Category Archives: Advocacy

Access, Advocacy, NACAC National Conference, NACAC News, Uncategorized

#NACAC20: A Students-First Approach to Higher Ed

If US higher education is to survive, it must refocus its efforts and prioritize students, NACAC CEO Angel B. Pérez said Tuesday in remarks at the 2020 NACAC Virtual Conference.

Like many sectors of the US economy, the admission profession has felt the effects of the coronavirus crisis on its institutional budgets, Pérez noted. But those concerns are secondary when compared to the larger crisis looming for higher ed, he said.

“While we all understandably worry about our schools and our institutions, we have to remember that without students, nothing else in the educational endeavor matters,” Pérez said in his first keynote address as the association’s chief executive officer. “…As we move away from enforcing a code of ethics, NACAC will act publicly and with determination when policy or practice threatens to cause harm to or perpetuate inequities among students.”

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Access, Advocacy, NACAC News

#NACACchat: Transitioning to College with a Disability

How can college admission professionals help students who have a disability transition to college? How can students advocate for themselves to access the resources they need?

View a transcript of our most recent #NACACchat. Special guests included Jill Corbin, director of college and transition counseling at Denver Academy and NACAC Learning Differences Special Interest Group leader; Annie Tulkin, founder and director of Accessible College, where she provides college transition support for students with physical disabilities and health conditions nationally; and Elizabeth C. Hamblet, college learning disabilities specialist at LDadvisory, which provides advice on college topics for students with learning disabilities or ADHD.

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Access, Advocacy, NACAC News

#NACACchat: Join Tomorrow’s Twitter Discussion

How can college admission professionals help students who have a disability transition to college? How can students advocate for themselves to access the resources they need?

Join NACAC’s Learning Differences Special Interest Group for a #NACACchat Twitter discussion on best practices for helping students transition to college with a disability, including how COVID-19 can impact this process.

The chat will take place Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. ET and will be led by @NACAC and members of the Learning Differences SIG. Continue reading #NACACchat: Join Tomorrow’s Twitter Discussion →

Access, Advocacy, College Admission, Legislation

Working to Reign in Unscrupulous Colleges

NACAC members work every day to help students find colleges and universities that will be a good academic and financial fit. Unfortunately, some colleges take advantage of students, particularly students who are low-income, minority, first-generation, military, or veterans, among others from underserved and underrepresented groups.

To support these students, NACAC has developed a student protection agenda, which is meant to hold colleges accountable for predatory recruitment tactics and poor academic programs. These institutions heavily recruit students and charge exorbitant prices, often with students dropping out before obtaining a degree. In many cases, the student would have been better off not enrolling at all.

Recently, NACAC and several other education-related organizations sent a memo to Congress about the risks to students in post-COVID higher education. Many colleges aren’t even open yet, but there has been an increase in predatory recruitment among these colleges. We anticipate these tactics to get more egregious as students reimagine their academic futures and seek options that will allow them to safely pursue their degrees. We urged Congress to include student protection provisions outlined in the memo.

Our organizations also joined together to place an advertisement on thehill.com, a widely read political website, highlighting the memo and our call to action.  The ad will remain online through August 6.

Mike is the NACAC’s director for government relations. You can reach him at mrose@nacacnet.org.

Access, Advocacy, College Readiness

Study: Students Exposed to Police Violence are Less Likely to Graduate from High School, Enroll in College

New research confirms what many school counselors have witnessed firsthand: Black and Hispanic students who live near police killings experience significant negative impacts to their educational and emotional well-being.

Those findings are included in a working paper published this week by Desmond Ang, an assistant professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School (MA).

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Access, Advocacy

Study: Black Students Face Racist Actions 5 Times a Day

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New research shines a spotlight on the extent to which Black teens experience racism and explores how those experiences impact mental health.

A small study of 101 students from Washington, DC, found that Black teens, on average, encounter racism and discrimination five times a day. Students who faced the most severe incidents of racism were more likely to experience depression.

The study, led by Devin English of Rutgers University (NJ), was published in the January-February issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.

Science News for Students examined the findings and interviewed English for a recent article aimed at helping all teens recognize and address racism. In easy-to-understand language, the article explains why the onslaught of discrimination faced by Black students is so damaging and offers white students advice for becoming antiracist.

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Advocacy, Featured, NACAC News

Working to Expand Graduate Coursework in College Admission Counseling

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Why does NACAC’s College Admission Counseling Graduate Coursework SIG exist?  Simple:

  • School counselors are supposed to have three domains of expertise—social/emotional development, academic planning, and college/career planning
  • Surveys show that less than one third of all school counselors report receiving any training in college counseling as part of their graduate school experience.

Think about that for a minute as it relates to the other parts of a school counselor’s job. Would anyone want a counselor talking to their child about depression, stress, bullying, or peer pressure if that counselor had no training dedicated to those topics?  How confident would we be in the advice a counselor gives a student on course selection if the counselor had no idea what the school’s graduation requirements are?  Yet, year after year, the vast majority of counselor graduate programs send counselors out into schools with no formal, focused training on how to help students make strong college choices.

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Access, Advocacy

Thoughts from a Former College Admission Officer in the COVID-19 Era

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published by The Education Trust. See the original article.

Amid increased anxiety over a global pandemic, parents and students alike are frantically adjusting to the new reality of school shutdowns, online learning, cancellation of standardized tests, library closings, the postponement of extracurricular activities, and limited travel. Meanwhile, there is a group of students that is eagerly awaiting college admission for fall 2020. How will the COVID-19 pandemic impact the college-going decisions of students, and how should colleges adjust admission criteria accordingly?

In a previous Ed Trust blog, I argued that institutions should, as the Supreme Court currently allows, use race as a factor in college admission, since the measures that most colleges use in their admission criteria (strength of curriculum, standardized test scores, grade point average, and non-academic factors) disadvantage students from low-income backgrounds and students of color. Given the COVID-19 pandemic, the reality is that these same students will likely be disadvantaged by the factors that colleges and universities value in admission.

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Access, Advocacy, College Admission Resources

New College Guide Available to Support Indigenous Students

A new college-going guide created for Native students by Native students is now available.

The 36-page Indigenous College Planning Guidebook was published by the College Board this fall and features advice and insights from Native college students regarding the admission process.

The free resource includes information about college prep programs, scholarships, and on-campus resources aimed specifically at Native students. It also offers step-by-step instructions to help students select challenging high school classes, apply for financial aid, and complete college applications.

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