“Don’t Just Take My Word For It”
Using the College Enrollment Checklist to Support Post-Secondary Matriculation
When it comes to college enrollment tasks, graduates may find more relevance when the checklist comes straight from their post-secondary school of choice.
by Stacy Thompson
What did I do wrong?
As a college counselor, I [attempt to] prepare students for college enrollment before and throughout the entire application process. My team and I set up clinics to offer bacterial meningitis vaccines. We host financial aid workshops to complete entrance loan counseling. We even facilitate TSI assessments for college placement testing. However, I then find myself baffled when a graduate tells me they can’t register for college classes, and we look in their portal - only to find they are missing the same vaccines, financial aid tasks, or placement tests that we already completed together!
What did I do wrong? Why do so many of my students get stuck on their college enrollment checklists, when they’ve been prepared for - and often already completed - many of the listed tasks?
The gap between transition & enrollment
In the summer of 2020, I dedicated a considerable amount of extra time focused on combating summer melt - we were all stuck at home, after all. I would spend hours on video calls with students & families, using screen-sharing to help explore their individual college portals. After dozens of calls, I started seeing patterns of repeated misunderstandings.
I realized students were not connecting senior transition tasks to their college enrollment checklists.
For whatever reason, many students thought the enrollment checklists were asking for something new or different than the transition tasks we completed senior year. Even though I was sure we told students they would need these items for college, the message didn’t always land, and graduates believed they had to repeat the tasks again or would get stuck on how to submit the enrollment items.
Make the connection sticky
To bridge the gap between transition tasks & enrollment checklists, I started using the exact verbiage and documents that were displayed in student college portals. By providing examples of college instructions during completion of the actual transition task, students will then make the immediate connection between the task and the next-steps for submitting documentation to colleges.
Here are some of my favorite quick & easy ways to incorporate college enrollment checklists into senior advising practices:
Use a standard transition checklist that provides direct instructions for common enrollment tasks (ex: Contigo Ed Transition Checklist)
Attach copies of local college enrollment checklists (ex: SAC)
At vaccination clinics, distribute college forms for vaccine verification (ex: HCC)
After a TSIA test administration, share college test score retrieval forms (ex: TCC)
During senior checkout, require grads to request final transcripts on-the-spot (ex: Parchment)
*For more tips on what to include in transition checklists, see the Contigo Ed microcourse on Transition & Summer Melt.
The enrollment effect
While the primary goal of including actual college checklists was to simply help students understand the next-steps associated with transition tasks - we noticed a number of other benefits, as well.
Students started completing additional enrollment tasks independently, since many of the tasks are communicated in the same place within the portals
Students would more frequently ask the counselors for help with other enrollment tasks, after we already demonstrated that we understood the exact requirements for their chosen post-secondary institution
Families also began to have a better understanding of what was needed for college enrollment, as they were present for many of the workshops and clinics where enrollment checklists were shared
Local college admissions reps began requesting to attend more of our senior events, because students were completing enrollment checklist tasks with them on-the-spot. One of my counselors even co-hosted a TACAC presentation with a local community college counselor, after they developed a successful enrollment partnership that spanned all of senior year.
Other staff members were even able to assist with submission of some enrollment tasks (such as completing or scanning paperwork), since the step-by-step instructions were provided
Ultimately, we had more students completing more college enrollment tasks before graduation, because they had direct access to the specific college instructions. Instead of just telling students that they would need to have these items for the future, we started showing them how to apply the tasks in real-time.
The ifs, ands or buts about it
Q: What if there are no paper versions -or- I don’t have the budget to print that many copies?
Every year, more and more enrollment documents become digitized. Whether or not there is a digital copy of the form, here are some budget-conscious +/ environmentally-friendly ways to still regularly promote college enrollment checklists:
Display photos of the forms on a PowerPoint slide with a QR code that directs students to web-version of the form
Create ‘anchor charts’ by making poster-sized versions of some more popular enrollment checklist examples
Ask local college admissions counselors if they’re able to provide copies of their enrollment checklists or other relevant forms, so they can still be available without using the high school’s precious paper allocation
Make a step-by-step instruction guide by taking screenshots from inside another student’s portal (without their personal information displayed, of course). This is a win-win, because that student gets one-on-one help with their own college portal and other students are able to benefit from the example provided.
Q: What if students don’t know where (or even if) they want to attend college?
Practice with a ‘Plan B.’ We require students to prepare a ‘backup plan’ for their post-secondary life, regardless of their chosen pathway. Often, that Plan B involves completing enrollment tasks for one of the local community colleges. Even if the student doesn’t end up attending that college, they at least have practice with completing an enrollment checklist, so they can more easily replicate the process with another college they might choose later. If their Plan A doesn’t work out, then at least they always know they have a viable backup plan that’s already mostly done.
Q: What if the colleges don’t have current forms available when I need them?
An outdated form is better than no form. Usually, college enrollment tasks don’t change much from year to year. We often have students complete prior-year versions of enrollment forms if the newer one isn’t available. We will then either save the soft-copy of the form -or- file the hard-copy to keep on-hand until the college releases their new form. Then, students can transfer most of the information over to submit the up-to-date version.
There are many obstacles that make this approach less-than-perfect, but the bottom line is that sometimes students need to see it to believe it. When students are able to apply the college enrollment tasks immediately, they will be more likely to internalize and understand their purpose later in the enrollment process. Promoting college enrollment can be more effective when the information comes straight from the source… but don’t just take my word for it.
Want to learn more?
Contigo Ed has many free resources and additional tips for promoting college enrollment and addressing summer melt.