The Score College Tour, Continues to Make Headway Celebrating & Educating HBCUs With Stillman & Alabama State!

The focus of The Score College Tour is to educate college students about credit, debt and have some fun and entertainment while doing it.

Up Top Consulting Group DeJa Marketing Group, Kali Mysteek Agency and Mastermind Alliance Inc. along with some of today's hot new faces and top music artists come together on a three city-ten campus HBCU College Tour.  The tour kicked off on September 11th at Clark Atlanta University and extended the invitation to the entire Atlanta University Center, inviting Spelman and Morehouse Colleges to attend. The event was phenomenal, with over 800 students in attendance!

On Thursday, October 2nd, we take honor in moving forward with Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Stillman is a liberal arts institution, committed to fostering academic excellence and to providing high quality educational  opportunities for diverse populations with disparate levels of academic preparation. Primarily a teaching institution, Stillman has a proud and evolving tradition of preparing students for leadership and service in society. 

We anticipate this tour to be one of the most educational, memorable, highly anticipated visible college tours of 2014. "The focus of the tour is to educate college students about credit, debt and have some fun and entertainment while doing it. This tour is expected to reach over 50,000 students across the ten selected HBCUs.

Angela M. Nash, Media Contact

Stillman has a historical and covenantal affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), whose Reformed tradition and commitment to the cultivation of the mind correspond well with the mission of the college. The College, via its constituents, is committed to service for the common and greater good. The entire academic enterprise, under girded with the principles of faith and ethical integrity, manifests constructive compassion as it confidently pursues the best in scholarly inquiry and creative endeavors while producing some of our countries next leaders. This wonderful event will take place on Stillman’s Campus at the Birthright Alumni Hall at 8:30pm.

On, Friday, October 3rd, we also take honor in bringing the Score College Tour to Alabama State University in Montgomery, AL. Hosted by the collge’s own, Doctor and Professor, William A. Ashborne. Dr. Ashborne, is a well known and highly respected music business and entertainment attorney that managed the group Tag Team to the largest selling rap record to date with sales of over eight (8) million. Member of the team that signed R. Kelly to Jive Records in 1991 and worked with the management of L.L. Kool J from 1990 through 1993. Attorney that negotiated and placed Ludacris with Def Jam Records and EMI publishing and Negotiated the first use of Rapper on a video game “ Madden 01”. Dr. Ashborne moved to Montgomery Alabama in 2006 to be first full-time Music Business Professor at Alabama State University where he helped to develop the program and revised the curriculum.

This event is also in collaboration with Vespa Entertainment Group, founded in 2013 and is advised by Dr. William Ashbourne. Vespa Entertainment Group is a student operated entertainment company that promotes positive, inspirational and overall great music. The organization will help to brand and market the talented individuals on campus of Alabama State University. Vespa will include artist, producers, song-writers, agents, managers, sound-engineers, promoters, journalists, lawyers, and accountants. The event will take place on Friday October 3, 2014 on Alabama State University Campus at the Ralph David Abernathy Hall at 7:00PM

We are honored to continue with these two most prestigious HBCUs. We anticipate this tour to be one of the most educational, memorable, highly anticipated visible college tours of 2014. “The focus of the tour is to educate college students about credit, debt and have some fun and entertainment while doing it. This tour is expected to reach over 50,000 students across the ten selected HBCUs. 

Through some wonderful partnerships, it is our desire to bring this tour to deserving HBCU's at no cost to them. Our goal is simply to bring education on Credit Literacy, to recognize and highlight your HBCU through the media on a national platform and to bring some fun and entertainment while presenting the message. This tour is unique because we are tackling issues that are now and will in the future, affect our economy, our ability to buy homes, our ability to have credit or simply have a bank account. Many college students get caught up in credit card schemes or become overwhelmed with loans on their credit and have no clue how to restore it. By the time a college student graduates, they are already in debt. 

A Study Completed in November 2013 shed some alarming light on the state of our credit, particularly those students in college: Here are just a few of the statistics:  

                         91% of undergraduates have at least one credit card, up from 76% in the same study conducted in 2004.  The average number of cards has grown to 4.6, with half of college students having four or more cards. (Source: Sallie Mae,  "How Undergraduate Students Use Credit Cards: Sallie Mae's National Study of Usage Rates and Trends 2009") 

                         The average undergrad carries $3,173 in credit card debt, the highest since the study began. The average senior will graduate with $4,100 in credit card debt, up 41% from the same study conducted in 2004.   (Source: Sallie Mae, "How Undergraduate Students Use Credit Cards: Sallie Mae's National Study of Usage Rates and Trends 2009") 

                        84% of undergraduates admitted the need for more financial management education. Of these, 64% would have preferred some type of financial literacy education in high school and 40% as college freshman. (Source: Sallie Mae, "How Undergraduate Students Use Credit Cards: Sallie Mae's National Study of Usage Rates and Trends 2009")

Through a great partnership with ClearPoint Credit Counseling Solutions, a national nonprofit agency that has been promoting consumer health through financial education for over 50 years will help us to tackle some of these alarming statistics. Under the direction of Ms. Beatriz Juliao Mauersberg who will be conducting our Credit Educational Session on educating and empowering students who are now consumers on how to become educated about credit cards and their financial debt, what exactly is a credit score, how to read it and how to improve their financial capability over time. 

With Performances by some of today’s hot new and upcoming artists the tour will feature select special guest appearances by R&B Singer, Sammie now known as Leigh Bush (“I Like It”, “Crazy Things I Do”, “Hardball w/Lil Wayne and his newly released project “The Leigh Bush Project”), R&B Singer, Tocarra Hamilton (Usher “Daddy’s Home”, Pitbull’s “Dance With Me”, Lil Scrappy’s “No Love” which featured on VH1’s L&HHAtl), Hip Hop Artists, and rising stars E.L.I. (Empowering Live Instruments) (has hit big stages like SXSW, Southern Jams in Jackson and the SIPP Tour in Memphis) , Crash Benzie (featured 3 times in the Coast2Coast Mix tapes Top 50 Indie Artists of 2013, has opened for ILL Bill, Vinnie Paz, Swifty McVay of D12, and Obie Trice), Luh Brandon (has performed at over 60 shows to include performances and graced stages with artists such as Future, Wale, 2 Chainz, Tyga, Twista and Yo Gotti ) and  the fresh new sounds of R&B Artist, Jaemin Miquel.  Not to mention top DJs, like DJ Gutta Down with The Urban Gorilla DJs and DJ Kat of The Block Party DJs who will join us for this tour to keep the crowd hype and the after-parties going.

The credit crisis with our young college students affects us all. Graduating college in debt will affect their ability to open bank accounts, get good jobs, purchase homes and cars as well as business loans or other major purchases with bad credit. We could not make this event possible without the support of sponsors. Your community and the students need your support. We hope that the community continues to get involved in this fabulous tour and help us make history.

To get more information, to invite us to your school or for sponsorship opportunities, Contact: Up Top Consulting Group Be sure to follow The Score College Tour on Instagram @ScoreCollegeTour, on Facebook at ScoreCollegeTour and Twitter @ScoreHBCUTour.