After I was crowned Miss New Hampshire, I emailed school districts across the state and offered my services as a free college counselor. Although I am currently pursuing my graduate degree in higher and postsecondary education with an emphasis in policy, I have experience in college and career counseling from my tenure in the Department of Residential Life at the University of New Hampshire and multiple mentorships with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
The chair of the guidance department from Central High School emailed me almost immediately. We discussed the possibility of a weekly “class” I developed that guided students, step-by-step, through the college and financial aid application processes. Throughout the summer, the “class” evolved into a college counseling program that would become the ManchFAF$A Initiative, a program started in 2016 but stalled after a grant expired. After weeks of referencing my notes from my first year of grad school, the program became a post-secondary and financial aid education program complete with wrap-around services.
I admit I was, and still am, terrified that I will not be able to help the students I work with to the level they deserve. I also think that all educators and counselors feel this way. I have a new appreciation for the work guidance counselors do, and an understanding of how underappreciated they actually are. Guiding a student through the college application process does, and should, come second to saving a child from the pressing opioid epidemic or ensuring that she has a roof over her head at night. Nevertheless, they strive to see their students succeed and thrive during and after high school. SCHOOL BOARDS: PAY YOUR GUIDANCE COUNSELORS MORE (and hire a full-time college counselor)!
So what do I do? I will not delve into the details of my work, because the stories students share with me are not my own to tell. The following is a very broad overview of my time with the Manchester School District.
Once or twice a week (and on call via phone and email), I serve as a college and financial aid counselor at West High School and Central High School in Manchester, New Hampshire. The students I work with are generally from low-income families, in a state of homelessness, or refugees. In total, I have worked one-on-one with about forty students. I have a binder with students’ application timeline checklists to track progress, paper applications for all of New Hampshire’s community colleges (which are some of the best in the nation), application fee waivers, scholarship packets (to track the number of community scholarships each student applies to), envelopes, and stamps. I have a Google Drive folder with a spreadsheet for each student that lays out the total cost of tuition and financial aid packages for every institution applied to, federal aid (grant and loans) received, amount of community aid received (from scholarship packets), and a “gap” (which we fill with community scholarships or begin to discuss private loan options).
My favorite part of my job is watching a student compute how much it will actually cost him or her to go to college. If a student is eligible for a Pell Grant (most of my students are), he or she will be able to attend community college almost for free. Typically, they will have to take out about $1,000 from their subsidized federal loan, but that’s it. If they receive just $2,000 in community scholarships, their entire education is paid for.
Perhaps some people reading this have the attitude of “why should they get their education paid for but my kid has to pay (insert amount here)?” My response: a Pell Grant does not even scratch the surface of making up a lifetime of lack of opportunities due to financial, social, and structural inequalities. You can’t pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you don’t even know where your boots are. If you want to debate me on this, feel free to email me. But know that you might get schooled.
This has been the most meaningful experience of my life. I cried with students when they realize that they will be the first in their family to not only graduate high school, but go to college, and live somewhere with a roof over their head. I laid awake after reading a college essay regarding a student’s trauma of escaping genocide. I received calls from parents in my side-hustle’s bathroom (a restaurant, usually two days a week, for gas money) to discuss the status of a father’s green card. I corresponded with recruiters and coaches regarding promising young athletes. I met with parents and interpreters to ensure smooth lines of communication. I submitted about fifteen college applications and filed about thirty FAFSAs with students and their families.
If it takes a village to raise a child, we must give our children a supportive and positive village to grow in. It has been an honor and a privilege to be a part of their village. These kids have grit, and deserve every opportunity in the world.
