Luckey Named to Federal Financial-Aid Advisory Panel

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Lindsey Wilson College President William T. Luckey Jr. has been named to a federal advisory panel that helps shape U.S. student financial aid policy.

Luckey has been named to the Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee, an 11-member Congressional committee charged with advising Congress and the U.S. Department of Education on student financial aid policy.

"As President of Lindsey Wilson College, William T. Luckey Jr. has proven to be a dedicated leader, and I have no doubt he will continue to serve with distinction on the Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee," said Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, who recommended Luckey for the position.

Luckey, who has been Lindsey Wilson's eighth president since 1998, said he is honored to be named to the federal advisory panel.

"My professional life has been dedicated to keeping the doors of access to higher education wide open, and part of ensuring that access is maintaining a strong federal financial aid program," Luckey said. "I appreciate Sen. McConnell's recommendation, and I look forward to working on federal financial-aid issues."

Luckey began his higher-education career as an admissions counselor for Lindsey Wilson, where he worked to help families afford a college education.

"I've seen firsthand how higher education has the potential to change an individual's life," Luckey said. "As a first-generation college graduate myself, I also know that higher education has the ability to transform a family's generation."

More than 80 percent of Lindsey Wilson's 2,341 students are first-generation college students, and more than 95 percent of the college's undergraduates receive financial aid.

In 2008-09, Lindsey Wilson students received a combined $34.3 million in federal, state, institutional and private financial aid. Almost $19 million came from federal financial aid programs.

The 11-member Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee makes financial-aid recommendations to Congress and the U.S. Department of Education to help increase access to higher education among low- and moderate-income students; provides technical expertise about financial aid programs; makes recommendations to increase awareness of financial aid among low- and moderate-income families; and makes recommendations to streamline the regulation of higher education from all sectors.

For more information about the Student Financial Aid Advisory Committee, go to: http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/acsfa/edlite-index.html .