All posts by Mary Stegmeir

Admitted writer/editor Mary Stegmeir welcomes additional comments and story ideas at mstegmeir@nacacnet.org.
Access, NACAC News

ICYMI: NACAC Applauds Supreme Court Decision to Support Transgender Students

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NACAC issued a statement this week in support of the US Supreme Court’s decision not to hear arguments in Doe v. Boyertown Area School District.

The court case centers on a Pennsylvania school district’s policy permitting students to use the restroom of their choice. By declining to hear the case, the Supreme Court let stand a lower court’s ruling that sided with the district’s decision to allow students to use the bathroom matching their gender identity.

Continue reading ICYMI: NACAC Applauds Supreme Court Decision to Support Transgender Students →

Rankings

Report: Engagement Matters More Than Selectivity in Determining College Fit

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Finding the “right fit” college can be a stressful and confusing process for students and families. Students often do not know how to find the “right fit” or what that even means.

To mitigate this uncertainty, some students turn to college rankings and the selectivity of an institution as indicators of quality. But this approach can be problematic as each student has a unique set of needs, goals, dreams, and desires in their college selection process that may not accurately be reflected in a college’s rank.

Continue reading Report: Engagement Matters More Than Selectivity in Determining College Fit →

Financial Aid

HEA Update: Standardized Financial Aid Letters Proposed

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Financial aid award letters have long been a topic of conversation within the college admission counseling profession, and as discussions about reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) intensify, Congress seems poised to join the conversation.

Last month, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Tina Smith (D-MN), and Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced the Understanding the True Cost of College Act of 2019 — stand-alone legislation intended to be included as part of the larger HEA reauthorization.

If passed, higher education institutions would be required to use a uniform financial aid offer form containing standardized definitions. According to the bill’s sponsors, the move is intended to ensure colleges provide information to students and families in “a consumer-friendly manner that is simple and understandable.”

Continue reading HEA Update: Standardized Financial Aid Letters Proposed →

College Admission, College Admission Resources, Featured

Spots Still Available for Students at Over 500 Colleges

The number of colleges still accepting applications for Fall 2019 continues to grow.

More than 500 institutions have openings, financial aid, and housing available to qualified freshmen and/or transfer students, according to NACAC’s College Openings Update.

When survey data was first posted on May 3, the list included just over 400 colleges and universities. Since that time, dozens of additional institutions have added their information. The update, which includes public and private schools, continues to be modified by colleges and universities.

Continue reading Spots Still Available for Students at Over 500 Colleges →

Access

Report: State School Finance Systems Underfund Highest Poverty School Districts

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Nearly all roads leading toward improving schools and student outcomes require investment, especially for disadvantaged and low-income students.

The newly released School Finance Indicators Database School Year 2015-2016 report shows that states vary widely in their distribution of educational resources.

“Resources in most states tend to be allocated non-progressively or even regressively, that is, higher-poverty districts do not receive more funds — and in some cases receive substantially less — than do lower-poverty districts, even controlling for factors that affect costs, such as regional wage variation, district size, and population density,” the report finds.

Continue reading Report: State School Finance Systems Underfund Highest Poverty School Districts →

College Admission in the News, Paying for College

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.

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

Academic Performance, Access

Report: Self-Advocacy Skills and Self-Determination Key for Students with Disabilities

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All students participating in postsecondary education need effective self-advocacy and self-determination. However, it is even more essential for those with disabilities for obtain and utilize these skills.

According to a new brief from the National Center for Learning Disabilities, self-advocacy skills “include a person understanding themselves, their rights, and their needs, and communicating that understanding—leading to self-determination. Self-determination is a dispositional characteristic that enables a person to act in service of freely chosen goals and make or cause things to happen in their own life.”

Continue reading Report: Self-Advocacy Skills and Self-Determination Key for Students with Disabilities →

Advocacy, Legislation

Advocates Head to Washington, DC for #NACACHillDay

Nearly 150 high school counselors, college admission professionals, community-based organization leaders, and other advocates will arrive in Washington, DC this weekend for NACAC’s annual Advocacy Meeting.

During this two-day event, attendees will learn more about student-to-counselor ratios in their states, the status of state and federal financial aid, and the economic impact of international and DACA students. The event will also feature talks from a Virginia state legislator and from a staff member of the House Committee on Education and Labor.

On Monday, attendees will head to Capitol Hill to meet with their elected officials and Congressional staff to advocate for NACAC’s policy priorities, including:

  • School Counseling. The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) and NACAC recommend a student-to-counselor ratio of 250:1. In the 2015-16 academic year, the national average ratio was 470:1. Furthermore, public school counselors report spending only 21 percent of their time on postsecondary admission counseling. #NACACHillDay attendees will advocate for lower ratios, increased funding, and improved professional development for school counselors.
  • Rigorous Curriculum. More than 80 percent of admission professionals say that a student’s strength of curriculum is of “considerable” or “moderate” importance in admission decisions. However, low-income students are less likely to have access to such curricula, and white students are nearly twice as likely as black students to be enrolled in at least one AP class. During their Congressional meetings, Advocacy Meeting attendees will advocate for all students to have equitable access to rigorous coursework in high school.
  • Need-Based Financial Aid. For many students and families, affording college is becoming increasingly more difficult. State and federal disinvestment in higher education funding has placed the burden of paying for college more squarely on the shoulders of students. #NACACHillDay attendees will encourage their elected officials to increase funding for federal need-based financial aid and to support efforts to simplify the FAFSA.
  • Student Protections. Some unscrupulous institutions of higher education – frequently, though not exclusively, those in the for-profit sector – employ predatory recruitment practices that target students who are often most vulnerable to such deceit. Students enrolled at for-profit institutions account for just over 10 percent of all postsecondary enrollments, but over 40 percent of student loan defaults. Despite these metrics, for-profit institutions still benefit from receiving tax-payer funded financial aid. Advocacy Meeting attendees will urge their Members of Congress during their Hill meetings on Monday to protect students and taxpayers by supporting efforts to reign in these unscrupulous institutions.
  • Undocumented Students. Legal challenges to the September 2017 announced rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program continue to leave DACA-eligible and other undocumented individuals in limbo. Furthermore, undocumented students are ineligible to receive federal student aid – this lack of financial support often puts higher education out of reach for these students. #NACACHillDay attendees will encourage their elected officials to support legislation that would help make higher education accessible and affordable for these students.

The advocates in attendance will touch on these topics and other important issues, including international student mobility, school safety, and more. Be sure to follow @NACACWonk and #NACACHillDay for updates, and tune in to Facebook Live at 9:45 am ET for a live broadcast of the “Counselors and Financial Aid in Your State” panel, with NACAC research associate Pooja Patel and Stephanie Giesecke, the director of budget and appropriations at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

Julie Kirk is NACAC’s government relations manager. She can be reached at jkirk@nacacnet.org.