Imagine Grant Supports College Admission Program for Non-Native English Speakers

Courtesy of Robbie Cupps

For non-native English speakers, figuring out the college admission process often has an additional layer of challenges.

Robbie Cupps, a college and career counselor at Capital High School (ID), works in the Boise School District, which has a significant population of Spanish-speaking students.

Working with these students, she knew she had to take a different approach and a grant from the NACAC Imagine Fund helped make it possible.

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Bipartisan Bill Supports College Access for the Incarcerated

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Higher education is often a pathway to finding a job, owning a home, and earning higher wages throughout a person’s lifetime.

But access to higher education for the nation’s prison population has faced significant challenges over the past few decades.

A new bipartisan bill making its way through Congress would restore Pell Grant eligibility for incarcerated individuals, giving many the ability to pay for higher education and workforce training.

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You Already Know This, But…

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The statistics on college acceptance rates don’t lie. They also don’t come as a surprise to people working in the college admission profession.

Although media coverage and parent perceptions can make it seem as though a handful of selective universities are the norm, most US colleges and universities admit a majority of students who apply.

NACAC’s State of College Admission report has proclaimed this for years, but a new study from Pew Research Center is backing it up and pushing its findings into the mainstream.

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Report: State Funding for Higher Ed Only Halfway Recovered from the Great Recession

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The losses of the Great Recession continue to haunt higher education. Despite five years of increases, state funding for higher education has only halfway reached pre-recession levels of funding. And as of 2017, public institutions in more than half of all US states are more reliant on tuition dollars than on public appropriations.

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Perspective: College Admission Leaves Low-Income Students Behind

Courtesy of Personal Statement

The college admission process is complex and the fight for equity and access within it is far from over.

Enoch Jemmott, now a senior at Queens College (NY), recently shared his experience as a low-income student navigating the college admission process in a The New York Times piece titled, “The Implicit Punishment of Daring to Go to College When Poor.”

“I came to realize that, in every step along the way, we had to do more because we had less,” Jemmott wrote.

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Instagram Accounts for Admitted Students Influence Decisions

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Instagram is the new Facebook for college-bound students.

Facebook was originally designed to connect college students. The social network’s audience now skews older, but that doesn’t mean new students aren’t still connecting online before they even get to campus.

Accepted students are now starting Instagram accounts for their class. A new crop of Class of 2023 accounts has just popped up on Instagram and admitted and prospective students are using them to make their final decisions, pick a roommate, and connect before classes begin in the fall.

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Report: Public Research Universities Prioritize Out-of-State, High-Income Recruitment

Public research universities often aren’t putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to student recruitment.

A new report from The Joyce Foundation found that most public research universities prioritize recruiting out-of-state students and were less likely to visit schools in low-income areas.

The report analyzed recruiting visits to local high schools made by admission staff at 15 public research universities in the US.

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Emphasis on Financial Literacy Could Help Students Borrow More Responsibly

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Financial literacy is not typically a top priority for American teens but new research shows that taking a course in personal finance could help teens borrow more responsibly for college.

Researchers at Montana State University found when students are required to take personal finance courses to graduate high school, they are more likely to shift from high-cost borrowing to low-cost borrowing to finance their college degree.

Students who took these classes were about 10 percent more likely to apply for federal financial aid and take out a federal loan than those without financial education, according to the study.

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Member View: Ditch the College Admission Stress

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The college search and application process can be a stressful time for families and students. But there are ways to manage this stress and anxiety.

Sherri Geller, co-director of college counseling at Gann Academy (MA), recently shared her stress management tips with JewishBoston.

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Report: Rethinking Work-Study Programs

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The Federal Work-Study program currently offers low-income students the opportunity to work while enrolled in higher education. But could it also serve as a career-readiness program?

A new report from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) gives recommendations for how colleges can rethink work-study programs to more intentionally prepare students for the “real world.”

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