High School Counselor Week

4 Ways Gen Z Is Thinking About Their Education and Future
The 74 – February 20, 2024
Witnessing the American dream get ‘kicked in the teeth,’ watching their and peers’ families struggle for basic necessities like food, healthcare and homes, Gen Z is reimagining what school and career should look like, two new national polls reveal. Kids, teens and young people, who researchers say are historically more likely to be optimistic than older generations, are overwhelmingly concerned about peers’ and their own mental health, as well as their futures and the nation’s political environment. When asked what would improve life for children in the United States, Gen Z said a better education system. They and voters point to a need for increased mental health care offerings and affordability, job preparation classes and free after-school programming.

College admissions face new turmoil after Biden’s Education Department fumble
Politico – February 20, 2024
The Government Accountability Office has opened two new investigations into the administration’s handling of the situation. The scale of this year’s FAFSA processing problems — which remain unresolved — stands apart in the history of the Education Department, which for decades has doled out billions of dollars of aid to millions of families each year without major incident. ED officials have blamed various factors: the sheer complexity of the task, a lack of adequate funding from Congress and a last-minute change to the financial aid formula after the agency mistakenly failed to properly account for inflation. But officials are also privately pointing fingers at a major outside vendor, General Dynamics, which was tasked with building out and operating the new FAFSA processing system for missed deadlines and delays.

Groups Ask Higher Ed to Postpone Enrollment Deadlines Due to FAFSA Delays
The 74 – February 16, 2024
Several national organizations tied to higher education have asked colleges and universities to delay their usual May enrollment deadlines to accommodate students who will not begin to receive their financial aid packages until March as a result of FAFSA delays. The nine organizations, which include the National College Attainment Network and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, or NASFAA, sent their request Wednesday to give students and their families more time to consider financial aid offers and decide where – or if – to attend college.

Campus visit tips for “Rookie Parents”
Post – February 21, 2024
College Advice & Timely Tips with Lee Bierer

‘There is Not Enough of Me To Go Around’: Schools Need More Counselors
NEA Today – February 15, 2024
School counselors are struggling to serve students in an ongoing nationwide shortage of school counselors and rollback of government funding. But public schools across the nation are still nowhere near the desired ratio. 17% of high schools do not have a school counselor, amounting to 653,700 high school students without this critical service. Many school counselors try to best serve their students while juggling extra responsibilities that go beyond the description of a school counselor, including long-term subbing, lunch duty, and test coordination. One former counselor, now a college professor, noted: ‘School counselors need to be allowed to do the work they are trained for and not be required to engage in non-school counselor duties. Administrators can support student wellness by protecting the role of their school counselors and the role that they play in caring for academic and career success, and especially the social, emotional development of their students.’

‘A Dangerous Substance’: The Impact of Social Media on Youth Mental Health
Mad in America – February 17, 2024
Every other day, it seems, some new article appears on declines in child and adolescent wellbeing and spikes in suicide attempts and self-harm. Every other day comes a story or a study pointing to the negative influence of online habits. In the midst of all this, the conversation surrounding social media and youth mental health is a whirlwind of data and competing theories. Many voices have denounced its impact on child and teen mental health and pointed to it as a significant factor in the dramatic, continuing increases in depression and suicidality among adolescents. Other voices, trying to dial things down, have suggested the plunge in teen well-being predates the rise in social media and point to other potential causes. They also point to a discrepancy in the impact on teens. If indeed screentime is a significant factor in the youth mental health crisis, the question is: Why? How does it work? What does it do? Here are some specifics from professionals, as well a longer discussion of its potential addictiveness, and studies documenting actual changes in the brains of some children and teens.

Report: Kids’ Mental Health Tops Reasons Why Parents Consider Changing Schools
The 74 – February 15, 2024
Nearly half of families considering new school options — especially parents of middle schoolers — say the main reason they’d make a switch is their children’s mental health, a new report shows. Districts that have faced historic enrollment losses could lose even more families if they don’t respond to student need. The survey results offer a different look at the youth mental health crisis that escalated in the wake of pandemic school closures. It comes as federal relief funds — and many of the mental health investments that went with them — are set to expire later this year.

As Public Skepticism of College Grows, Students Become Savvier Customers
EdSurge – February 20, 2024
In part two of our podcast series Doubting College, we talk to students at a public high school about how they’re thinking about their choices after graduation.

Early application cycles and their detriment to college admissions
The Daily Cardinal (University of WI, Madison) – February 15, 2024
In a world in which obtaining a college degree in the United States can burden students with monstrous loans or debt post-grad, why do we support a system that may further the problem? Although there is appeal in making a choice on a college a few months earlier, the cost is not worth it in the years following. It is also infinitely important to consider the age of most college applicants. As colleges become more obsessed with putting financial gain over the benefit of their students, we must decide whether or not to support that system.

College price transparency bill advances toward final vote in Alaska Legislature
Alaska Beacon – February 12, 2024
The Alaska House Education Committee on Monday gave its unanimous support for a price transparency bill aimed at the University of Alaska. If Senate Bill 13 becomes law, the state university system will be required to list the cost of course materials, including textbooks, in its course catalog.

Partial FAFSA fix lets students from immigrant families apply for financial aid
Chalkbeat – February 21, 2024
Students whose parents lack a Social Security number can finally fill out federal financial aid forms after the Biden administration announced a workaround Tuesday for one of the most glaring problems with what was supposed to be a simpler, easier form. U.S. Department of Education officials say these students can leave their parent or spouse’s Social Security number blank for now, and manually enter the person’s income and tax information. The department provided details about the workaround to Chalkbeat, and plans to post them online Wednesday. The workaround is meant to help students meet fast-approaching deadlines for certain state, college, or scholarship applications. The department promised a permanent fix is coming next month. It is also urging students who don’t have an urgent submission deadline to wait until then. Those who use the workaround will need to take additional steps in March to fully submit their application.

Guidance counselors are strained amid FAFSA delays (LISTEN)
KNAU Public Radio (HI) – February 19, 2024
It’s been a tough year for high school seniors figuring out how to pay for college. That’s because the bungled rollout of this year’s FAFSA, where the Free Application for Federal Student Aid means they’ll have less time to fill it out and then calculate how much college will cost. The delayed FAFSA is making the process more complicated not just for students, but also those trying to help them. From GBH in Boston, Kirk Carapezza reports. (Transcript provided)

Career and technical education: A path to success for many
The Hill – February 15, 2024
This time of year fills many students with anxiety about what to do after they graduate from high school. For too long, students have heard that a four-year college degree is the only way to succeed. This is a false narrative, and it can set students up for failure. CTE provides learners of all ages with valuable skills to enter the workforce and should not be viewed as a “backup plan” but rather as a path to a high-paying, family-sustaining job. When a student graduates from a CTE program, they often have a diploma in one hand and often multiple job offers in the other. February is CTE Month and a time to recognize the contributions CTE programs make to the economy, along with the important work being done by CTE professionals and teachers across the country