Think back to yourself in September 2023. If you ever said to yourself “Wow, I wish we would have done this last year!” then right now is the time of year to do that very thing.  

Before we look at the three themes here are some important principles that we would like to highlight: (1) your timeline should reflect your district or campuses vision, initiatives and priorities, and (2) families and caregivers should have every opportunity to be a part of transition planning.  

Here are the 3 areas of focus for the Winter / Spring 2024 that we believe will really set your Seniors and Juniors up for postsecondary success: 

Focus #1️⃣, Seniors:  Financial Aid 

The first area of focus needs to be with your Seniors and their financial aid applications.  Because of the new, simplified FAFSA being released 2 months later than the original deadline, the financial aid timeline looks incredibly compact this year.  The plan should still be to focus on: completing and submitting all applicable financial aid applications (think FAFSA or a state application for aid for undocumented or DACAmented students, and / or institutional forms), collecting and comparing award offerings, and discussing Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) - or how grades in college can impact financial aid.  

Focus #2️⃣, Seniors:  Differentiated Advising 

Secondly, focus on differentiating your advising for transitioning your Seniors.  Collect their intending plans early and often, and then provide targeted guidance and support on milestones based on their intending plans. 

Focus #3️⃣, Juniors:  Formal Individual and Group Advising 

Finally, start actively advising your Juniors.  We suggest activating our Advising Toolkit to have those aspiration conversations and then to guide them in groups through activities that allow them to create prospective, balanced college wishlists by the summer break.  We believe that now more than ever this will be important because with colleges reacting to and planning around the SCOTUS decision around race-based admissions, colleges are likely to find more ways for students and/or teachers and counselors to talk about or write about (hello essays!) how their backgrounds and experiences add value to the campus community.  

For more in-depth information, including lesson plans and student-facing handouts, register for and log into our Aspiration to Action on-demand offerings for free.  We have 6 specific microcourses on Transition & Summer Melt, Satisfactory Academic Progress, Postsecondary Pathways, College Match and College Fit will have everything you need to focus on these 3 areas this Winter and Spring.