My name is Girija Mahajan and I am the
program director of the Duke College
Advising Corps.
One of the most common reasons why
students apply to the Duke College
Advising Corps is because they want to
help a student like them. They see
themselves and their students, they see
themselves in the communities and the
high schools that we serve.
The Duke College Advising Corps program
is a commitment that the university has
made to increasing post-secondary
attainment of North Carolina's next
generation of doctors and lawyers and
local business owners and political
leaders and so I'm, again, really proud
that the university recognizes that it's
not just about supporting students
within their own institution but, again,
students around the state.
I'm excited to be in Washington DC today
talking to our state congressional
delegation about educational access in
North Carolina specifically we're
talking about how the Pell Grant allows
students to attend community college,
public (or) private universities, makes it
affordable for them as well as the
national corporation for community
service, the AmeriCorps program, that
operates out of the corporation and the
education award that they offer.
We have appreciated the efforts of the
Department of Education to make the
FAFSA process easier for students and
the fact that students can use tax forms
from two years prior, their parents
excellence from two years prior, has
certainly made completing the platform a
lot easier. And also the fact that the
FAFSA is now available as October 1 it just, again, sort of allows
students to tackle the process earlier
and therefore make the spring semester
of their senior year much more enjoyable.
Federal college access programs are
critical to the advising of students,
especially in communities that may be
more distantly rural or may not have
access to the College Advising Corps
Network. These programs
start with students in middle school and
they will continue with them through the
senior year.
