High School Counselor Week

The incredible shrinking future of college
Vox – November 21, 2022
The population of college-age Americans is about to crash. It will change higher education forever.

Yale and Harvard law schools say they won’t participate in U.S. News rankings
NBC News – November 17, 2022
Yale, which has captured the No. 1 spot every year since U.S. News began ranking law schools in 1990, was first to announce the decision. Hours later, Harvard Law Dean John Manning informed students that it would do the same. The school is ranked No. 4. Both schools said the rankings are in conflict with their commitments to student diversity and affordability.

More application mistakes to avoid
Post – November 29, 2022
College Advice & Timely Tips with Lee Bierer

Do you know the differences between a college and a university?
Post – November 28 2022
The College Solution with Lynn O’Shaughnessy

3 Ways K-12 teachers and counselors can support first-generation college students
KQED (CA) – November 18, 2022
A few years ago, school counselor Kimberly Brown worked with a student who was offered a college athletic scholarship. ‘He had a tremendous opportunity in front of him that could change the trajectory of his life,’ she said. But the student was thinking of turning it down. When Brown spoke with the student’s father, who hadn’t finished high school, he said he had friends who went to college and were doing worse than him. ‘He could not fathom why it was so important for [his son] to do this,’ she said. it wasn’t the first or last time Brown has helped students navigate family discouragement around college. And those aren’t the only hurdles for first-generation college students.

School psychologist, counselor hiring lags nationwide even as student mental health needs soar
Chalkbeat – November 18, 2022
Mira Ugwuadu felt anxious and depressed when she returned to her high school last fall after months of remote learning, so she sought help. But her school counselor kept rescheduling their meetings because she had so many students to see…Despite an influx of COVID-19 relief money, school districts across the country have struggled to staff up to address students’ mental health needs that have only grown since the pandemic hit. Among 18 of the country’s largest school districts, 12 started this school year with fewer counselors or psychologists than they had in fall 2019…

‘You’re not alone’: How a California school district created a community for children in foster care
Youth Today – November 28, 2022
Youth in foster care are at higher risk of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. They are also more likely to be disciplined at school and have chronic absences, and they attend college at lower rates than other students. The All-Stars Foster Youth Program provides resources for foster students in elementary through high school to help them stay on top of their academics and build trusting relationships with school staff and peers. The voluntary program is rooted in monthly mentoring check-ins with school counselors, but also organizes activities like field trips, birthday celebrations and college visits to schools across California.

Direct Admissions: How Students Can Be Accepted To College Without Ever Applying
Forbes – November 25, 2022
An increasing number of colleges and universities are experimenting with a new admissions strategy to boost enrollments and increase their student diversity. Here are the basics. A student first creates and posts a profile, including information like grades, test scores, location, interests and other college-relevant information. Participating colleges then evaluate those individual profiles and extend admission offers without requiring students to go through the hassle of obtaining letters of recommendation, writing an essay, and filling out application forms.

Talking Turkey And College Admission
Forbes – November 23, 2022
What do holiday hosting and college admission have in common? They can both be uniquely anxiety-producing. Now they also both have a free call-in helpline to alleviate uncertainty.

Colleges With the Best Return on Investment
U.S. News & World Report – November 28, 2022
Students and families are increasingly asking whether college is worth the cost. The following list presents in ascending order the 20 four-year schools with the highest 40-year net present value, a metric that compares the cost of college to a student’s potential future earnings.

10 higher ed associations try to tackle confusing financial aid offers — again
Higher Ed Dive – November 29, 2022
A group of 10 higher education associations are creating a task force in a renewed effort to make the financial aid offers that colleges present to students clearer and more consistent. They hope that standardizing the information applicants receive after they are admitted to different colleges will improve the sector’s pricing clarity, accuracy and transparency.

California To Ban Colleges From Cutting Aid For Students With Scholarships
Forbes – November 27, 2022
All too often, students receive an outside scholarship and later discover that the grant and scholarship money their college awarded them has been reduced. Starting next year, California will join four other states in prohibiting this practice – known as scholarship displacement – for low-income students, i.e., those eligible for the federal Pell Grant or the CalGrant. And there is a growing movement to ban scholarship displacement outright, nationwide.

Showing Students Career Pathways to Teaching
Edutopia – November 28, 2022
As schools across the country grapple with persistent teacher shortages—made worse by the pandemic—a handful of districts are turning this challenge into an opportunity. To build their future workforce, they’re introducing career pathways to teaching that start in high school.

Opinion: Paid Internships Can Provide HS Students with Something No College Counselor Can
The 74 – November 21, 2022
Skills training, college and career coaching, alumni support — and a salary — can really pay off, especially for first-generation students. Paid internships during high school may not seem like they have the power to address these challenges. However, at Genesys Works, a nationwide program that provides high school students in underserved communities with eight weeks of targeted skills training, paid corporate internships, college and career coaching, and alumni support, we know that they do.