The national College Advising Corps recently created the innovative HATCH (Hybrid Advising Texas: College Horizons) program located at UT Austin. The new program is made possible by a GEAR UP grant provided by the Texas Education Agency.

Within this program, four former UT Advise TX advisers were selected via a nationwide search to serve the student bodies at Sinton High School and Mathis High School in Coastal Bend, Texas. Through this one-of-a-kind program, two advisers will be assigned to each high school with one serving freshmen and sophomores and the other serving juniors and seniors.  Advisers will be stationed in Austin and will serve their students remotely via phone, video chat, text and email and will also travel to their respective high schools once a month to serve students in person.

The HATCH advisers will track all student interactions on the College Advising Corps’ comprehensive GRACE (Getting Results And Creating Equity) database to determine the impact of the program on the schools, which were selected by the Texas Education Agency. They are rural low-income schools with growing college and career services. Through their partnership with the national College Advising Corps they will be able to reach more students and families with a comprehensive approach to postsecondary planning.

Of the three different types of hybrid programs currently offered in three states by the College Advising Corps, this is the only such program located in Texas and it is housed within the UT Advise TX office.

The University of Texas at Austin AdviseTX College Advising Corps is part of the national College Advising Corps, the nation’s largest nonprofit college access program.  The national College Advising Corps consists of a consortium of currently 31 partner institutions in 17 states (including The University of Texas at Austin) around the country who have committed to recruit and train talented, enthusiastic recent college graduates to serve as college advisers within designated high schools in 17 states.  The HATCH program is the newest addition to the national College Advising Corps programs helping high school students with every aspect of the college admissions and financial aid process.