Pictured: David Hawkins, NACAC’s executive director for educational content and policy, Daniel Saracino, retired dean of admission at Notre Dame (IN) and former NACAC president, and Mike Rose, NACAC’s director for government relations.
The recent bribery scandal has captured the attention of the media, the nation, and the US Congress.US Rep. Donna Shalala, a former president of the University of Miami (FL), hosted a Congressional briefing Thursday afternoon. The briefing was intended to inform members of the House Committee on Education and Labor and their staffs about the dynamics that led to the scandal, as well as broader concerns about access and equity in college admission.
As a college advisor at City-As-School High School, one of the largest and oldest schools designed to re-engage students who choose to transfer high schools, this month’s college admission scandal came as no surprise.
It’s not breaking news to me that the college admission process tends to favor those already privileged in society. I watch it play out every day, as my colleagues and I fight to get our students into college — and to convince our students that they deserve that opportunity.
Native American students are often left out of the college access equation, a new report found.
“Invisibility is in essence the modern form of racism used against Native Americans,” the report said. “It is this invisibility that leads to a college access and completion crisis among Native American students. When a student is invisible, his or her academic and social needs are not met. This leads to students feeling alienated and alone, derailing their matriculation and the realization of their dreams and potential.”
Michelle Obama’s Becoming proved to be the perfect launching off point for a robust discussion of college access and completion, ways to support first-generation and marginalized students, and a counselor’s role in these goals.
In a #NACACreads Twitter chat Tuesday night, Eric Waldo, the executive director of Reach Higher, shared his insights on these subjects and more. Reach Higher was founded by Mrs. Obama and Waldo has traveled with the former first lady during her recent Becoming book tour.
Recruitment of rural and low-income students is often a goal of universities. But some schools don’t offer the support system to allow these students to succeed once they arrive on campus.
That was the case for writer Alison Stine.
Stine recently authored an essay recounting her experience as a student from a rural background at a private college.
“I wasn’t the first person in my family to go to college — I was the second generation, after my parents — and on teachers’ and guidance counselors’ advice, I had applied to several schools, including state universities,” she wrote. “But the private colleges were the ones that seemed to really want someone like me. They courted me. They offered me money, and I couldn’t say no to that. I couldn’t afford to.”
Equity and justice are important in all aspects of life, but absolutely vital in college admission.
NACAC members Ethan Sawyer, The College Essay Guy, and Marie Bigham, the founder of the ACCEPT: Admissions Community Cultivating Equity and Peace Today Facebook group, recently recorded a podcast episode on the ways school counselors and college admission professionals can work toward these goals.
The higher education community and businesses must work together to create a college-going culture in across rural America.
The Hechinger Report found that rural communities often face a mindset problem when it comes to higher education.
For generations, rural Americans were able to get good jobs with only a high school diploma. Now many of the jobs available require a more specialized skill set.
Too many public colleges and universities fail to offer equitable access to black students, according to new findings from the USC Race and Equity Center.
