Esther Hugo, a San Jose State professor in the college of education, had been a high school counselor for years and understands the impact that counselors have on their students.
Hugo recently published an article in the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s “Journal of College Admissions” about Riverside County’s College Comeback program.
The program was offered to the graduating 2020 high school class with one-on-one support regarding the college enrollment process, assistance, and filling out their application Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), according to the Riverside County Office of Education website.
“I really believe that counselors can be so impactful to students in terms of helping them find their futures,” Hugo said. “There are so many students who are still left out because the process is complicated. It’s not clear. It’s not necessarily linear, and they really do need support and guidance.”
The effect of Riverside County’s College Comeback program hit home for Hugo.
Hugo highlights in her article, "Reengaging College-Bound Students Amid the Pandemic's Aftermath," a program that pushes for more students to complete their FAFSA.
FAFSA is a service where students can apply for federal grants, work-study funds and loans. In addition, many states and colleges use students’ FAFSA information to determine state and school aid, according to studentaid.gov
This helped turn into California Assembly Bill 469, in which the bill requires school districts to share data on how many students are completing their FAFSA every year, according to California Legislative Information.
“Affordability is the biggest obstacle for students going to college, they don’t think they can afford it,” Hugo said. “So students are often surprised when they complete the FAFSA and are eligible for institution, state and federal dollars, they’re able to go.”
Yuri Nava, who is one of the College Comeback counselors, has 19 years of prior school counseling experience.
She said counselors served as a bridge between students and their future colleges.
“We had kids with 3.9 GPAs and some who were valedictorians heading to
UC’s who couldn’t figure out how to get started,” Nava said in Hugo’s article.
In the U.S., the graduating high school class of 2020 college enrollment decreased from 66% in 2019 to 63%, according to a May 2022 National Center for Education study.
Nava said students had many different barriers to clear such as lack of resources when applying to colleges.
“Many universities had limited office hours, they had limited workshops, and it was just really difficult to navigate for students and that's where College Comeback came in,” Nava said. “This was a group of counselors who were meeting students after hours, on the weekends and in the evenings.”
She said counselors would help students after hours, including a story about personally scheduling a student's college appointments at midnight while the student worked at Amazon.
“This group of counselors that got together didn’t mind waiting and helping kids with those things and putting in those extra hours, we love what we do,” Nava said.
Nava said the counselors for the College Comeback program were proud to have their work displayed in Esther’s article.
“What our county office did is bring a group of educators together, they saw a need and said, ‘We know you guys can lead some change ideas and create a program that can help kids’ and I think Esther really helped amplify that,” Nava said.
Robin Ellison, a counselor for the Val Verde Unified School District, has worked as a high school counselor for 16 years.
She said she was all in to be featured in Esther’s article.
“Working with Esther was like a dream. She was just so personable, so friendly to work with. She felt like she was our champion,” Ellison said. “She was championing what we were doing in Riverside County and you know she wanted to have it published so it could reach many other communities.”
Ellison said she felt responsible to make sure that students not only got into college but also helped them until they are fully enrolled.
“We want to make sure that they don’t just get accepted into these colleges but are we going to help them show up and be in that seat come August and September?” Ellison said.
Hugo said she hopes other school districts adopt the Col
lege Comeback program.
“I still think there's a lot of students who got lost out there. And we need to get them back on track and help them realize their futures longer term rather than short term,” Hugo said.
