Looking for summer reading suggestions for yourself or the students you serve?
NACAC member Brennan Barnard has released his annual compilation of book recommendations.
The full list — featuring titles suggested by college admission deans and counselors — appears on The Washington Post website. Some selections are related to education, while other titles are simply good reads.
Continue reading College Counselor Compiles Summer Reading List
In a few short months, this year’s crop of high school grads will head to college.
How did the Class of 2017 decide where to matriculate?
NACAC’s immediate past president, Phil Trout, recently offered some insight based on his experience working with seniors at Minnetonka High School (MN).
Here are three takeaways from his interview with EAB:
Continue reading Expert Insight: College Admission and the Class of 2017
What should first-generation college students know before they head to campus?
A new social media campaign organized by Better Make Room is encouraging college counselors and others to share their wisdom on Twitter.
Contribute your own tips by using #AdviceForFirstGen and #BetterMakeRoom in your tweets.
Tips already submitted include:
How do social inequalities shape access to education, and what can counselors and admission professionals do to help students navigate an increasingly complex array of postsecondary choices?
Discuss those questions and more on Monday during a #NACACreads discussion of Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy.
The chat will kick off on Twitter at 2 p.m. ET.
Author Tressie McMillan Cottom will participate in the hour-long discussion, and there will be plenty of opportunities for you to share your own thoughts about the book, as well as for-profit colleges.
Continue reading #NACACreads: Join Us Monday to Discuss ‘Lower Ed’
The IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT) is now available to student loan holders applying for an income-driven repayment plan, the Department of Education announced last week.
According to a press release, “new encryption protections” have been added to the tool. However, the DRT will remain out-of-service for FAFSA filers until Oct. 1.
Continue reading DRT Now Available for Income-Driven Repayment Plan Applicants
Although most American degree holders believe they received a quality education, more than a quarter say they would attend a different college if they had it all to do over, a new national poll shows.
A survey of 89,492 US adults by Gallup and the Strada Education Network found that 28 percent of respondents wish they would have selected a different institution. And given the chance, 36 percent would have chosen a different major.
Continue reading Survey: Many Americans Would Change Their College Choices
A group of private schools wants to remove letter grades from the college admission process.
Instead, members of the newly formed Mastery Transcript Consortium (MTC) would submit reports to universities outlining how well students demonstrate mastery of key academic concepts. Other qualities, such as creativity and persistence, could also be highlighted on the new transcript.
The model is inspired in part by competency-based education, a method where students progress through the curriculum based on their demonstration of knowledge and skills, rather than seat time. Consortium leaders say each member will have the freedom to determine which “performance areas” will be included on their school’s transcript.
NACAC research shows that grades matter most in college admission. But many counselors say the resulting pressure to attain perfect marks undermines student learning and development. Continue reading Rethinking the Transcript: High Schools Join New Consortium
Can you believe it’s already June? That means our next #NACACreads book club chat is just days away.
On June 12, we’ll discuss Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy.
The conversation will kick off at 2 p.m. ET on Twitter, and we’d love to have you join the chat!
Author Tressie McMillan Cottom will participate in the hour-long discussion, and there will be plenty of opportunities for you to share your own thoughts about the book, as well as for-profit colleges.
Continue reading Get Ready for #NACACreads with Tressie McMillan Cottom
Sylvia Karpf knows what it takes to keep NACAC’s National College Fairs program humming along.
From planning and promoting individual fairs, to negotiating with vendors and managing the program’s operating budget—Karpf has done it all over her three-decade tenue with the association.
“I still come to work with the same excitement that I had on my first day,” said Karpf, who joined the college fairs program as an administrative assistant and now serves as the department’s senior associate director. “I love the program, and I love what I do.”
Karpf, who celebrates her 30th year with NACAC this month, recently sat down with Admitted to talk about finding her niche, the value of college fairs, and what inspires her work.
Continue reading Sylvia Karpf Celebrates 30 Years with NACAC
Campus visits often play an influential role in a student’s enrollment decision, but one clinical psychologist is questioning whether teens rely too heavily on their initial impressions when selecting a college.
“If we are making a decision we haven’t made before (such as where to go to college) then our present selves must rely on imagination, instead of experience,” Erica Reischer writes in a recent New York Times op-ed. “…Visiting the campus — to take a tour, meet students, get the lay of the land — seems like a prerequisite to making a good decision. But visiting a college is not the same as being a student there, and this distinction matters a lot, because of the many ways in which our imagination misleads us.”