LearnmoreMN Blog

Engaging students in the college visit experience

By Adrienne Diercks, February guest blogger

College tours are not rocket science (unless that is what the student wants to explore!). However, the depth and breadth — engaging fully with the experience and the process — is critical to a successful college visit. Earlier this month I wrote about the importance of “why” to a student’s college search. A student who has done the work of the “why” knows herself — her passions, strengths, values, and what she wants to learn from a college search. When she is supported by a trusted adult, knows how to find out what’s “out there” and has the tools and skills she needs to explore her choices, she is equipped to make deductions and analyze her options. It’s easy to look at the surface, but when a student peels away the layers and truly understands what she is looking at, she is able to reach the best decision for herself and her future.

Project SUCCESS has been bringing students to college campuses for 20 years. Over that time, we have identified and incorporated key components to help students peel back the layers and make the best decisions. I want to share a few of these best practices with you. I would also like to hear from you — what best practices have you incorporated? Where and when have you seen students find success in the search process? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Project SUCCESS organizes and hosts state and national college tours to more than 40 campuses each year. These are critical opportunities that inspire and educate students, including many first-generation college applicants, about post-secondary education opportunities. For some students, a campus visit will inform them instantly whether or not that particular campus is right for them. For other students, a campus visit to any college is beneficial to see firsthand what college life is like and to motivate them to start their college search.

Our staff conducts workshops on tour days to help students make the most of their campus visit. Students identify three to five key values they want to see in “their” college. They prepare thoughtful questions for admissions staff.

In addition to the typical student-led tour and admissions presentation, when possible we also schedule a student panel so our high school students can ask current college students candid questions about their college experience. A visit to the office of cultural diversity is important as well, as we bring a diverse student body from a large urban district on these college tours. We eat lunch on campus (in the dining center) and encourage our students to sit with current college students and ask questions.

We conduct neighborhood tours, visiting the community that surrounds the campus. Students ask themselves, “Is this a community that I can see myself living in and that I want to be a part of?” When a school feels like the right fit after a visit, we encourage students to take the next step of scheduling an overnight visit and sitting in on at least one class.

Following campus visits, students' facilitators are available to help them take the next steps in the application process through after-school one-on-one planning sessions. What are the next steps a student should take if he found the perfect school? What if he didn’t find one that resonates?

When students feel that the school they are visiting is not the right fit, we encourage them to think critically about that conclusion. We want them to ask themselves, “What is it that doesn’t feel right to me about this school?  What would make my opinion change? How can I find another school that might have those attributes?”

Virtual tools and online resources are extremely valuable, but nothing can replace the immersive campus visit experience. It completes the foundation of “why” and truly enables students to make conscious, well-considered decisions with confidence, which builds the foundation for success.

Helping students individualize the college search process

By Adrienne Diercks, February guest blogger

Over the past decade, the number of students choosing to go to college after high school has increased significantly. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, 21.8 million students will attend college as of the fall of 2013, which is an increase of 6.5 million since 2000. This increased interest in attending college has also created an environment where college is no longer seen as a choice but an expectation.

For the past 21 years, Project SUCCESS has been helping students visualize the future of their dreams and create a plan to get there. As a part of this work, I have seen personally how this new college-going culture has affected the way students and families visualize and prepare for their postsecondary futures. More and more often, students are embarrassed or feel like they are letting people down if they are unsure about going to college. Others are convinced that they should go to college, but are finding that, while college access services help with completing the steps to apply and gain acceptance, those services are not helping students ask and answer the most critical question in the college selection process: Why do I want to go to college?

With all the benefits a college education entails, if a student is not inspired by the why of going to college, then they are more likely to disengage from that experience or travel down a path that will lead them to an outcome they did not foresee, intend or desire. Regardless of a student’s socio-economic background, home environment or level of achievement, if they are not excited and invested in their future direction and actually see themselves in that future, they risk a larger chance of experiencing obstacles and potential failure.

As adults supporting young people, one of our roles is, of course, to help them get them into college. I would argue that another, more important role, is to help them visualize how they will be successful in that experience and to help them access the tools they need to make that vision a reality. When a student sees college as an option, that student should also have a good sense of why they are pursuing that college degree. When that happens, young people are more likely to fully embrace the college experience and be on the right path to creating the futures they have envisioned.

Recruitment isn’t enough

By Sunny Kase, January guest blogger

One of the points I made in my last post was that students who come from low-income or first-generation families or who are students of color, are taking charge of their own educational experience on their own terms. Two decades ago, when I was starting my career, I was struck by how much importance was put on “recruiting” students from diverse backgrounds, compared to how much effort was spent retaining and graduating them. Students would come in and basically either sink or swim. It was still a situation where the student was expected to assimilate and conform to their new environment.

At the time I remember hearing a faculty person tell me that “these” students needed to learn how the real world worked and they shouldn’t be coddled or judged by any different standards than the traditional college student. I had helped create an afterschool program on campus where college students received academic credit for tutoring school-aged students. The tutors we hired were the absolute best. Their life experiences mirrored those of the students we were asking them to tutor. The college students could see mini versions of themselves in their students — who could see role models in their tutors.

As a sassy young 20-something just out of college, I remember backtracking to the same faculty person’s office who had given me the original lecture. While I was waiting patiently for him to sign off on the academic credits that our students had earned, I asked him if he thought our afterschool program tutors could be held up as an example of “those” students he was referring to — those needing real life experiences to help them succeed in college. He gave me another very long lecture on measurable results and not having a large enough of a pool to base this on. He also said he would be interested in knowing if any or all of our eight tutors even graduated. “You see we can get these students in our doors, but what they do here isn’t something we can control.” Hmm…I clearly remember walking out of his office wondering how long it would be before he retired.

Fast forward 20 years and I can see that the climate on many campuses has changed. Overall, the focus is less on recruiting students and more on actually retaining them and supporting them to graduation. There are many great programs like TRiO, College Possible, AVID and Achieve that help bring college-ready students to our campuses. The challenge still lies in how to get them from admission to graduation. My afterschool tutoring program is just one example of students finding places to volunteer where they can work with kids whose backgrounds mirror their own. There are many other amazing efforts — study abroad experiences that are culturally relevant, internship programs that allow students to work with and for other first-generation and people of color, and post undergrad prep programs that identify students early on to go to grad school and beyond.

Where I have witnessed the most innovation and change on campuses is when students, staff, faculty, alumni and community members have worked to cross-germinate and find interesting solutions on how to recruit, retain and graduate ALL students. Oh and for the record — ALL eight of my original afterschool tutors did graduate from their four-year institutions. Four of them went on to become licensed educators, one is a journalist, one is a physician, one has his MBA and works for a large Minnesota company and one works as an admission officer at his alma mater.

Putting themselves out there

By Sunny Kase, January guest blogger

Getting into college can be hard. Students spend hours in the buildup — researching campuses, studying, taking the ACT, filling out application forms, choosing the right school and finally actually graduating from high school. Then when they actually get to college there can be a real panic when students wonder, “What am I doing here? How did I get here? Am I supposed to even be here?”

For a low-income student, or a student of color or a student who is first in the family to go away to college — all of those above challenges and anxieties are heightened. With all of that going on their internal and external self, then someone, maybe another student or someone who works at the college asks the question, “What are you?” Hmmm…that is a really loaded question because it asks someone to choose one or two or more pieces of their self so others can put them in a box.

I’ve been working on college campuses for the past couple of decades in a variety of capacities and lately what I am struck by is a wonderful boldness in students. They don’t allow themselves to be put into neat little boxes that allow others to define their identity. They are now creating language and words and communities where they are defining themselves. I’ve been to lots more student-led activities that are about valuing the whole student life experience. Here is an example:

Years ago I went to an event at a campus that was billed, “Cinco de Mayo. Come learn about this special day. Free Taco Bar!” When we got there it was clear that there would be a panel of Chicano-Latino heritage students whose role was to educate their white counterparts on what Cinco de Mayo is. And yes, there were free tacos afterward. The question that opened the panel was “What are you?” When a panelist replied, “What do you mean?” he was told, “Well tell us where you are from.”

Recently I was invited to an event on a campus that was all about empowering younger Latino students and their families in how to go to college. It was hosted by a student group on the campus and a staff person. A lot went on at this meeting that was welcoming and empowering. For one, the people organizing the event reflected the population they were trying to reach. Another aspect of success was that there were lots of opportunities for non-English speakers to engage. Parents could ask questions in Spanish and staff people were on hand to respond. Most importantly, no one asked “What are you?”

This is bold and not in a condescending way. Students are simply taking charge to leave a legacy at their campuses not only for other students who are like them who have had similar experience. It is also bold because these students are leading their larger student body to understand who they are on their terms. Not only can this impact future admission of low-income, first-generation and/or students of color, it also directly impacts the retention of those students themselves. We know that if college students are able to find opportunities to advocate and interact with a community that reflects their own experience, they are more likely to graduate.

If our college campuses are smart they will listen to this boldness. They will hear the voices of these students as their future.

Helpful colleagues leave me amazed

By Tracy Zanitsch, December guest blogger

Talking about what I have learned about creating a college and career readiness program while still in the midst of listening, re-tooling and re-grouping has ended up to be a bit more of a challenge than I expected. But as educators…I mean actors say, “the show must go on.”

Developing relationships, both personal and work related, with team members in other offices is becoming a key part of my work. Nothing that is worth doing can really be accomplished by just me. But what I can accomplish with someone else or a lot of someone elses is amazing! Help and the sharing of knowledge continue to come from the most unexpected places and people.

Example 1:

Last night I sent out a request to all the folks who office here at the Plato Blvd. building, asking if anyone had a copy of the game of LIFE I could borrow. I also included a brief explanation of why I needed it.

• Five different people offered to loan me the game, and I only knew one of them.
• As if that wasn’t enough to make me smile…an offer of assistance with the project was also sent. This individual is not only an expert in the field, but also has personal relationships with outside organizations that they are willing to use to assist in the development of the project.

Example 2:

A project currently being worked on is “The Journey to College and Career Readiness Begins in Elementary School” (affectionately known as “the coloring book”). This document is a prime example of how developing relationships can increase the value of a project.

None of us dreamed that finding a few pictures (suitable for coloring) of people in different occupations, genders and ethnic backgrounds would be a tough task. We could not have been more wrong. After much Internet surfing and hours of calling co-workers, a coloring book figure was found that had a young lady in a hijab painting a picture. The drawing was copyrighted by Amir Al-Zubi. It was not exactly what we wanted, but rather the best we could find.

Amir Al-Zubi was contacted for permission to use the drawing and we explained how and why we wanted to use it. As email requests like this had been sent out before, expectations were not high. We were contacted within 24 hours and exchanged several emails to clarify exactly why we wanted to use this drawing, and how important it was to the success of the project. In the end we were offered the use of the original drawing, as well as one that was much more appropriate for our use.

So I leave you with this…

Tell people about your work. Ask for assistance. You’d be surprised how many people want this effort to succeed. And try not to be as amazed as I am about just how generous people can be.

If your organization has a college and career readiness program, please post a comment. I’d love to hear about your experience.

Dream your way to college and career readiness

By Tracy Zanitsch, December guest blogger

What would you do if someone said, “Create a way for all of our students to be college and career ready; and develop ways to engage our families and the community in this process”? That is sorta the situation I stepped into when joining the Saint Paul School District’s Office of College and Career Readiness in 2012. With a background in postsecondary education, corporate project management and strategic meeting management — of course I started with a list! It was not until much later that I learned I should have started with a DREAM.

The research on other programs was done. College Connector Training was completed. Feedback from staff collected. Shoot, I had even helped coordinate a way for our office to collect feedback from over 1,000 families and students face-to-face. I was ready.

So I started to write, even wore some grooves into my keyboard as I wrote and re-wrote what my plan would be. The goal was to deliver a simple and well-structured plan of action to my co-workers, when they arrived in August.

Silly me.

The plan was too complicated.

The plan relied on too many entities cooperating with each other.

The plan had no dedicated funding.

The plan was simply a dream. A silly, silly dream.

Or was it?

With the assistance and hard work of many wonderful colleagues, it became clear that the plan might be off track, but the Dream of having our students’ college and career ready upon graduation was very much alive. Here’s how I know:

• Our families and staff are opening up conversations with their elementary students about what they like to do and exploring different careers. 
• Our staff is collaborating with other offices to create and publish what has become affectingly known as the “coloring book.” This is a publication that blends activities and information for our elementary families to use with their children to support college and career exploration.
• More than 5,300 pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students can be seen out and about in the community wearing shirts that have their future graduation date on it. (Yes, it’s those little green and yellow t-shirts with either 2026 or 2027 as a graduation date on them.)
• Two-person teams from the Office of College and Career Readiness have or are in the process of “adopting” all of the district-wide parent groups.They are starting and nurturing new relationships with our families and their communities, to insure that we learn what is needed and the best ways to deliver information and services.
• The Postsecondary Ambassador Program was developed through the support of the Saint Paul City’s Mayor’s Office. It is made up of local college students who are trained and then strategically placed within our schools and rec centers, to allow our families and students to see, interact and learn from someone like themselves.
• “It’s Never Too Late to Graduate” campaign has been created and provides support services to students who did not receive their high school diploma.
• The Career and Technical Education Program can jump start a student’s career by preparing them for postsecondary education and training for high-skill, high-wage and high-demand occupations, while they are still in high school.
• The opportunity to earn college credits while in high school, via the College in the Schools classes and the Postsecondary Education Option, is alive and well.

But as you know, there is much more work to be done. Even though my plan initially went off track, with the assistance, support and laughter of colleagues from across the district...the Dream is alive and moving forward.

My next post will share some of the things I learned and how the program plans to move forward. If your organization has a college and career readiness program, please post a comment to share your experiences.

Beginning the cost conscious college search: first steps for parents

By Carol Stack, November guest blogger

Co-author of The Financial Aid Handbook: Getting the Education You want for a Price you Can Afford

The long Thanksgiving weekend will soon be upon us, a great time to tackle that big box of college brochures sitting at your house, just quietly waiting for attention. Also sitting in the corner of the room is one of the biggest college consideration issues of all — how much is this going to cost and how are we going to pay for it? You may not know it, but in the U.S., college financial aid policy demands that the primary responsibility for paying for college rests with the student and her family. Yes, you read that correctly — the primary responsibility for paying for college rests not with the government, or the college, or the money tree you wish you had in your backyard — but with the student and her family. This alone is a huge reason for you to know, as early in the process as possible, how much colleges will expect you to pay. Keeping your sanity is another good reason. With a few minutes of your time, you can get a head start understanding what college costs will be for you. And the best part of all — this process isn’t only for parents of high school seniors — whether your student is a 6^th grader or a high schooler you can begin to understand and plan for college expenses.

My advice? Use this simple, 5 step process:

1. Take a few minutes to educate yourself about the process of paying for college. A great place to start is by viewing the Paying for College videos.
2. Before you talk with your student (I’ll call her Susie) about how much you can pay for college (unless that is an unlimited amount) — you need to know just what you can afford. Sit down with your spouse, partner or Quicken and take a good hard look at your budget. Determine how much you can contribute on a monthly basis (from your income) and on a semi-annual basis (from your assets) to help daughter Susie go to college. Multiply the monthly amount by 12, and the asset amount by 2. Add the two together and write this number down.
3. Go to www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov, and complete the sample FAFSA to see how much money the needs analysis (the data and formula that the feds, state governments and colleges use) will expect as a contribution from you for your child’s education. It’s called the Estimated Family Contribution. Write this number down.
4. Compare the two numbers. If they are dead on — great work. If not — review your budget to determine how you can meet your EFC. Club memberships to drop? A car payment to avoid by driving the old reliable for another year or two? Even giving up a daily $5 latte for a quick cup from the long ignored Mr. Coffee on your kitchen countertop can mean more than $1000 a year for college expenses.
5. Now, make an appointment with Susie to talk about college costs. Sit down at the kitchen table, turn off the cell phones (all of them — yours and hers) and explain what your EFC is, how you’ll be able to meet that, and how college costs beyond that will need to be met by scholarship, grants, work study and limited amounts of student loans. Express your willingness to help Susie find a college that will offer her merit scholarships and other aid to make the investment in her education. Earlier this month I wrote a post about Net Price Calculators — give some of them a go.

Congratulations — you’ve begun the cost conscious college search!

Net Price Calculators: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

By Carol Stack, November guest blogger

I have had a long career helping students and families with the college search process — including helping them figure out how to pay for college. Recently, I’ve had many questions from students and parents about a new wrinkle: the federally required “net price calculator” (aka NPC) on each college’s website.

The thought was a great one — help students and families know the “net” (cost after financial aid) price they are likely to pay for college — as distinguished from the sticker (full tuition and cost) price. The basic idea is that if a student and family have at hand their income and asset information, they can plug it into a calculator and see how much scholarship or grant (free money!) aid the student would receive from a specific college. This can happen before applying for admission, before completing financial aid forms, as early and as often as the family wants to use the calculator. Sounds great, doesn’t it? The reality is more complicated….

First, you have to find the net price calculator on the college’s website! On the surface, this seems as if it should be an easy proposition. Ha. I resorted to three approaches. On try number one, I went to a college’s website, used the navigation system to get to the financial aid page, and looked for “net price calculator” on the side rail, and voila, success. Or not. If “or not” was the result, on try two I used the search function on the college’s website to look for “net price calculator.” If that failed, my last ditch effort (try three) was to go to www.netpricecalculator.com to see if the college was listed there, and I could link in.

Second, all net price calculators are not created alike. It would be too much to hope for to find a handy tool that would insure students and parents can compare prices in an apples-to-apples way. But it just isn’t so. The feds simply require a college to show, by family income bands, the average amount of financial aid students in each group received at that school in the prior year. And that is exactly what calculators for some colleges do. No more and no less. Other colleges saw this as an opportunity to be more specific — and add into the mix merit scholarship and other awards. The result: wide variety in accuracy and specificity of estimated awards from one college to another. The more detailed the information the college asks from you, the more detailed and accurate the estimated award will be.

Third — an old adage but still true — garbage in, garbage out. The results of the calculator will only be as good as the information you put into it. If your guesstimated family income is off by a missing “0” at the end of the number, or you assume an extra family member or two in college — the estimate you receive will be off as well. Take time to carefully enter a response to each question — and write your answers down so that you use the same information for each calculator.

Finally — above all remember that this is an estimate — not a guaranteed price. The younger the student, the more likely the college’s aid policies will change dramatically by the time he or she enters college. If there is a big difference in your family income between what it is now and what it will be when your student enters college — the actual aid award could be very different. Don’t take this NPC estimate to the bank, or expect to hold the college to it. Do use it as a guideline — a picture of college costs painted with a very wide brush.

Families find ways to make college affordable

By Jesús Hernández Mejía, October guest blogger

In my first post I talked about saving for college. That’s a good place to start, but what else is out there?

Dual Credit options are another way to save some green. Students can earn college credits while still in high school. These programs include Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO), International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced Placement (AP), Career/Technical Education and Concurrent Enrollment (College in the Schools).

It’s possible in some cases for a full-time PSEO student who starts in their junior year to earn enough credit for an associate degree. That might save two years of college expenses. Some colleges have a limit how many credits can be transferred and ultimately have the last word on particular courses.  Even if this is the case, with PSEO your student is exposed to the rigorous work required in college and will be college-ready when it’s time to enroll.

For families looking ahead to college, realize that not all schools offer these options. But any research you do now is an investment in your child’s future.

Is there anything else?

At the start of every school year I have at least nine or 10 students who stop by my office because they are having a hard time paying for school. Looking through their awards I see a common theme: most of these students did not apply for any scholarships. Most don’t believe they would qualify but a lot say they were not aware of scholarships.

In simple terms, a scholarship is money that you don’t have to pay back. It is given to you for reasons such as merit, athletic ability, affiliations and the list goes on. Scholarships can be used to pay for tuition, fees, room and board, depending on the stipulations of the donor.

View a partial list of scholarships offered by Minnesota institutions. There are also scholarships offered through private entities. The best way to locate these is through Internet searches (try Fastweb or FinAid) or through personal connections with various companies.

Another good place to go for scholarship information is located right where your student attends school. Most high schools have a resource center or a counselor to whom donors send this information.

I have to say one more thing about scholarships.  If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It should not cost you any money to access information to scholarships.

Are there any other resources?

There are three additional resources that come to mind when trying to find ways to make college more affordable: AmeriCorps, Peace Corps and military service. If these sound like options for your student, consider checking them out.

What if my student is graduating next year?

The first thing is not to panic. Has your child settled on a college choice yet? If not, think about all the different options. Starting your student’s education at a community college would save you some money. Your child can complete the first two years there and then transfer to a four-year institution. Have your student contact that four-year institution to make sure that his/her credits will be transferred.

If you have already settled on an institution, meet with a financial aid advisor at the school. They will probably ask you to complete the FAFSA or a Financial Aid profile in order to give you a more accurate answer as to what your student might qualify for.

It helps if you plan ahead for college, but even if you haven’t, it is still feasible. There are many resources to help families pay, including the new video series, Paying for College.

College affordability is something to really think about

By Jesús Hernández Mejía, October guest blogger

How do I pay for college? This is the question that is most often asked when students apply to a postsecondary institution. The typical answer is, “you can get financial aid.” For some students that might well be the case but for others it is not. In some instances, even with financial aid, students are faced with stark decisions of giving up the college of their choice and enrolling in a more affordable institution, taking lots of student loans, or giving up on college altogether.

There are several steps that can be taken and many ways to accomplish the dream of a college education. One of the first steps is to start saving. View a short video about saving from the new Paying for College series. (There’s also a 16-minute video, Paying for College in Spanish.)

As an assistant dean of financial aid, I often meet with parents who did not plan for the reality of their student going to college. It’s as if it came to them as an afterthought when their student burst through the door one day and said, “Mom, Dad, I want to go to college!”

The panic on their faces and the awkward conversation that follows is understandable. College is something that we really need to start planning for as soon as we start thinking about having kids — and continues until the day they graduate. Yes, you read that correctly.

Planning for college is essential and there are a variety of tools (see the MassMutual Financial Group resources) that can be used to predict the future of college costs. For example, a child born in 2013 will expect to pay $30,627 in 2029 at a public institution and $67,767 at a private institution.

If you are betting on your future student using government financial aid to pay for college, keep in mind that it will still exist in some shape or form, but it might not resemble what it currently looks like.

So it’s important to start saving now. Here’s a hypothetical example from MassMutual: save $50 per month on a savings plan for 18 years and you would end up with $12,339. This assumes a 6% earning rate. Even if you don’t put that money on a savings plan, $50 per month for 18 years gives you $10,800 or about a third of the cost for the first year. Obviously, the more you save, the more money that your student will have to pay for school.

I know you have a life and saving a lot of money might not be convenient or possible. After all, you are also thinking about buying a house or paying for rent, purchasing a vehicle to get to work, vacations and many other things. But think of the advantages that your student will have: less debt in loans after graduation and more time to start thinking about college for their own children.

Watch for my next blog post to learn about other ways to truly make college an affordable option.