2017 October College Readiness Tips for Teachers and Other College Advocates
- Hold college application and financial aid bootcamps. North Carolina does. West Virginia does. They have tripled college application
rates. Host bootcamps at your school in October to help with state applications and financial aid. FAFSA opens October 1. In California, the new Cal State Apply and the University of California applications are open. Both must be submitted by November 30. The Cal States can be submitted October 1-November 30, while the UCs can be submitted November 1-30. Both applications have students self-report their course and grades, so they need access to their most current transcripts. Please help them with their application completion and calculation of GPAs. Other public university systems are all online. Help students!!! Visit North Carolina’s site for great materials. https://nccollegeapplicationmonth.org/schools/ - Encourage seniors to apply for EOP and other support programs. These programs provide amazing support for low-income students throughout the admissions, college readiness, and college survival process. The Cal States now embed the EOP application in their new Cal State Apply portal. It still requires several short responses and two required recommendations. As space is limited, have students apply as early as possible. http://www.calstate.edu/sas/eop/apply. On the UC application, students just have to check that they want to be considered for EOP.
Inform students about college application fee waivers. Students who qualify for free or reduced lunch qualify for fee waivers for most college applications. The Cal States and UCs allow students to apply to four of their campuses for free. Private colleges accept NACAC or College Board fee waivers or will waive fees if counselors, teachers, or students request them for students. http://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/applications/fee-waivers. Undocumented students qualify for fee waivers for most colleges, including the CAL STATES. Sadly public colleges in Arizona and some southern states ban undocumented students from applying or getting aid.- Hold college application and college essay workshops before, during, and after school. Your students need help with their essays. These essays make them pop for college admissions officers who are desperate for your students. Encourage grade 12 teachers to make these essays requirements and provide students with a variety of brainstorming, drafting, and revising strategies. Help students read great samples and see ways to use their essays more than once. They need to tell unique stories that grab reads from the first sentence. No matter the length, students need to individualize each essay and boast.
- Help students learn more about colleges by attending college fair and non-profit events in your area. Colleges are in your area right now. Find out where they are or take your students to a college fair. LA Cash for College, for example, is coming up in two weeks. http://www.lacashforcollege.org/convention NACAC has traditional and performing and visual art college fairs around the country. https://www.nacacfairs.org/attend/national-college-fairs/
- Continue to encourage students to research colleges online.Colleges want your students. But students need to apply to match colleges. College Greenlight promotes colleges that seek diverse students. https://www.collegegreenlight.com/ Take advantage of College Week Live. This free website offers amazing webinars and workshops for students applying to college. http://www.collegeweeklive.com/
- Write great letters of recommendation. Please write recommendations that make your students pop. Follow our Into-Through-Beyond approach so that you can help colleges see why these students belong on their campuses. Give details about their academic performance if you’re a teacher. Highlight their leadership and initiative if you’re a counselor. If you can’t remember or just don’t know them, have them submit detailed brag sheets. These letters can make or break an admissions or scholarship decisions. Please, write and submit your letters online.
- Connect with current college students. Keep ongoing contact with your graduates. Ask these students to write tips for your students and post them around the classroom and college center. Ask them to visit during their fall visits home.
Explore great online sites to promote students and financial aid. Zeemee is great way for students to promote themselves via short videos. https://www.zeemee.com/ RaiseMe is a new site where students can receive micro college scholarships. https://www.raise.me/- A PLEA…Help homesick college freshmen.
We send our students away, and in October they begin to get very homesick. Their parents often can’t visit them, and they are beginning to struggle, at times, with their workload. So please keep in touch with freshmen. Send them care packages. Or just FB message or text them. They need your ongoing support.
rates. Host bootcamps at your school in October to help with state applications and financial aid. FAFSA opens October 1. In California, the new Cal State Apply and the University of California applications are open. Both must be submitted by November 30. The Cal States can be submitted October 1-November 30, while the UCs can be submitted November 1-30. Both applications have students self-report their course and grades, so they need access to their most current transcripts. Please help them with their application completion and calculation of GPAs. Other public university systems are all online. Help students!!! Visit North Carolina’s site for great materials.
Inform students about college application fee waivers. Students who qualify for free or reduced lunch qualify for fee waivers for most college applications. The Cal States and UCs allow students to apply to four of their campuses for free. Private colleges accept NACAC or College Board fee waivers or will waive fees if counselors, teachers, or students request them for students. 
Explore great online sites to promote students and financial aid. Zeemee is great way for students to promote themselves via short videos. 
We send our students away, and in October they begin to get very homesick. Their parents often can’t visit them, and they are beginning to struggle, at times, with their workload. So please keep in touch with freshmen. Send them care packages. Or just FB message or text them. They need your ongoing support.
