Welcome to our monthly newsletter!

Welcome back to our monthly newsletter! Below you will find a link to a page on our website highlighting what students should be working on this month, important news in higher education, new blog posts, and other resources we feel are important to share. Enjoy!

Monthly College Updates! Welcome to our monthly update on the college search and application process. Each month, we'll be updating the link below to our webpage and including it in our newsletter, so that all of our subscribers can access summaries of what they should be thinking about at this point in the college search process. These updates will mostly focus on the junior and senior classes. Freshmen and sophomores should focus on maintaining good grades, academically pushing themselves, getting involved in extracurriculars, and making sure their summers incorporate meaningful experiences for growth. View Monthly College Updates!

Haven't joined our mailing list yet? Virtual College Counselors believes every student and family should have access to expert advice on the college search and application journey, regardless of any financial or time constraints. By signing up for our newsletter, in addition to monthly college search and application updates, you will also receive a Free College Search Starter Kit PDF containing the following starter guides: ​ ​- The College Application Timeline - Discovering College Fit - College Essay Tips - Common College Essay Pitfalls - Introduction to Financial Aid 101 Send Me The Starter Kit!

New Blog Post:
High Point University: Counselor Fly-In Reflections

Jessica and Sawyer reflect on their recent counselor fly-in experiences at High Point University. Counselor fly-in programs are special events colleges and universities host for college counselors. These events are often longer, multiple days, and allow counselors to gain a more in-depth and nuanced understanding of an institution. Read our new blog post to hear thoughts and insights from both Jessica and Sawyer based on their counselor fly-in experience!

Higher Education in the News

• The past several weeks have brought a whirlwind of political events that have led to both immediate and potentially significant changes to the American education system. In an attempt to highlight these important events, without taking over our entire newsletter, we're going to use a rapid-fire bullet point list to catch you up:
  • President Trump and his administration have issued a slew of executive orders over the past month relating to education, some taking effect immediately while others are currently being challenged in courts or delayed before they take effect.
  • "Newly confirmed U.S. secretary of defense Pete Hegseth issued a memo Jan. 29 ordering the Department of Defense to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and offices—including race-conscious admissions at military academies." This is one of several changes stemming from one of President Trump's recent executive orders to "end “illegal” diversity, equity and inclusion policies." This executive order has also resulted in "dozens of employees at the U.S. Education Department were put on paid administrative leave."
  • The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is eliminating the nonbinary gender identity option after "President Trump signed an executive order last month declaring that there are only two sexes, male and female." President Trump has also signed an executive order to "prevent people who were biologically assigned male at birth from participating in women’s or girls’ sporting events."
  • "The Trump administration is opening new investigations into allegations of antisemitism at five U.S. universities including Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, the Education Department announced Monday... In an order signed last week, Trump called for aggressive action to fight anti-Jewish bias on campuses, including the deportation of foreign students who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests."
  • Amidst all these other implemented or planned changes, there has been a consistent discussion about President Trump's plans for the Department of Education and what, if any, effects that might have on the FAFSA and financial aid for college and graduate school students.
• ​The University of North Carolina (UNC) uses AI to evaluate the writing quality of admissions essays, according to admissions guidelines obtained by The Daily Tar Heel. The AI assigns a score based on grammar, word choice, sentence structure, and length, but UNC emphasizes that human readers still assess essays holistically. UNC has not disclosed how the AI evaluates essays or how much influence these scores have on admissions decisions. Despite the AI tool, UNC ranks essays as “very important” in its application process and states that final admissions decisions are made by human readers. While AI can help manage the increasing volume of applications—UNC received a record 73,000 in 2023-24—it has also raised concerns about fairness, especially as students themselves may use AI to write essays.
• Surprising many higher education professionals, college enrollment in the U.S. increased by 4.5% in fall 2024, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and easing concerns about declining interest in higher education. Freshman enrollment grew by 5.5%, driven by older first-year students, while community colleges saw significant gains with a 7.1% rise in freshman enrollment. Experts view the increase as a sign that students still see the benefits of higher education, which is crucial for filling upcoming labor shortages and meeting the growing demand for skilled workers in the U.S. economy.
• A recent Pew Research Center poll shows that 26% of teens aged 13-17 now use ChatGPT for homework, doubling from 13% in 2023. While over half of students (54%) are comfortable using AI for researching new topics, only 18% find it acceptable for writing essays. Initially, some school districts banned ChatGPT over concerns of misuse, but many have since eased restrictions, with some even implementing their own AI tools. However, concerns remain about the lack of state regulation, inconsistent grading outcomes, and the potential impact of AI on students’ education.

2024-2025 FAFSA Officially Opened!

Don't forget to keep tabs on financial aid application deadlines (for FAFSA, the CSS Profile, state-specific, and institution-specific forms, whichever are applicable for your specific schools of interest), in addition to general admission application deadlines.
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It is also critical that students check their email inboxes daily for any correspondence from schools to which they've applied or intend to apply. Lastly, students should be sure to set up their prospective student portals for each school as soon as the login information is sent to them to ensure all application materials are received by the appropriate deadlines.

• The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is officially open!
• ​Some schools use the CSS Profile to determine eligibility for institutional aid. It's a doozy of a form! The list linked at the beginning of this bullet point is the most complete one that exists. Every school has its own deadline when the form needs to be received for aid consideration, so this is a friendly reminder to pay close attention to those deadlines.
• We've been strongly encouraging all students to pay close attention to application requirements for each school and to submit their applications at least a week before institutional deadlines for three primary reasons:
  • Once the application is received and processed, schools will provide students access to a prospective student portal. This is important because it's where students can track which materials have been received and which are still outstanding. Most schools provide a cushion of a few days for counselors and teachers to submit their materials, but some don't.
  • Some schools have additional essay prompts or requirements that can only be accessed through the portal! The most common additional requirement is the Self-Reported Student Record. Information about all requirements can be found on each institution's website, but it never hurts to have another set of eyes double-checking for these important pieces.
  • The application systems tend to get overrun and often crash on the days of major college deadlines.

That finish line is right around the corner, and we are excited to be crossing it with you on this journey! Our wonderful colleagues at Big J Consulting have broken down the important information you need to know when completing these forms for the first time in this helpful blog. We highly recommend using this as a guide as you navigate the forms.

If you'd like more information on the current discourse about the FAFSA delays, we'd suggest looking into the following articles:

Relevant Virtual College Counselor Blogs:

• ​How to Understand Your Financial Aid Letter
• ​Applying for Financial Aid: A Step-by-Step Guide​
• ​What is a Financial Aid Appeal?​
• ​Can You Stack Scholarships?​

Relevant Outside Blogs/Resources:

• ​Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)​
• ​College Scholarship Service Profile (CSS Profile)​​​
• ​Big J Educational Consulting's blog page (this is a helpful resource to have all of your questions answered about the changes to FAFSA for this year, and what to expect in subsequent years.
• ​A helpful infographic from studentaid.gov​​
• ​How to determine if the parent is a contributor on the FAFSA​
• ​Information about Taxable Scholarship Reporting​

Academic Coaching Highlight:

Calibrate Academic Coaching

We want to once again express our gratitude to all of our students, their families, other professionals, and even strangers who have taken the time to peruse our newsletter. As always, if you have questions OR if you have a topic you'd like to see discussed, please don't hesitate to reach out.

info@virtualcollegecounselors.com

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