Mr. Wynn’s Posts
Posts by Mr. Wynn
May 30, 2022Monday, May 30, 2022
Hi, I am Mychal Wynn. I have written a college planning curriculum and I provide college planning guidance to students in our national program and through our school district and community partners. I thought that I might share some posts, and thoughts, regarding some of the misinformation regarding college planning.
Military Scholarships
I recently saw a Facebook post of a student, who graduated as her high school’s valedictorian, standing alongside an Army recruiter holding up a check that read, ‘$160,000 Military Scholarship.’ While the amount is impressive, context is important. The military does not offer a $160,000 college scholarship. So what does the check really represent? Does the check represent the value of the student’s enlistment signing bonus, and the value of future military benefits after she completes her military service contract? Does the check represent the projected value of the G.I. Bill after the student fulfills her military service contract? Was the student aware that she could have pursued admission at a Military Service Academy and received a free education, commissioned as an officer, and entered the military with a higher MOS? Was the student aware that she could have pursued a campus-based ROTC Scholarship, received a near-full to full scholarship based on the college to which she chose to enroll, commissioned as an officer, and entered the military with a higher MOS? Context is everything.
College Planning Cohort, a program sponsored by the Foundation for Ensuring Access and Equity | www.accessandequity.org | (678) 395-5825 | P.O. Box 70457 | Marietta, GA 30007.
In April each year, we receive inquiries from parents and students, AFTER, they receive financial aid award letters. The inquiries all have the same tone, ‘I got into college and I want to know where I can get scholarship money.’
Unfortunately, we cannot support this backwards approach, i.e., get into college first and then look for scholarships.
High school juniors participating in our program, engaged in thoughtful, thorough, and intentional college and scholarship research in March (see the slides). They identified the colleges to which they should apply and the scholarships for which they should pursue. All of this was done within the context of their ‘Body of Work.’ Consequently, rather than throwing darts at a proverbial college and scholarship dartboard, hoping for the best, they will be applying to a strategically identified group of colleges and for a strategically identified group of scholarships to which they best match.
While high school seniors entering our program via our college planning boot camp will be behind those students who participated in our program as high school juniors, they will be ahead of the millions of students and parents who will circle back around in April of 2023 asking where they can get scholarships.
College Planning Cohort, a program sponsored by the Foundation for Ensuring Access and Equity | www.accessandequity.org | (678) 395-5825 | P.O. Box 70457 | Marietta, GA 30007.
Sandwiched in between these three slides are:
- The types of colleges to which this student plans to apply, i.e., research universities, liberal arts colleges, HBCUs, etc., based on the student’s financial need and career aspirations.
- 19 merit-based scholarships for which this student plans to apply.
- 11 colleges offering full need-based institutional scholarships for which this student is a good match.
- 2 last dollar scholarship programs for which this student is a good match.
- A premier scholarship program for which this student is a good match and for which their partner colleges have specific application deadlines for consideration.
All of this “College Planning” occurred during March of the student’s junior year of high school.
One of the early conversations that we have with students as they enter our program is for them to envision what they want to look like at their commencement (high school or college), i.e., what cords, hoods, pins, medals, and awards do you want to receive?
Hannah McFadden, from our Florence School District 3 Cohort Class of 2022, provides wonderful before and after photos as a high school student and Kristen Starks, from our Guilford County Schools Cohort Class of 2018, provides an example of a highly decorated college graduate.
College Planning Cohort, a program sponsored by the Foundation for Ensuring Access and Equity | www.accessandequity.org | (678) 395-5825 | P.O. Box 70457 | Marietta, GA 30007.
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
The latest headline from New York noted, ‘Free College Program Falls Short For Low-Income Students.’ (https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/27/new-york-made-4-years-of-college-free-heres-how-its-going.html). The initiative, like others throughout the country, is near-sighted and poorly conceived. The program was created without providing an onramp for the students the program is designed to reach—low income students. This should have come as no surprised to the policy makers in New York as the state’s FAFSA completion rate is only 56 percent.
If programs are going to be developed specifically to assist students from low-income families with greater access to college and careers, then the programs must be undergirded by support programs that are effective in reaching the desired populations and getting students in the door. Clearly the people who create the programs do not understand, or have a relationship with the people the programs are supposed to help.