a national leader in equity-driven college access.

“This program changes students’ lives,” Magbag says. “But it changes ours, too.”