This year, more college freshmen will be moving the few belongings they have into
closet like dorm rooms, than there will be seniors walking at graduation. Students will log in
online and view the amounts of debt they owe because of college. Many will think the schooling
is not worth the debt and eventually stop attending class. If only they had learned more about
scholarships from their high school counselors, then perhaps they would not be in this situation
right now.
When college students were asked: "How did your high school counselor prepare for
college?" 6 out of 8 of them simply replied, "They didn't." High school seniors who are on the
cusp of graduating are completely unaware of the scholarships and other financial aid they could
be receiving. If high school students were better prepared for college by counselors and had a
better understanding of scholarships and various other information, more and more students
would be graduating debt free.
When Hunter Pauli, a college student at the University of Montana was asked, “How did
your high school counselor prepare for college?" He replied, “They didn’t, we had one high
school counselor and she mainly just slept in her office and she’s probably only responsible of
two-thirds of my class graduating four years later.” Hearing this information really did not come
as a surprise, considering the amount of students who graduate from high school each year
without any scholarships for their soon to be college. High school seniors who are on the cusp of
graduating are completely unaware of the scholarships and other financial aid they could be
receiving. Counselors need to split their focus for students between helping them graduate high
school and helping them graduate college, debt free.
However, this was not the case for Grayson Morh, a junior at the University of Montana.
Grayson attended high school in Boise, Idaho and his graduating class of 2011 “had a whole
division of counselors and they would pull out college applications and you could pick colleges
through them and they would help with pretty much everything.” Grayson was then fortunate
enough to receive a leadership scholarship for $6,000. Grayson’s high school counselors were
also available to help him when applying for FAFSA, a program through which he applies and
receives money each year that goes towards his college expenses.
Perhaps other high school counselors can learn from what Grayson’s counselors did and
we can input a whole division of career and college counselors that help. At Sentinel high school,
we used to have this exact career and college center; however, their positions were cut with the
budget cuts. This was a huge mistake, if students have a better understanding of college expenses
at an earlier time in their lives, then they could have more time to better plan out their college
expenses and how they are going to pay for college.
I am a senior in high school and have received absolutely no help from my counselor;
even on the occasions when I have went in specifically asking for help. I am practically the first
person in my family to attend college and both of my parents were high school drop-outs.
Therefore, neither of my parents is available to help me when it comes to applying for
scholarships and colleges. I have applied for FAFSA, but for a lot of students, that isn’t much
help, and it is obviously not going to cover all of my college expenses. I need more outside help,
including my high school counselors. To be honest, I didn’t even know what a scholarship really
was until my senior year. That’s pathetic.
Jameson Bosolough, a junior at the University of Montana had a similar experience to
mine when it came to his high school counselor. He explained to me that “there were some
nightmare stories of the counselors just forgetting to mail transcripts and people wouldn’t get
into colleges.” Fortunately for Bosolough, both of his parents attended college and they were
available to provide him with necessary information that was not provided by the school.
Jameson also thinks that counselors would be of more help by giving the students a better
“understanding of what types of scholarships are out there and tailoring that. So, when a student
comes in there they can just point the student in the right direction.”
If students had a better understanding of scholarships, they would be able to afford a
college that they actually want to attend; a college that is number one on their list. Keenan Payne
graduated from the Missoula College last year with his associates of arts and sciences in
information systems degree. However, this was not Payne’s first college choice, as he tells me, “I
couldn’t afford to move to Seattle and I couldn’t afford to go overseas and this was far enough
away from Livingston (hometown), so I could get away and still go to school.” Keenan did not
receive help from his counselors and therefore, received no scholarships. Fortunately for him, his
parents paid for his college expenses and he is slowly paying them back, so technically he has no
college debt.
To eliminate a great portion of college debt, it is essential for students to learn about
college at a younger age. If there was a division of career and college counselors input into every
high school and spoke individually with each student every year, they would be able to tailor
each scholarship for the student it fit best with. No high school senior should be graduating from
high school without scholarships considering it is in the governments best interest the students
get the best education available to them which then leads them to the necessary job to support
themselves and possibly a family.