2015 Newsletter Conference edition
Message from the president By: Jane Mathias President, NYSACAC Chair, NACAC Imagine Grant Committee Director of Guidance Nardin Academy
As hard as it is to believe, another school year is about to end and we are at the centerpiece of the NYSACAC year, our annual conference and Coming Together. College counselors are counting and orienting their new freshmen, and high school counselors have started thinking about the Class of 2016. It is time for planning, learning, and creative ideas, which are the work of summer retreats. Where better to reflect on what is past and how to improve upon it than with your colleagues over the summer? It gives our members a chance to share, to teach, to learn, to network, to make new friends and meet up with familiar ones. “The Heart of College Admissions� is within each of us and drives our daily (and often nightly) work. continued on page 3
In this issue: From
the
President
Camp College Student Leaders
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in..
Summer Institute The Need for Sharing
6 7 8-9
Using Prior-Prior Year 10-11 Campus
in
Compliance?
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Oswego College Night
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Announcements
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It has been an incredible year personally and professionally, and I am proud of what we have accomplished as an organization. The NYSACAC Executive Board has a diverse, talented, committed corps of volunteers whose belief in our mission and work makes it a priority, even when time is scarce, as it is for all of us. A sense of purpose, a sense of camaraderie, and a passion for our profession can be found at every meeting, in every program, and in every project. We agree to disagree and come to consensus in order to move forward. We are college admissions counselors and directors, high school counselors and directors, and community based organization counselors and directors. We come from across the state and bring our different perspectives to the table, enlightening each other as we go. We represent our state at NACAC, in government relations at the state and national level, and strive to provide our membership with the best quality professional development available. We also have two programs that deliver direct services to under-represented students. One of my major goals for this year had been outreach to individuals and high schools in the parts of New York that don’t have opportunities to connect. Our board members and I each contacted counselors to tell them about what we do, and to tell them how NYSACAC could help create those links. We have purposely kept the membership fees low to encourage participation. Our membership stands at more than 1800, but we know how many schools and organizations at both the high school and college level we are missing; we want to bring them to us, and us to them, as a resource and a partner in the process of leading students to the many postsecondary options available to them. Change in our profession is a certainty, from both external and internal sources. NYSACAC has been and continues to be a hub of information and training, the voice of our members, and a facilitator of relationships between and among institutions and individuals. Thank you for the opportunity to lead you during the past year, and I look forward to seeing many of you at Utica College June 9-12!
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Community outreach is one of the core objectives of the New York State Association for College Admission Counseling (NYSACAC), and Camp College is one of NYSACAC’s signature community outreach programs.
In 2015, NYSACAC’s Camp College will celebrate 16 years of preparing underserved high school students for the college admissions process. Each summer, Camp College programs are held on two college campuses in New York State, thanks to the generosity of our host institutions. Our 2015 hosts will be Siena College (July 1012) and SUNY Delhi (August 7-9). Different cohorts of students will attend each program, where they will spend three days and two nights living and learning on the campus and having an exciting and educational pre-college experience. Camp College typically engages 200 to 275 students each summer.
Camp College includes workshops on the college admissions and financial aid processes, mock college classes presented by faculty from the host institutions, a cultural show featuring student organizations, and valuable networking between admissions officers and students. Our attendees are students from first-generation and other underserved populations from across New York State. Camp College is a collegeaccess program that aims to demystify the college process and allow the students to picture themselves living and studying on a college campus. For some of them, it is their first experience on a college campus. Camp College is free of charge for students. Our Committee relies heavily on fundraising and donations to make the programs successful each year.
Our Camp College mentors include college admissions professionals, school counselors, and community-based organization counselors who all volunteer their time to mentor our students. Living in a college residence hall for a weekend also brings back fond memories of our own college experiences! The 2015 Camp College applications for students, chaperones, and mentors are currently available at nysacac.org/camp-college. For more information, please contact our Co-Directors: Marie Nocella (mnocella@siena.edu) or Doug McNabb (mcnabbd@stjohns.edu). 4
NYSACAC Student Leaders in Admissions Forum The New York State Association for College Admissions Counseling (NYSACAC) is excited to announce the date for the next Student Leaders in Admissions (SLA) Forum:
Saturday, September 12th @ University at Albany at 9:30 am SLA is an excellent opportunity for college tour guides/ambassadors/student workers in admissions and their supervisors to network and learn from each other during workshops for both students and supervisors during this one-day session. Do you have a dynamic overnight program? Do you have a successful tour guide program? Are you experienced in supervising, hiring, and training students? Are you interested in presenting on any of these or other topics? If you answered YES to any of these questions, we encourage you and your students to not only attend the Forum, but to also present at this year’s Forum. To submit a workshop proposal for this year’s Forum, please click here. All institutions that send one presenter will receive one free registration for a student to attend the Forum. Our online registration will be live shortly. Presentation space is limited so submit your proposal today! The registration fees are as follows: Member institutions: $30.00 per person Non-member institutions: $40.00 per person Late fee for registrants after August 14, 2015: $10.00 * Each presenter is invited to bring one student to the SLA Forum free of charge. We will be accepting registration on a space-available basis. Please note registration fees are non-refundable.
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Registration is Open for Summer Institute Save the Date for the 29th annual NYSACAC Summer Institute in Saratoga Springs, NY.
August 4-7, 2015 Professional Development Networking Opportunities Case Studies This 4 day intensive mentor-based institute brings new college admissions professionals (0-3 years) and high school counselors newer to the college process together with energetic and seasoned mentors to grapple with a wide range of admission counseling issues. Online registration is open!
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The Need for Sharing: A Guide for Men of Color to Develop a Sense of Self and Belonging By: Danny Tejada, Beat the Odds Program Coordinator, Children’s Defense Fund Jason Acosta, Legends Program Coordinator, Harlem RBI
Growing up, I felt like I could not talk to my parents about anything. They never talked to me about becoming a teenager or what to expect as I entered manhood. In high school, music and my best friend helped put the pieces together. From music, I learned to believe in myself. From my best friend, I learned how to treat women and fostered my appreciation for them. In college, my first male best friend helped me become more outgoing, gain confidence and learn to love myself. In addition, I was fortunate to gain two mentors-a professor and a Human Resources professional in college-both of whom helped me to discover my purpose. I realized that I enjoyed helping others by using my own life experiences. I started by mentoring two middle school students from Saratoga Springs, the town in which my college was located. I saw firsthand how my story helped push them to succeed. A year after I graduated, I began mentoring a high school student and through our interaction he learned strategies that helped him endure peer pressure and encouraged him to become open. Now in his third year in college, he is flourishing. A few months after I began working at Pace University’s Liberty Partnerships Program, one of my fellow Site Coordinators asked me to talk to her young men about their interaction with the young women in her school. The request caught me by surprise because I didn’t think I was the kind of person who could address large groups on a subject of that nature. When I agreed to facilitate a workshop, I thought about what I wished I had known when I was their age. In the weeks building up to the workshop, I started to think that conversations like this should be held on a consistent basis. The workshop was a hit with the young men. I took the summer to reflect on how I could form a young men’s group. Meeting with a young man who grew up without a father, we developed a list of characteristics that a man should embody. In the fall, I came back with topics and a format for successful sessions. At our first meeting of the Young Men’s Group, we spoke about “What It Means to be a Man.” In that meeting, we created an open space where we examined with the young men their thoughts on the subject. Towards the end, the co-presenter and I shared our personal journey into manhood. From that meeting, other topics developed such as loving yourself, having productive relationships and the importance of friendships. To keep things fresh, I had the young men brainstorm topics and invited guest speakers such as my post-undergraduate mentee. Over the summer, I created a class for young men called Building a Complete Me. The class consisted of videos and readings to help lead discussions on topics the group covered before. During the last week of the class, the young men led their own discussions. For the year I ran the group, I saw the results when some of the young men started to talk to me about how the discussions helped change their thinking. During that year, The
Fresh Air Fund invited me to do two sessions with their young men. We discussed topics such as manhood, productive relationships and meaningful friendships. The success of those sessions led to an invitation for another session where we wrapped up everything we discussed. A few months after meeting with those young men at The Fresh Air Fund, Jason Acosta created a group. For him, it all started with the question: How does one define what it means to be a man? This is a question that many young men struggle to answer and the question that sparked Jason’s interest in creating his own young men’s group. Eventually, this inquiry turned into a workshop led by administrators for students at Marist College. With Jason’s help, the workshop turned into a young men’s group called Agents of Social Change. After graduating from Marist College, Jason took the same concept from the Agents of Social Change and created the young men’s group called The Young Men’s Group of the College Connections Program at The Fresh Air Fund. His mission was to provide a safe outlet for young men to come together to discuss the everyday challenges that they face. He wanted to provide young men with guidance, support, and a sense of brotherhood while promoting academic excellence. He has found success in creating the foundation for the group with the assistance of colleagues. As a role model, he was able to engage 18 young men in discussion topics such as relationships, importance of family, financial difficulties and community violence. He concluded with a young men’s retreat that took place at The Fresh Air Fund. He invited two guest speakers from the Marist College community to facilitate workshops on life lessons that the young men would be able to encompass as they transition into adulthood. Our young men often submit to societal expectations and norms, which can hinder their growth emotionally. When we consider the adversity many face in completing high school, low rates of college enrollment and college graduation, high rates of incarceration, unemployment, homicide, STD’s and suicide faced by our young men, it is important that we provide them with a safe space, consistent support, positive guidance, a sense of brotherhood and promote academic excellence. These things will enable these young men to thrive and fly. For assistance creating a group of your own, attend our workshop called “Brotherhood, Guidance, Support: Building Up Young Men of Color” at this year’s NYSACAC Conference on Thursday. If you miss our workshop, feel free to contact me at: DanielTejadaJr@hotmail.com and Jason at jacosta@harlemrbi.org
Danny’s Mentee Gaetan Lamy (center) meets with the Young Men’s Group at Pace’s Liberty Partnerships.
The Fresh Aid Fund’s Young Men’s Group of the College Connections Program meet during their retreat.
Using Prior-Prior Year Data for the FAFSA By: Susan Davidson
College Adviser, Ramaz School To be considered for federal grants, loans and work-study, college students must file a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) each year. Currently, the FAFSA looks at prior year data when making determinations on aid. Families must file their taxes in time for an early FAFSA submission to ensure that students meet the deadlines set by colleges starting the year in which the student will be a freshman. Because much of the aid awarded is given on a first-come, first-served basis, it is even more important to file early. Researchers at NASFAA (National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators) have long hypothesized that the neediest candidates for student aid (lowest income and independent students with dependents) would benefit from FAFSA determinations being made using prior-prior year data.* For example, if a student is seeking aid for the 2015-2016 school year, she must file a FAFSA with 2015 tax data. With prior-prior year, she could use 2014 tax data. The research shows that financial aid awards would not change dramatically for the neediest populations were this policy to be instituted. Income generally stays consistent from year to year. Using prior-prior year data would allow students to file FAFSA earlier, make the process simpler and allow families to see aid packages earlier. Seems like a win-win! There are some possible unintended consequences with the use of prior-prior year data. If students are allowed to file FAFSA earlier, could there be pressure from admissions offices for earlier applications filing deadlines or could students be asked to commit to colleges earlier? As we know, this is not permitted according to the NACAC SPGP. There is also a question about prior-prior year encouraging more students to apply for financial aid. Would that increase the cost of Pell at the national level? Might increased program costs cause the federal government to cut back on their support for Pell?** For the most part, there is bi-partisan support for the use of prior-prior year data. Policymakers and counselors alike are in support of the policy. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation even donated funds to NASFAA to research the impact. The Department of Education has the power to switch the policy to prior-prior year without Congressional approval. However, they need to work out the impact on the budget before they can do so.*** Please visit the NACAC website research section here for more information about this subject.
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* A Tale of Two Income Years: Comparing Prior-prior Year and Prior-year Through Pell NASFAA http://www.nasfaa.org/ppy-report.aspx **New NASFAA Report: One Simple Policy Change Could Improve Access to Financial Aid Funds NASFAA: http://www.nasfaa.org/media/releases/New_NASFAA_Report__One_Simple_Policy_Change_Could_Improve_Access_to_Financial_Aid_Funds.aspx ***In FAFSA Simplification, Complexity by Michael Stratford: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/02/09/policy-makers-push-fafsa-simplification-colleges-andstates-worry-about-lost-data
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Is your campus in compliance? An update from the Admission Practices Committee
Following the NACAC Annual Conference in September, the Admission Practices Committee sent out a message to NYSACAC membership requesting that “if you see something, say something.” Well, we heard those voices loud and clear. The NYSACAC Admission Practices (AP) Committee is charged with “monitoring and enforcing ethical practices in the admission process for all institutions, including high schools and colleges.” The code of ethics that guides the work of this committee is the Statement of Principles of Good Practice (SPGP) of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC). The SPGP exists to protect the rights of students in the college admission and application process. Perhaps due in part to our outreach this fall or the recent updates to the SPGP or maybe just due to the ever competitive and changing nature of the admissions profession, we had a record number of inquiries made and confidential complaints filed this year. In summary, six inquiries were settled without formal complaint, five formal complaints opened were resolved and closed, and four additional inquiries were forwarded along to the national AP committee for action. As this article is being typed, there are six open complaints in various stages of being brought into compliance. The most common objections expose assorted manipulations of the May 1 deposit deadline. A big thank you is owed to those diligent school counselors who have followed up with us when they hear from their confused students and upset parents. If you are reading this and represent a college or university, you are urged to take a minute to review your admission practices. Keep in mind that per the SPGP Mandatory Practice II.B.3. “All postsecondary members agree they will permit first-year candidates for fall admission to choose among offers of admission and institutionally-affiliated financial aid and scholarships until May 1 and state this deadline explicitly in their offers of admission”. You can review the Interpretations of the Mandatory Practices for further clarification on what this means, namely that admission to majors or special programs such as H/EOP or scholarly communities cannot require an earlier deadline. Period. If you are looking to get involved with NYSACAC and are not sure how, consider becoming a member of the AP Committee. The time commitment is minimal but can be a great learning experience in regard to the ethical standards we hold for college admission counseling as members of this professional organization. Those interested should contact the committee co-chairs at admission.practices@nysacac.org.
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Oswego College Night a Huge Success By: Lisa Roman School Counselor, Oswego High School President, Oswego County Counselors Association (OsCCA)
Hundreds of students and parents filled the Marano Campus Center concourse on Monday, April 27th, to meet with over 60 college representatives at the only evening college fair offered in Oswego County. The Oswego County Counselors Association (OsCCA) in conjunction with SUNY Oswego offered this event to allow families in Oswego County the opportunity to gain information first-hand from colleges of interest. This college fair debuted last spring and based on its success, was planned again for this spring. In addition to the college fair itself, participants could also attend one of two brief information sessions regarding navigating through the college search and application process. Based on feedback from participants and college representatives, this fair was a huge benefit for Oswego County families. The Oswego County Counselors Association is a professional organization comprised of school counselors in every school district in Oswego County. These counselors meet monthly to collaborate and discuss issues affecting students and families in Oswego County. In addition, this organization also organizes two college fairs, this spring fair at SUNY Oswego and another one in the fall that has been held at the Cayuga Community College Fulton campus over the past few years. In addition, OsCCA also offers scholarships to high school seniors from every school in Oswego County.
Announcements!
A place to share personal and professional news about NYSACAC members.
Congratulations! Meghan DeMayo-Dalen, Client Development Strategist at Spark451 and chair of the NYSACAC Newsletter Committee, and her husband Dave welcomed a new baby boy to their family. Wyatt Louis Dalen was born on Sunday, April 19, 2015 at 11:42 am, weighing 5 lbs, 3 oz and measuring 18.5 inches. Meghan is enjoying her maternity leave with Wyatt and Bella (their beagle).
Jaymes White, California Lutheran University class of 2009 was selected to the CLU alumni board. Jaymes will serve on the universities relations committee. James is a school counselor at Duanesburg Central School District. After a little more than two years with great mentors and students, Danny Tejada has moved on from Pace University’s Liberty Partnerships Program. He now leads the Beat the Odds Program at the Children’s Defense Fund in New York City. It’s another homecoming for him as he won the scholarship in high school.
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Newsletter Committee: Meghan DeMayo-Dalen Client Development Strategist Spark451 Christine Loo College Advisor Archbishop Molloy High School Cristina Rivas-Laline School Counselor Plainview Old-Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School
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