NYSACAC Legislative Advocacy Day

Earlier this week, I traveled to Albany for a NYSACAC Executive Board Meeting and for Legislative Advocacy Day. In my first year of serving as a High School Delegate, I am aiming to participate in as many aspects of our organization as I possibly can. Aside from NYSACAC though, this was also my first time inside the New York State Capitol and my first time doing any sort of political advocacy.

Our four topics of discussion with legislators and their staff were:

• Highlighting the issue of food insecurity for college students
• Only 3% of college students receipt SNAP benefits, even though 18% qualify
• Students can't count class toward work hours, if they could, we could reach more students who have low food security by providing them SNAP benefits

• Expressing concern over the dismantling of federal consumer protections in regards to for-profit colleges and the allocation of funds to schools that aren't serving their students.
• For-profit students make up only 4% of students in NY State, but they represent 41% of defaulted student debt
• In 2015, 37 million dollars in TAP grants were awarded to for-profit colleges with programs that failed or nearly failed federal standards

• Restoration and expansion of TAP and HEOP/EOP funding
• Opportunity programs expand access to higher education and improve graduation rates for New York's neediest students
• We would love to see the TAP application process simplified and interpretation of regulations by colleges streamlined

• Next steps for Dreamers as they pursue higher education
• Undocumented students currently cannot get a driver's license. It would be a major step forward if they could legally drive. 
• While we are excited for the Governor to sign the recently passed Dream Act, we encourage the state to be transparent about implementation

Overall, it was a busy day full of many observations about our political process. The building definitely was buzzing with energy and it was interesting to see so many advocates (representing many different causes) in the building. It was also fascinating to hear, through conversation, about how lobbyists for 'the other side' make their case to representatives. For example, in one discussion we were told that for-profit colleges need a break because they are already subject to so many regulations. (My reaction to that: for something so burdened with regulation, they sure produce a pretty awful product with low return on investment and sky high debt). 

Introducing Scoir

Last month, I had the pleasure of introducing the Class of 2020 to our new online college advising platform, Scoir.

Pronounced "Score," Scoir is going to replace Naviance as our primary online college application organization tool. I've been using Naviance since I joined the school ten years ago, so this change is both significant and exciting.

There are quite a few factors that lead to this change. I'll describe a few below:

• Scoir is free for schools. Alternatively, Naviance has almost tripled in cost without tripling the functionality that our school uses. This change will save the PTA a significant amount of money without losing any of the key features that are the most useful for students and their parents/guardians. This includes historical acceptance data for our school. 
• Scoir graphs (also known as scattergrams) combine ACT and SAT data onto one screen. I've literally been begging Naviance to institute this change for a decade and it never happened. Scoir recognizes how necessary this is and their graphs combine everything into one. Naviance's approach to graphs was totally user-unfriendly (and in some cases mis-leading). I'm thrilled to be able to now provide students more complete, accurate, and robust data.
• Scoir allows students to keep a 'notebook' with their thoughts and reflections about school tours and visits. They can even upload photos to store notes and images of things that struck them about the school. This will be very useful during supplemental essay and interview season. I hope students take advantage of this feature. 
• While this impacts students much less than it impacts me, please know that the level of quality customer service provided by Naviance was abysmal. Like picture the basement, then go a few floors below that. That was Naviance customer service/user experience. In recent years they have opted to roll out new features in inopportune times, experienced outages during peak periods, and remove functions even though they were popular with school counselors. Alternatively, my experience with Scoir has been very positive. Their staff is personable, responsive, and open to feedback. The site is definitely not perfect and is absolutely still in a growth phase, but I'm optimistic about the future and excited to be using their platform. 

To learn more about Scoir click here

As always, students get their individual accounts at the kickoff during Regents week of their Junior year. Parents/guardians are also invited to have accounts at that time.