My school district, Broward County Public Schools, is the 6th largest in the nation. And with an enrollment of about 4,714 students, my local public high school is one of the largest in Broward County — and in the nation. For perspective, it has roughly the same enrollment as my college, Tufts University, did when I went there in the late 80s.
That said, this high school boasts a student-to-teacher ratio of 23:1 –which is good — on par with national recommendations. It has stellar graduation rates and most of the students who attend wish to be college bound. You would think, therefore, that the college guidance numbers would also best the averages. You would, unfortunately, be wrong. And it’s become a really big problem for the majority of the students (especially those competitively positioned in the middle-to-upper middle of the class).
When school started last month, students were introduced to a new software system to manage their college applications. The new system, Xello, can make the process of applying to college easier.
Unless of course no one knows how to use it!
Since my practice is based in South Florida — and I have developed my own software not to mention a decade of experience at a global tech company — I’ve become familiar with this new system.
Unfortunately, nearly all of my 12th grade students who are applying to college — and worse, their school counselors — have not.
It’s not really their fault. There are far too few counselors on staff to begin with. And most of them, including the faculty expected to utilize the software to send applications, school reports, student transcripts, recommendations and test scores to colleges, seem to have been caught completely unaware of the change in software, and were never taught how use it.
I know this because I meet with many 12th graders from various high schools in the county. The truth is that the steps are not that complicated, if you know where to go. But if you don’t, then your college application will be indefinitely perceived as incomplete and you’ll have no chance at getting accepted anywhere. As of this writing, at least one high school in Broward County (the one in my town) has already dumped Xello, de-linking it from the Common App. Consider that we’re not even one month into the school year — and college applications are due at some schools in just 4 weeks from now and they’ve said “to heck with this system”. Yikes.
Students were simply unable to meet with their counselors to get proper support, including instructions on using Xello. And while this particular story may be unique to South Florida, the atrocious access to college guidance is not. Covid exacerbated what was already a precipitous decline in school counseling. Students in schools across the nation are finding it increasingly difficult to get any counseling – let alone college specific counseling.
The American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a maximum of 250 students for every school counselor; the national average is 385 students for every school counselor. Frankly, these numbers represent the bare minimum of what is acceptable, and they’re far worse when you consider that on average, a school counselor will only spend 20% of their time counseling a student about post-high school plans.
The consequences to students are mounting. We are able to link college guidance in high school to better student performance in college, including greater completion degrees in four years, lower student debt and better post-college job access. The tangible costs to students are mounting as well.
The challenging rollout of Xello in one of the largest school districts is just the latest example of a what may have been a well-intended, but poorly conceived ‘helpful’ new college guidance initiative. See also last year’s FAFSA cluster, which was so poorly implemented that fewer than 1/3 of families said that the new system was easier to utilize, and which experts have estimated has left billions of unclaimed scholarship and grant dollars on the table.
In both cases, it’s our students who suffer the consequences. Public schools are just too under-resourced and college guidance is consequently too under-valued by them to provide the kind of supports required for students to compete in today’s admissions and funding landscape.
Last year I helped over 100 students complete their college applications, consulted with nonprofits and multiple private school planning offices, and personally helped 100’s of families prepare and submit the FAFSA and CSS Profile (federal and institutional financial aid and merit scholarship documents).
It’s all quite complicated (despite, or perhaps because of, all the technology proposed to ‘simplify’ everything). Both the college admissions and funding processes require a nuanced understanding of the rules and the systems. Now more than ever before.
To that point, according to one of my inside sources, there are multiple independent contractors working on different aspects of the FAFSA. These contractors don’t often communicate with each other, which means you have one large software company implementing the student and parent interface, while another large software company is implementing the college/university interface, and still another may manage the IRS interface. And if you think the Common App or the FAFSA is complicated, then your stomach will get queasy and your head will start pounding when you look at the CSS Profile. This laborious application is required by numerous colleges, including many elite private schools (Ivy League and others) as well as Michigan, Virginia, UNC and GA Tech, for institutional grants. It’s lengthy, it’s invasive, and some of the questions are tricky. A mistake in any of these can cost a family thousands in potential institutional grants (I’ve seen this happen).
If you’re the parent of a high school student in 9-11th grade, don’t wait until your child enters 12th grade to start looking for college guidance. You’ll want to get started much earlier so that your kiddo has every advantage in this hyper-competitive college admissions environment. if you’re wondering where to get started, simply reply to this email or give us a call.
I see way to many families who put this off until the last minute, waiting until their child enters 12th grade to get a handle on college applications or its costs. This is the absolute WRONG approach, and it can cost your child in missed admissions options, not to mention thousands in grants or scholarship. You should start your college research as a family (and yes, that means meeting with your child’s counselor) well in advance – preferably when your child is in 10th grade.
The good news is that I’m holding an upcoming webinar on College Funding 101 on September 25th at 7:00 PM ET. Though the emphasis of the program is on funding, making college affordable for America’s ‘Forgotten Middle Class’ requires the integration of a college admissions strategy with a college funding strategy. You can no longer afford (literally) to separate the two – the strategy and thus your tactics must reflect your child’s admissions aspirations AND your budget from the outset.
For this class, we’re expecting a large turnout – we already have a significant group pre-registered. You can join them by clicking here. We’ll cover topics like:
- What steps every family should follow, beginning in 10th grade, to shave between $8,000 and $80,000 off the cost of the colleges that they’re considering.
- How Universities Set & then DISCOUNT their prices and Why
- How Universities Use The Financial Aid Formulas To Determine Need; Which Assets To Count — At Which Schools
- Changes to the FAFSA that can either help or hurt you
- The single biggest mistake made by families who have 529 and similar prepaid tuition plans
- How certain ‘expensive’, private universities can actually have a lower net cost than a state university
- How To ‘Negotiate’ With Colleges To Get a Better ‘Offer’
- MORE!
Hopefully you’ll join us and regardless of how overwhelmed the process may seem right now, you’ll have some peace knowing that you took the first step. In the meantime, feel free to reach out at info@yourcollegeconcierge.com with any questions.
