Wisconsin Students to Benefit from Improved WisconsinMentor.org
Statewide college-planning portal to add online test preparation tools and Spanish content to increase higher education opportunities for Wisconsin students.
Culver City, CA – September 15, 2005 – Xap Corporation (www.xap.com), a leading provider of Internet-based educational services, has been awarded a three-year contract renewal by Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation (Great Lakes) to introduce new online tools and continue providing online student services through the WisconsinMentor system, www.wisconsinmentor.org.
This system offers a comprehensive free suite of student tools to prepare for college, information about financial aid, career assessment and exploration tools, virtual campus tours, and online applications to many of Wisconsin's private colleges and universities.
Since its launch, WisconsinMentor has handled over 13,000 online college admission applications.
In addition to continuing to offer its existing online college applications and student services, WisconsinMentor is adding additional tools, resources, and content that will be free to users because of Great Lakes' sponsorship.
New features include an integrated test preparation module launching this month.
The test preparation module offers tutorials, adaptive practice sessions, a vocabulary builder, simulated tests, and other tools that help students prepare for the ACT, SAT, and GRE.
A new version of the site will be launched in the second quarter of 2006 that will include bilingual (English/Spanish) content and financial aid calculators.
The Spanish translation module will extend WisconsinMentor services to the growing Spanish-speaking population.
The integrated financial aid calculators will provide user-specific information on responsible borrowing practices and compute expected family contributions.
Wisconsin has a long history of supporting education, evidenced by consistently high test scores recorded by its students.
According to ACT, the state's college-entrance examination scores consistently rank among the highest in the 25 states where the ACT is the primary college entrance exam, and a majority of graduating seniors takes the exam.
"The online college test preparation tools will help Wisconsin students to stay at the top of the class of college admission testing," said Richard D. George, President & CEO of Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation.
"Xap's comprehensive solution to help today's high school students to become tomorrow's college successes is a critical piece of our mission in support of postsecondary access."
The site is created on behalf of the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, whose member schools are active participants.
"WisconsinMentor continues to be innovative by adding new functionalities that benefit our students, parents, counselors, and schools," said WAICU president Dr. Rolf Wegenke.
"Free online test preparation will break down barriers and enable all students, regardless of economic circumstances or family situation, to ready themselves for higher education."
About Great Lakes
Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corporation is the designated guarantor for Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Its affiliated group of companies is one of the nation's largest providers of student loan services.
The affiliated group currently interacts with some 2,700 schools and 1,300 lenders in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The group holds guarantees on more than $26 billion in FFELP loans and services student loans with an aggregate outstanding balance of more than $23 billion for over 1.6 million borrowers.
Great Lakes' affiliated group is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, and has operating centers in Columbus, Ohio and St.
Paul, Minnesota and customer service and development sites in Eau Claire and Boscobel, Wisconsin, and Oak Brook, Illinois.
Great Lakes' mission is assurance of cost-effective enablement of educational access.
For more information, visit www.GreatLakesGuaranty.org.
About Xap
Headquartered in the Los Angeles area, Xap Corporation (www.xap.com) focuses on the creation of comprehensive Internet-based information management systems relating to secondary and post-secondary education.
Founded in 1990, Xap is the leading developer of online student services systems for associations and statewide groups of colleges and universities across the United States.
