Counseling for College Prep

While the college-going experience may evolve, it is not going away. In this online course, you will prepare for a vital role where you support students' post-secondary aspirations as we also explore how critical your role is to the evolution of our communities.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

Currently Enrolling

Offered in partnership with your preferred school

Spartanburg Community College

Change School

Learning method

Self-Guided

$129

No instructor. Study on your own schedule

Enroll Now

Instructor-Moderated

$129

Confirm your start date in cart

Starting April 16 | May 14

Details + Objectives

Course code: ccp

The Counseling for College Prep course will explore various aspects of supporting your students in their post-graduation aspirations. While students' backgrounds, situations, and dreams are all different, this online guidance counselor course will discuss how your role is similar for each. You will explore how becoming a student's host can help them see that life can be different and what it takes to support them to succeed.

You will also explore building a toolbox of resources to use for college counseling to support students' discovery and planning processes—no matter their background. You will learn to assemble a network of other professionals that can help, including at a national and local community level.

What you will learn

Apply the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) model to advocate for college readiness for every student in a school setting.
Analyze current best practices for promoting college readiness.
Demonstrate how to plan, organize, and deliver college and alternative options to all students.
Demonstrate advocacy for younger students, in early and ongoing exposure to comprehensive K-12 college and post-secondary program experiences.
Demonstrate the basics of financial planning counseling for college and alternative post-secondary educational experiences.

How you will benefit

You will walk away with resources and plans for supporting graduation advocacy for every student.
This course will provide tools and guidance for improving your school's current graduation and post-secondary planning efforts for every student.
The assignments will help you carry out improvement initiatives and to build your toolbox for supporting your students and their families, as you complete them.

How the course is taught

Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours

Outline

In this lesson, you will discuss the culturally driven, overarching concept of the college-going culture. You will explore ongoing trends that help manifest the college-going culture. You will consider fiscally responsible paths for many students and the need for early intervention in this substantial decision-making process. Finally, you will look at current trends in business and industry that may drive different decisions from those our generations made for these young, soon-to-be graduates as they move on into college and other educational paths.

Now you will clarify your role as a professional in helping students prepare for selection and admissions processes for post-secondary school. You will solicit community engagement and outreach networks for resources to support your students. You will consider ethical and legal considerations for your role in this process. Finally, you will summarize the key aspects of your role in understanding and explaining financial aid and funding sources to help your students achieve their post-secondary school vision.

This lesson delves into the American School Counselor Association's position on the role of a school counselor and a model for school counselor programs in schools. It will help you better understand the ASCA model and the role of a school counselor. You will review insights, information, and best practices for establishing a graduation and career-preparation culture. You will discuss the model and create a plan for assessing your school's current graduation and career-preparation culture and identifying gaps between that and the desired future vision. You will finally discuss how to engage internal and external resources to support improvement in graduation and career preparation advocacy.

This lesson expands on the need to build a network and a toolbox to support your students' college aspirations. This process includes connecting with professionals in local educational institutions. In this lesson, we will dig a bit deeper into best practices for navigating a college-going culture. This will include adding to your toolbox with real examples of what your peers are doing to build a college-going culture. You will discuss supporting students from different demographic populations and special populations. Finally, you will learn about military options and resources for your students.

This lesson will help you understand the origin of the community college. It will also explore reasons for current-day community colleges. It will help you understand what they currently offer for your students so you can have more efficient college-going decision conversations with your students. Finally, it will discuss and help you discuss the financial investment and return of a community college. The goal of this lesson is to help you add to your network and toolbox to help students for whom a community college is a great option.

In this lesson, you will learn about college visits and fairs. You likely have some experience or knowledge of these events. However, this lesson will look a bit deeper at the logistics of setting up your fairs and coordinating with local institutions. You will also explore how to use these events to set up financial workshops to help your students and families understand and plan for the economic requirements of college. You will consider how to also partner with local U.S. military recruiters to set up similar events for your students who are interested in that path. Finally, you will assess your toolbox for coordinating these events and add to it as you work through the lesson and assignment.

In this lesson, you will learn about connecting your students with community resources that can help them prepare for college. You will learn about national and local community resources that can help them and you in the process. You will discuss the barriers your students will face in connecting with and gaining support from community resources. You will consider how parent engagement strengthens these connections. Finally, you will explore ways to help your students bridge the gap between where they are now and where they want to be post-graduation.

In this lesson, you will learn about helping students with disabilities prepare for and transition to post-secondary aspirations. These considerations include life skills, college, and careers. You will look at how the law changes when they leave high school. We will discuss case management and the transition to college or other post-secondary goals. You will consider the student's desired plan and discuss how to help them achieve it. Finally, we will discuss students who are challenged with social-emotional obstacles during high school. Specifically, we will look at those kids that were possibly underrepresented during high school.

In this lesson, you will learn to examine the study habits of students who were successful in college or post-secondary education. You will distinguish study techniques used by students preparing to attend trade and apprenticeships that may be similar to or different from those attending a four-year college. Finally, you will consider the academic habits and study methods used by students who successfully navigated a proprietary or licensing institution.

In this lesson, you will learn about the early and ongoing exposure of elementary, middle, and high school students to post-secondary planning. We will discuss experiential processes and models to help younger students consider career and college conversations throughout their entire educational experience. Finally, we will explore strategies to help parents or guardians with resources to help with the college-going and career conversations and planning.

In this lesson, you will learn about investment conversations and strategies when determining how to finance a college or post-secondary educational experience. You will consider the financial implications of financial instruments intended to support the college-going experience. You will look at the world of scholarships and ways to help students achieve a college degree without decades of debt. You will compile lists of resources that will help your students and their families when making these often life-changing decisions. This is a time that students and their families need a host—they need you and other professionals to support this journey.

In this lesson, you will learn about assessing your post-secondary education planning programs, toolboxes, and networks. You will consider how your current process supports diverse populations of students who will face inclusion and equity issues in the college selection and admissions processes. You will explore how your current programming and toolbox are prepared to support diverse student populations including commuters, in-resident, and distance-learning post-secondary college-going situations. You will look at how effectively your program is set up to support students with disabilities, adult learners, and student-athletes. Finally, you will consider the unique needs of international and transfer students as well as first-generation and dually enrolled students. This lesson will ask you to analyze your current program and commit to improving it in areas that may be deficient.

Instructors & Support

Terry Farris

Terry Farris has over 20 years of experience working in career-based and liberal arts education. He has worked in the areas of financial aid, compliance, academics, enrollment management, and career placement over the course of his career.

Currently, Terry works as the Director of Virtual Career Days at Everytale, Inc. Prior to this role, he spent many years assisting team members and graduates with becoming skilled individuals from a career perspective. He also has taught college mathematics, communications, and professional development to a wide range of students.

Terry holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in both Marketing and Management from Fairmont State University, his Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Business Administration from Colorado Technical University, and his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Education from Walden University.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Requirements

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

PC: Windows 10 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Microsoft Word Online
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

FAQ

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for school and career counselors and advisors was $60,510 in 2021, with 11% job growth expected by 2030. As of Jun 10, 2022, ZipRecruiter reports that the average annual pay for a college counselor in the U.S. is $73,080 a year.

Counseling for College Prep

Spartanburg Community College