How some college counselors are fighting back against pandemic-induced enrollment decline

COURTESY OF: CalMatters.org Brian Cruz photographed at Valley-Wide Recreation and Park District in San Jacinto on June 13, 2021. Photo by Nalani Hernandez-Melo for CalMatters In summary Thousands of California high school graduates didn’t go to college last year due to the pandemic. The drop, which mostly affected community colleges, might be temporary, but it showed the need to provide …

The Missing Students of The Pandemic

COURTESY OF: WashingtonPost.com INDIO, Calif. — Rich Pimentel had already tried searching in a trailer park and a migrant camp when he started driving toward the third and final address listed in the student’s school file. He followed his GPS to a neighborhood on the edge of the desert, an oasis of palm trees and swimming pools protected by a …

California Sees Steep Decline in Financial Aid Applications

COURTESY OF: PPIC.org The deadline to complete financial aid applications for fall 2021 passed last week, and preliminary data suggest that many California high school graduates may miss out on funding that helps provide access to college. Financial aid applications especially important for supporting college enrollment among low-income and other underrepresented students, including African Americans and Latinos. While the COVID-19 …

Pandemic Has Changed Main Challenges of School Counselors

COURTESY OF: TheJournal.com For once, the number of students an individual school counselor is responsible for advising wasn’t the overwhelming choice when they were asked to examine their day-to-day challenges. Many more school counselors responded that the big obstacles were getting access to students in a virtual environment (cited by 68 percent) and providing counseling and lessons to students in …

Financial aid applications lag among California high school seniors

COURTESY OF: EdSource Applications drop off especially among low-income students. With just a couple of weeks to go before the state filing deadline, far fewer California high school students have completed college financial aid applications than is typical. Applications from students age 18 and under are down from previous years. As of Feb 15, only 314,855 students under age 18 completed …

UC to Launch Its First Bachelor’s Program in Prison

COURTESY OF: KQED News UC Irvine and the state prison system have reached a deal to create the first University of California bachelor’s degree program behind bars. Since California opened the door for community colleges to teach in prisons in 2014, some 2,000 incarcerated men and women across the state have earned associate degrees, said Brant Choate, director of rehabilitative …