College Admissions Counseling

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College Admissions Counseling

• Summer 2009

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Monday, July 6

• Introductions
• Syllabus Review
• College Preparation Personal Experiences
• College Admissions and Counselors
• Ethical Issues in College Admission Counseling
• Equity and College-Going
• College Preparation Programs
• College Choice Theory

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College Preparation Personal Experiences
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Personal Experiences

• - Any surprises about your partners
  educational journey?- What messages do you
  think your students are getting? - Are they
  similar/different to the messages you received?
  - How many of you have children? What messages
  are you giving your children? - How is that
  message similar or different than the ones we
  give to our students.

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My Educational Journey was

• Scenic route
• Congested
• Extended Vacation
• Stop Go
• Bumpy Road
• Stop Signs
• Guided Tour
• Smooth Sailing
• No Traffic
• Uphill
• Delayed Flight

• Sinking ship
• Hang gliding
• Adventure Tour
• Foggy
• Foggy, but clearing
• Detour
• Searching
• Rolling a Rock Uphill
• Stepping Stones
• Fly by Night

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School Counseling and College Access

• Counselors, when frequently available and allowed
  to provide direct services to students and
  parents, can have a positive impact on students
  aspirations, achievements, and financial aid.

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School Counseling and College Access

• Schools that have improved counseling and college
  counseling have increased college access for
  low-income, rural, and urban students as well as
  students of color.

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School Counseling and College Access

• If counselors were available to begin actively
  supporting students and their families in middle
  school in preparing for college, as opposed to
  simply disseminating information, students
  chances of enrolling in a four-year college would
  increase.

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School Counseling and College Access

• Increasing the numbers of counselors available
  and the amount of time they devote to college
  advising tasks is one of the top reforms needed
  to improve college access.

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School Counseling and College Access

• Counselors have an impact on the following
  components of the college preparation and
  advising task
• Structuring information and organizing activities
  that foster and support students college
  aspirations and an understanding of college and
  its importance
• Assisting parents in understanding their role in
  fostering and supporting college aspirations,
  setting college expectations and motivating
  students
• Assisting students in academic preparation for
  college
• Supporting and influencing students in decision
  making about college
• Organizationally focusing the school on its
  college mission

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Necessary Counseling Activities for Equitable
College Access

• Set high expectations and provide access to
  college counseling for all students to prepare
  for college or work
• Provide access to college counseling and
  counselors by maintaining or increasing
  counseling staff and improving the
  student-to-counselor ratio

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School Counseling and College Counseling
Associations

• American School Counselor Association (ASCA)
• National Association for College Admissions
  Counseling (NACAC)
• American College Counseling Association (ACCA)
• National Association of Student Financial Aid
  Administrators (NASFAA)

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Ethics of College Admission Counseling

• ASCA Ethical Standards
• NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice
• Most recent (2005) revision includes statements
  of core values, mandatory practices,
  interpretations of mandatory practices,
  recommended best practices

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Possible Ethical Issues

• Misrepresentation in school profiles
• Manipulation in the reporting of standardized
  test scores
• Failure to adequately monitor student behavior,
  especially with regard to multiple enrollment
  deposits and failure to honor early decision
  commitments
• All students must have equal access to
  information about colleges and the college
  admission process
• Confidentiality of college recommendations and
  student applications

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Ethical Case Study

• John has been admitted to both State
  University and Private College. By late April he
  has yet to make a final decision regarding the
  college he will attend. He tells his counselor
  he has decided to send enrollment deposits to
  both institutions in order to keep his options
  open until he can visit both campuses.
• What instruction should the counselor give
  John to ensure
• he fulfills his ethical obligation to the
  colleges involved?
• What school policies might be established to
  discourage
• students from double-depositing?
• How might the counselor help all students
  understand
• their ethical responsibilities
  throughout the application and admission
  process?

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Ethical Case Study

• A school counselor is responsible for making
  arrangements for the upcoming college fair at her
  high school. She receives a special request from
  an alumna who will be representing her alma
  mater. The request is for a special room in
  which she may meet only with pre-selected
  students who have specific standardized scores.
• What ethical issues, if any, does this request
  raise?
• How might the counselor respond?

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Student Ethical Issues

• The ethical expectation of making only one
  enrollment deposit
• The necessity of honoring an early decision
  commitment
• Student responsibility to be the sole authors of
  their applications

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Necessary Counseling Activities for Equitable
College Access

• Refine counselor roles and responsibilities to
  ensure that counselors spend more time providing
  direct service to students and less time on
  administrative duties
• Continually develop and assess counseling
  department priorities and outcomes

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College Access Inequities
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Disparities in College Access

• Across all achievement levels, lowest SES
  students less likely to apply to or attend
  college than are the highest SES students, while
  students of color and poor students are less
  likely to start or finish college
• Despite extensive policy efforts and financial
  aid, the college participation gap between
  low-income and high income students today is
  roughly the same as in the 1960s

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Equity

• Most low income, educationally disadvantaged
  students are educated in schools that are
  under-resourced, staffed with lesser
  quality/knowledgeable teachers, and have far
  fewer counselors that are needed

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ED Watch Maryland Summary
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Keys To College Access

• Educational expectations
• Academic achievement
• Supportive family members
• A school with
• A college prepatory curriculum
• A college culture, and
• Supportive, knowledgeable staff, including
  counselors, teachers, and administrators

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College Intervention Programs
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College Readiness Students are college ready
when they have the knowledge, skills and
behaviors to complete a college course of study
successfully, without remediation.
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Intervention Programs

• Developed as an alternative for assisting
  students whose schools had failed them in their
  college readiness and access quest.

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Brief History of Pre-College Intervention Programs

• 1964, Upward Bound (UB)
• 1965 Higher Education Act, TRIO Programs--UB,
  Talent Search, Student Support Services
• 1981, I Had A Dream
• 1998, Gear-Up (Gaining Early Awareness and
  Readiness for Undergraduation Preparation)

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Federal Investments

• TRIO programs 800 million
• Serves individuals
• GEAR UP 200 million
• Serves cohorts of students
• Mandates a partnership web among students,
  families, K-12 schools, colleges, and community
  organizations

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Other Intervention Programs

• States College Making It Happen (CA),
  Childrens Crusade for Higher Education (RI), Get
  Ready (MN)
• Private Programs I Have a Dream, AVID, MESA
• Colleges Universities One in three PSEs have
  their own program

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College Choice Theory
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College Choice Theories

• Economic models (college as an investment)
• Heller (1997), Leslie Brinkman (1998), Paulson
  St. John (2002)
• Psychology models (the influence of others in
  decision-making process)
• Hossler Gallagher (1987)
• Sociology models (impact of college on social
  status)
• Kao Tienda (1998)

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College Choice Theory (Hossler Gallagher, 1987)

• Predisposition (K-9th grade) development of
  college aspirations
• Search (10th-12th grade) students begin to
  explore information about different colleges and
  universities
• Choice (12th grade) college decisions
  evaluations of colleges

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Parent Involvement and College Choice

• Three Parental Activities of College Choice
• Setting aspirations (college predisposition,
  direction setting, education cost-benefit
  analysis, determining desired proximity or
  acceptable distance away from home, defining
  desired institutional prestige)
• Encouragement toward college attendance
  (attitude, consistency, congruence)
• Support tangible, action-oriented activities
  parents engage in to support their childs
  college aspirations

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Small Group Activity

• Determine a grade level.
• Develop a series of three college-related
  activities that would be fitting for that grade
  level. Use college choice theory as a guide.
• Develop whole school, small group, and individual
  student activities and at least one parent
  activity.