Posted by Beardy

February 25, 2009, 11:23 pm

When I was a high school student in Canada, applying to college was simple.  I walked down to my guidance counselor’s office, filled out some forms indicating my top three college choices, and that was more or less it.  Or maybe I took the forms away, filled them out, and brought them back.  I honestly can’t remember, it was such a low-stress experience.  But that was then and there.  This is here and now:  the United States in the 21^st century, and getting to college is a very big deal.

Reams have been written on how best to prepare for the academic and social experience that a four-year college has to offer:  how to choose appropriately rigorous high school courses, how to navigate the application process, how to pay for what is an increasingly expensive education.  Indeed, so much is available that it seems almost misleading to point to any particular publications, but I can’t resist highlighting the work of the Lumina Foundation, an Indianapolis based grant-making foundation that “strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access to and success in education beyond high school.”  Lumina has a fine series of publications on questions about access to college and success once you get there (www.luminafoundation.org). 

Other national organizations address the same set of issues.  Two that come to mind are Pathways to College, an “alliance” that “advances college opportunity for underserved students by raising public awareness, supporting innovative research, and promoting evidence-based policies and practices across the K-12 and higher education sectors” (www.pathwaystocollege.net) and the Education Conservancy, which “calms the frenzy and hype that plague contemporary college admissions” and focuses attention on college admissions as an “educational process” that helps students find the college that is best for them (and vice versa) (www.educationconservancy.org).  There are many more.  

Regional and local organizations are just as important in helping students make their way.  My work at the Teagle Foundation in New York City has impressed on me just how many community-based organizations offer extraordinary services to city residents.  One valuable resource is the College Access Consortium of NY (CACNY), a “network of community-based organizations, colleges and secondary schools committed to assisting students in obtaining admission into institutions of higher education” (http://www.cacny.com).  Individual organizations also offer imaginative and effective programming, some in concert with schools and some independently (www.teagle.org lists a few but there are many more fine organizations out there than Teagle is able to support).  And of course, for many people, high school guidance counselors, parents and friends can be invaluable sources of information.   

So there is lots of good help available to help students on the road to college.  But once you get to college, what then?  What are the hurdles?  That’ll be my next blog, when I’ll draw on what I’ve learned from my foundation work, as well as from my time as a college professor and my informal contact with current college students.  Stay tuned. 

Donna Heiland

Vice President

Teagle Foundation

• Add new comment