The Texas OnCourse Educator Blog

Have you ever gone frame shopping for a piece of art? Frame choice can enhance or detract from the picture – color, matting, style, and size can affect how the art is perceived.

When we heard that Texas OnCourse Leader Fellow Holly Moore increased her campus’ FAFSA completion by a whopping 21% in 2017–2018, we had to learn more! We interviewed her about her process and what she did differently than the year before. Holly is a college advisor in Waxahachie ISD, but made this incredible progress while she was at at Grand Prairie ISD last year. There were approximately 2,400 students at her school, and she worked with approximately 720 seniors each year.

In our college counseling office, we have prominently displayed a map of the United States that depicts 1,300 different major colleges and universities. We use this map to mark our college acceptances, alumni matriculation, and college graduations to encourage current students to feel more comfortable with the idea of sending their applications to colleges outside of Texas. They stick with what they know because the options are overwhelming, and not just to students. The map is the first thing that people see when they walk in, and it evokes the same response from anyone who enters: “Wow, I didn't realize how many colleges there are! How do students choose which to apply to?”

Do you teach or advise students who are Texas residents but ineligible to apply for federal financial aid? If you do, you might not be sure whether they qualify for financial aid at all. We have some great news! Those students may be eligible for state financial aid.

The start of the academic year is a hectic time for school counselors. You’re enrolling new students, making schedule changes, and triple-checking graduation requirements against senior records. With these critical tasks taking precedence, the late September deadline for QuestBridge can slip past each year.

Can you believe it’s already application season? ApplyTexas opened July 1 and the Common Application opened on August 1. College-bound Texas students are likely using one if not both of these in the coming months. But which?

The ApplyTexas application, which enables students to apply to all Texas public schools and some private schools, now goes live on July 1. Students can start working on it before they even get to school in the fall! Get ahead on this important application with these tips, taken from the counselor training in the Texas OnCourse Academy.

With 2018 FAFSA priority deadlines behind us, students are checking their portals and mailboxes for their financial aid award letters. As they gear up to make big decisions about their financial and educational future, here are a series of helpful terms and questions to help guide students through their award letters.

As college acceptances and financial aid award letters start rolling in for high school seniors, families are beginning to count the cost of these postsecondary options. The cost of attendance for each college includes four main types of expenses. Understanding these types of expenses, some direct and some indirect, will help families decide whether a college is a financial fit and find ways to cut costs. And find more information on college costs, financial aid, FAFSA and more in our Financial Aid Basics for Counselors guide.

The information here comes from our CSS Profile training module, available through Texas OnCourse Academy.