A Key to Getting More Low-Income Kids to Go to College: Better Advising

Most teenagers in Erica Elder's hometown of Bassett, Virginia, don't think they're college material. The county's median household income is $33,600—about half the Virginia average—and only 11.3 percent of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Elder graduated from the University of Virginia this year, becoming the first in her family to obtain a B.A. She probably wouldn't have applied to UVA, a highly ranked flagship school, without the encouragement of her college adviser in high school. Despite less-than-stellar SAT scores, "he never told me I couldn't go to college," Elder says. "He just gave me hope." This fall, she's heading back to Bassett High to serve, in her mentor's shoes, as a member of the National College Advising Corps.