About the event
Welcome to the Class of 2021 Virtual Kickoff Convening, where CollegePoint advisors from CollegePoint’s four advising partners come together to learn, discuss and share best practices about virtual college advising. We look forward to seeing you there!
Leadership convening: Monday, August 3rd, 2020
Advisor convening: Tuesday, August 4th to Friday, August 7th, 2020
CollegePoint advisors and staff convened at Georgia Institute of Technology in January 2020 to share best practices and strategies for increasing family engagement during the college decision-making process.
Recordings
Agenda
The advisor kickoff convening will follow three major themes: (1) CollegePoint’s mission, (2) Student and Family Well-Being, and (3) Financial Aid. Each theme will focus on the tools and skills needed to support students and their families in completing college and financial aid applications to institutions that best meet their interests, qualifications and financial needs.
Convening Handbook
The convening handbook contains helpful resources and information to reference throughout the convening and during your program year.
Required Pre-Reading
The required pre-reading provides contextual background for daily session topics and discussions.
Pre-reading for Tuesday, August 4, 2020:
- NPR: Why Many Smart, Low-Income Students Don’t Apply To Elite Schools
Download PDF. - Slate: Smart, Poor Kids Are Applying to the Wrong Colleges
Download PDF.
Pre-reading for Wednesday, August 5, 2020:
- Please review these materials from the Center for Racial Justice in Education as grounding for the Anchor Session focused on equity and inclusion in advising:
Talking About Race (PDF)
Lens of Systemic Oppression (PDF)
Children Are Not Colorblind (PDF) - Care Counts in Crisis: College Admissions Deans Respond to COVID-19 (PDF)
- Hechinger Report: STUDENT VOICE: ‘I worry that the coronavirus is going to erase access to opportunity for low-income students and students of color’
Pre-reading for Thursday, August 6, 2020:
- PBS: Amid Pandemic, Fewer Students Seek Federal Aid for College
- uAspire Report: Beyond the College Bill
- Inside Higher Ed: Minority, Low Income Freshmen Not Filling Out FAFSA
About CollegePoint
Each year, tens of thousands of hardworking, high-achieving students from low- and moderate-income families fail to apply to leading colleges and universities that they are qualified to attend.
To address this college undermatching challenge, Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the CollegePoint initiative, a coalition of nonprofit organizations and philanthropic institutions committed to increasing the number of high-achieving, low- and moderate-income students enrolling in top colleges from 1/3 of 70,000 to more than 1/2 of that same number by 2020.
Since 2014, the coalition has served over 50,000 students, and in 2020-2021, CollegePoint aims to serve 10,000 students. CollegePoint partners with respected national organizations, including ACT, College Advising Corps, College Board, College Possible, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, Matriculate, ScholarMatch and uAspire to provide students with personalized information on their college options and the associated costs, and, ultimately, to support them to apply to and enroll in top-performing colleges nationwide.