"COLLEGE ADMISSIONS CAN be a confusing process with myriad deadlines, ways to apply and the challenge of paying for an education. For students without access to a school counselor, the confusion inherent in college admissions may be magnified.
School counselors often help students schedule classes, deal with disciplinary issues and plan for college. Managing that workload can be complicated considering the vast number of students that counselors are expected to work with in a given year.
The American School Counselor Association recommends a student-to-counselor ratio of 250 to one, a number that most states fail to meet. The national average during the 2018-2019 school year, per ASCA data, was 430 counselors per student, with much higher ratios in some states.
‘There’s no way that (counselors) would have the kind of time that each one of those individuals deserves and requires, whatever their plan might be, whether that’s pursuing an associate degree, a traditional bachelor’s degree or going off to a trade school or into the military,’ says Zenia Henderson, director of member and partner engagement at the nonprofit National College Attainment Network." …