“Eighty-six percent of Hispanic students in the United States are native born. Two-thirds of the U.S. Hispanic population are native born. Too often, from a policy perspective, Hispanics are seen as a ‘them’ instead of an ‘us.’ We are not ‘them,’ we are ‘us.’”

Deborah A. Santiago, vice president for policy and research at Excelencia in Education (www.edexcelencia.org)

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“It’s my responsibility to the membership to understand issues of concern in New England and take those back to the College Board national assembly. … While much of the agenda today is about providing information, moving forward, my goal is to hear your concerns and make these meetings even more interactive and relevant. I would like to implement more communication throughout the year. Feel free to contact me if you have any ideas or issues that we should be focused on.”

Ronné Turner, dean of admissions at Northeastern University and regionally elected member of the Guidance and Admission Assembly, at the NERO Guidance and Admission Assembly meeting.

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“In the wake of the economic crisis, we are able to send families to our [online net cost] calculator so they can see what their eligibility will be if they were to experience a job change or layoff.”

Caesar Storlazzi, university director of student financial services at Yale University, at his session, “Online Calculators: Transparency for Families/Enormous Challenges for Institutes.”

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“The pressure to budget accurately [in financial aid offices] is tremendous in this atmosphere — you don’t want someone in your institution to get laid off because you budgeted incorrectly.”

Christine McGuire, executive director of financial assistance at Boston University, on the topic of predicting the increase in need for financial aid.

The Impact of the Financial Crisis Is
Recurring Theme at Forum

Attendees at the meeting of the Guidance and Admission Assembly Council

The 2009 New England Regional Forum started the day after the Super Bowl, and with the New England Patriots out of the running, attendees got right down to business. It was clear that for most who gathered, the economy was a top-of-mind issue. James Glassman, managing director and senior economist at JPMorgan Chase, addressed the assembly meetings and provided an overview of the current state of the U.S. economy. He emphasized that our economy wants to grow, and pointed out that where the U.S. economy has faltered in the past, it has always recovered.

In his report at the annual meeting, Donald Honeman, associate vice chancellor of enrollment management at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and College Board Trustee, spoke about how College Board operations were affected by the downturn. “College Board leadership and Trustees are striking the right balance between mission and cost management,” he said. “There is no retreat from our basic mission, because we are also at a time when the need for strong leadership in education is at its highest.”

Gary Meunier, school counselor at Weston High School in Weston, Conn., spoke about the intersection between the College Board’s advocacy efforts and public policy for education. “Your voices are heard,” he told audience members at the Guidance and Admission Assembly meeting. “New England is a very complex region to represent. We speak with the proud voice of the colonists, as they say, and it makes for rich discussions. These are tough times to face, and we are having more serious discussions than we have had in a long time, but this is also an exciting time for education with the new administration.”

Several breakout sessions focused on the educator’s role in helping families and students who are worried about affording college. Peter Giumette, dean of student financial services at Yale University, and Caesar Storlazzi, university director of student financial services at Yale, discussed the planning and execution of Yale’s online net cost calculator for families. Discussions also focused on the new legislative requirements for the posting of similar calculators. At the Financial Aid Assembly, Christine McGuire, executive director of financial assistance at Boston University, and Lucia Whittlesey, director of financial aid at Colby College, led an active fact-finding discussion about how members were handling the increased demand for financial aid on campuses. For example, Patricia Reilly, director of financial aid at Tufts University, offered: “This year we’re using an official appeal form for financial aid and refining the procedure to make it easier for families to get through the process [of appealing for more aid].”

 

At a Feb. 2 breakout session, six educators from Androscoggin County in Maine talked about their collective efforts to increase opportunities for higher education in their region through counseling and outreach efforts.

Jan Phillips, associate dean for outreach at the University of Southern Maine, explained that the county has a high poverty rate and a large refugee population. Only 14 percent of adults have earned a bachelor’s degree, compared to the overall rate in New England of 32 percent. “We’re a working class community,” she said. “Textile mills played a large role in our recent history. People used to be able to earn a decent living with an eighth-grade education.” As a result, the schools have a high population of students who would be first-generation college students.

Phillips was joined by panelists Linda Sturm, director of guidance at South Portland High School; Joan Macri, associate director for LearningWorks at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College; Billie Jo Brito of Lewiston Middle School; Debra Cloutier-Baggs, guidance counselor, AP Coordinator and advisory-advisee program coordinator at Lewiston High School; and Hillary Bush, director of guidance at Poland Regional High School. They were brought together by the question, “How do you change a culture quickly?”

“On a meta-level, how do you systematically move forward, not just within the schools but for incumbent adult workers?” Phillips asked. “We realize you need multiple stakeholders — higher education and local businesses — to quickly join you.”

The group talked about the Androscoggin Area Guidance Community, a group of counselors from seven area high schools who have been meeting on a monthly basis for 10 years to share best practices and look at countywide statistics. Together with the higher education partners, they’ve set up a series of successful initiatives, including “College 101” for juniors, “Admissions in a Day” for seniors and an annual career fair for sophomores. Cloutier-Baggs advised audience members looking to start a career fair, “If you can get your chamber of commerce on board, they’re a big help.”

Other countywide initiatives include a high school graduation requirement of completing at least one college application (each student receives $20 toward the application fee), college information for middle school students, college advisory programs and trips to college campuses. Students can also take advantage of “Aspiration Labs,” where they can get advice on applying to college, make long-distance calls, use office supplies or fill out a Common Application on the spot. Staffed all day, the Aspiration Labs are modeled on America’s kitchen table, a place where families often sit and talk about applying to college. The panel noted that would-be first-generation college students or English language learners may not always have the opportunity to have those conversations at home.