High School Counselor Week

Colleges got more rural students to apply. The challenge is getting them to attend
NPR – May 16, 2026
Coaxing rural high school graduates to enroll at some of the nation’s most selective colleges is the next step in a campaign that started three years ago with a push to get them simply to apply: the STARS College Network, for Small Town and Rural Students, to encourage selective colleges to recruit from rural places. As STARS has built momentum, more than 90,000 rural students applied to its member institutions last year, up 15% over the year before, the organization says. Now the work has turned to getting these students to actually show up on campus in the fall and graduate four years later.

Education Department shutters Office of English Language Acquisition
K-12 Dive – May 14, 2026
The U.S. Department of Education shuttered the Office of English Language Acquisition on Thursday, over a year after gutting its staff to just one. The office reportedly had around 15 employees. According to several sources, the English Language Acquisition office’s functions will be redistributed to other agency units. However, former OELA employees and English learner advocates say the office’s closure will reduce coordinated support for school districts and the English learners they serve.

How to get off the endless edtech treadmill
Times Higher Education – May 14, 2026
School counsellors are these days expected to be familiar with, understand and implement an ever-growing collection of different platforms: application portals, data systems, scheduling tools, document-management systems and communication apps, as well as office applications and the ubiquitous careers and university-exploration tools. If the proliferation of platforms over the past two decades has felt like a steady climb, the arrival of AI tools has been more like an avalanche. The current pace of development – and the intensity with which these tools are marketed – makes thoughtful adoption difficult for counsellors. So perhaps what we need is not another platform, but permission to pause. To step off the endless treadmill long enough to ask a few simple questions. Does this tool genuinely improve outcomes for students? Does it save time in a meaningful, sustainable way? And, crucially, what does it replace?

Advising the College Search in the Age of AI, TikTok and Anxiety
Inside Higher Ed – May 20, 2026
In the ever-changing world of admissions, what is the best way to support a student applying to college? That’s the question independent college counselors came together to ask during the Independent Educational Consultants Association’s conference. The work of these IECs looks very different now than it did when the association formed in 1976, as institutions and students acclimate to the high cost of attendance, the rise of AI and an increasingly anxious student body. At the same time, the college consulting field is growing, and it’s becoming more accessible and affordable to a wider range of students. Stephanie Simpson, IECA’s CEO, and Lisa Carlton, the association’s incoming president, who started her career almost 20 years ago working with neurodivergent students, sat down with Inside Higher Ed to discuss what their work looks like today.

Degree in three: Why more colleges are speeding up graduation timelines
PBS News Hour – May 19, 2026
Only about a third of Americans now believe a four-year college degree is worth the cost. Increasingly, students and families are questioning it too. As many colleges across the country face shrinking enrollment, more than 60 institutions are now offering students a faster path to graduation. (Transcript provided)

Five Things Rising Seniors Can Do Now to Get Ahead on College Applications
Georgia Tech Admission Blog – May 11, 2026
The end of junior year’s frenetic pace + senior year clearly on the horizon often = student stress. Tests, parties, AP exams, graduations, paperwork, planning, end-of-year EVERYTHING is a lot to navigate. No matter where the end of the semester finds you, if you’re a rising senior (raise your hand if you are feeling a little burned out!), check out these five tips to make your senior year a little easier.

Making the Most of Your Summer Before Senior Year
Tufts Admissions Blog – May 11, 2026
In the world of college admissions, there can be some perceived pressure to use your summers to do something unconventional. Students may feel that they need to secure an internship at a Fortune 100 company, create a hit podcast, develop a vaccine, etc. It’s wonderful if you end up doing any of those things, but achievements of that scale are not necessary to find success in the admissions process. If you’re not sure what to do when summer comes around, here are some things to consider:

Federal Work-Study: What to Know
U.S. News & World Report – May 19, 2026
While work-study was used by only 19% of families to help pay for college in the 2024-2025 academic year, it’s still a good option for federal need-based funding that doesn’t have to be repaid. The program provides part-time employment, typically on campus, to eligible undergraduate and graduate students. Here’s what families should know about work-study.

Why your college costs could jump after freshman year
WFSB News 3 (CT) – May 19, 2026
About 80 percent of schools frontload aid, making future years more expensive. Prices are rising as well. Average tuition and room and board are going up 3 to 8 percent per year for college. And when it comes to university grants and scholarships, you need to understand the terms and conditions and whether any scholarships are hard to renew after the first year. It could require something very hard for a freshman to get such as a 4.0 GPA.

Pell Grants to Cover Short-Term Workforce Training for the First Time
NTD TV – May 18, 2026
Long considered a cornerstone of financial aid for low-income college students, federal Pell Grants will be extended to short-term career training for the first time in the program’s history. Beginning July 1, students will be able to use Workforce Pell Grants to enroll in short-term, non-degree training programs that prepare them for “high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand” jobs in as little as eight weeks.

Parental Guidance: How Major Is a College Major in the Search Process?
U.S. News & World Report – May 14, 2026
Some kids know what they want to study but not what they want to “do.” Others have a precise job in mind and think they have an academic road map to get there. The “specialists” want to advance their education in a particular field. The “generalists” are still very much trying on identities. As a parent, think about which of these labels better describes your kid. Help them search online for schools that “fit” their aspirations. A specialist may want to get going immediately down their chosen path. A generalist may want a large school ripe with opportunities to explore.