High School Counselor Week

Untangling the Bungled FAFSA Launch
Inside Higher Ed – March 4, 2024
How did a bipartisan effort to overhaul an outdated federal aid system become a political and logistical fiasco for the already-embattled Education Department? The department has repeatedly blamed Congress, which refused requests for additional resources. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans have accused the department of being too focused on student debt relief to commit fully to the FAFSA overhaul. An Inside Higher Ed review of public documents and interviews with more than half a dozen Washington insiders familiar with the inner workings of the project suggest the truth is somewhere in the middle. Issues with the new FAFSA, from timing concerns to technical flaws, flew under the radar until the rollout became a full-blown crisis.

Continuing resolution pushes FY24 education funding decision to March 22, delays Pell Grant expansion
K-12 Dive – March 1, 2024
Congress has delayed — for the fourth time — a decision to finalize the fiscal year 2024 budget by extending a continuing resolution for allocations to the U.S. Department of Education and several other agencies from March 8 to March 22. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation. The continuing resolution includes a measure that amends the FAFSA Simplification Act to prevent a formula change that would have expanded the Pell Grant program for low-income college students. The Education Department had announced the change just this week.

How 2 schools are tackling chronic absenteeism
K-12 Dive – March 1, 2024
From helping parents develop bedtime routines for students to scrutinizing attendance data, two school leaders shared during a Tuesday webinar how they took proactive approaches that are leading to improved student attendance. That progress, they said, is mostly thanks to a focus on strengthening relationships with families and students through a variety of activities, a willingness to experiment, finding the best procedures to organize attendance data, collaborating with partners, and seeking out resources from organizations like Attendance Works.

Navigating the “Second Look: A Parent’s Guide to “Accepted Student Day”
Post – March 6, 2024
College Advice & Timely Tips with Lee Bierer

Psychiatrists Raise Concerns Over an Uptick in School Referrals
UndarkMagazine – February 27, 2024
Psychiatric evaluations are meant to keep students safe. When assessments are deployed well, they can be essential to preventing violence in schools and mobilizing resources for a struggling student. But determining which child could pose a threat to themselves or others is a delicate process that schools frequently misuse and misunderstand, according to experts familiar with the process. No comprehensive national data exists about how often districts require such evaluations. But for many psychiatrists, the seemingly ever-spreading use of these evaluations without preventive measures or follow-up support for students is setting off alarm bells. At an annual professional meeting of the nation’s child and adolescent psychiatrists last October, one clinical psychiatry professor noted: ‘The focus can’t just be on identifying potential school shooters. The focus needs to be about the underlying mental health and characteristics of all the hundreds and hundreds of kids who make threats, who will never become school shooters, and what are their needs.’

Which colleges are extending their decision deadlines?
Higher Ed Dive – March 1, 2024
At least 190 U.S. colleges have postponed their commitment deadlines for the 2024-25 academic year amid federal financial aid delays, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling. NACAC recently released a public directory of the enrollment deadlines of its member colleges. Although the list isn’t comprehensive — as it only includes information submitted by NACAC members — it offers a glimpse into how colleges nationwide are grappling with an abbreviated financial aid timeline. The Enrollment Deadlines Directory is available at this link: https://www.nacacnet.org/enrollment-deadlines-directory-2024/

The job more parents are taking to get a discount on their kids’ college tuition
CNBC – March 6, 2024
The price tag of college can be daunting, but less so at some schools if parents work there — and that is what appeals to a growing number of parents. In fact, 90% of colleges and universities offer tuition benefit to children of full-time employees. Half of those institutions have a waiting period to get that benefit, with the median waiting period being one year of service for the employee. Most institutions, 73%, don’t limit the number of credit hours children can apply the benefit to, so there is no ceiling on the number of classes they can take.

Qualified Expenses You Can Pay for With a 529 Plan
U.S. News & World Report – March 1, 2024
Anyone can open a tax-advantaged 529 college savings plan, including students, parents, grandparents and other relatives. It is used to pay for college, but not all expenses qualify. Withdrawals from 529 plans are called distributions, and they must be used toward qualified education expenses – otherwise they will face federal income tax and a 10% penalty. Read on to see some qualified educational expenses that can be paid.

Applying To College as a Junior? How To Master Your Timing & Succeed in Junior Year
Delta Institute – February 16, 2024
Applying to college as a junior can give you a head start on your academic journey and set you up for success down the road. Sure, it comes with its fair share of challenges – from juggling a demanding course load to managing tight deadlines – but with effective time management and a dash of determination, you’ve got this! So, let’s dive in to explore how, when, and why you can conquer the college application process during your junior year.

Ohio public colleges must eliminate race-based scholarships, per attorney general
The Columbus Dispatch – March 6, 2024
Some Ohio universities are reevaluating merit scholarships that include race-based language following new guidance from Attorney General Dave Yost, who says the language is now unconstitutional. In a memo sent several days after the decision dropped, Yost told Ohio college and university leaders they must adhere to the court’s ruling with ‘strict scrutiny,’ including getting rid of any ‘disguised race-conscious admissions.’ Failure to do so could make them personally liable to litigation.

Colleges Face Mounting Pressure To End Legacy Admissions
Forbes – February 29, 2024
Momentum to end legacy admissions – the practice of a college giving preferential admissions treatment to the children of its alumni – continues to build as more states consider legislation to ban the practice, and an influential higher education figure speaks out against it.

FAFSA Delays Create A Major Problem Of Fewer Completions
Forbes – March 6, 2024
More than 4.7 million families still managed to submit the FAFSA for the 2024-25 academic year by February 27th. That definitely sounds like a lot of students, but it falls significantly short of the 7.6 million people who filled out the FAFSA for the 2023-24 academic year by the end of February 2023. That’s a 38% drop in families filling out the FAFSA so far compared to prior years. Unfortunately, families are the ones who will be missing out if they don’t get the FAFSA in on time — or at all.

Does the new FAFSA actually hurt farm families? It depends who you ask.
USA Today – March 5, 2024
Some students from farming backgrounds are worried about paying for college next year. The jury’s still out on whether they can be sure they’ll see costs rise.

Major student loan company MOHELA accused of ‘deflecting’ calls, mismanagement
USA Today – February 29, 2024
The American Federation of Teachers and the Student Borrower Protection Center are accusing the company of mismanaging a key student loan program for public service workers and engaging in a ‘call deflection scheme’ by strategically avoiding borrowers who need help. The groups this week released a trove of internal documents, obtained through public information laws, from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, or MOHELA. The student loan company, or servicer, works with borrowers nationwide.

College or Trade School? How About Both?
Yahoo! News – March 6, 2024
For too long, our debates on post-secondary education have taken a binary form: either ‘college for everyone’ or ‘learn a trade.’ But in an era when career trajectories are no longer linear, and when technology is rapidly and unpredictably evolving, the ability to adapt and acquire new skills is essential. What we need instead is a ‘both-and’ approach. Ben Wildavsky, a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia, puts adaptability front and center in his recent book The Career Arts. In doing so, he helps to fight back against the false dichotomies that riddle discussions about post-secondary education.

Job Focused Community College Programs Grow — But Grim Transfer Trend Continue
The 74 – March 5, 2024
A new report has found community college enrollment grew nationwide — but few students are transferring to four-year institutions as their interest in immediate employability rises. ‘We have shortages in a lot of jobs that require bachelor’s degrees,’ said Josh Wyner, founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute College Excellence Program, including well-paying careers in nursing, teaching and software engineering that pay north of $50,000 annually.

In a first, U.S. students will take the SAT entirely online (no pencils required)
NPR – February 5, 2024
This week, students in the U.S. will begin taking the new SAT on their own devices — including a tablet or a laptop — or on school devices. The test is also one hour shorter (down from three hours), has shorter reading passages and uses digital tools, like a highlighter, a graphing calculator and a bookmark to go back to skipped questions. The revamped test, which ditches the paper and pencil, aims to make cheating harder and grading easier. Students will still take the exam at a test center or at a high school.