College Coach Resource Page
Welcome to your one-stop-shop for volunteering with ScholarMatch!
Monthly Goals + Resources
Monthly Goals
- Milestone 1 — Welcome: Confirm if students have signed their program agreement with their parent or legal guardian.
- Milestone 2 – Building a College List
- Milestone 3 – Prepare for the SAT/ACT
- Milestone 4 – Build A Scholarship List
- Milestone 6 – Draft College Essays
Resources
- College Ready Milestones: Share these with students!
- College Application Tracker: As students create their college list, have them use this tracker to stay organized.
- List Building Resources: If you have any other tools, websites, and resources you want to use during this process, please feel free to incorporate them when advising students!
- Building Rapport with Your Student Guide: We suggest using this guide to foster productive conversations with your student, gain further insight into their college process, and understand the best ways to offer support and guidance.
- High Graduation Rate Schools (Also known as CollegePoint Schools): This list includes four-year colleges and universities in the United States with the highest graduation rates, 70% or higher. They represent a diverse range of geographies and institution types and include safety, match, and reach for students.
Announcements
Read the latest Coach newsletter! If you’re interested in reading the student newsletters, click the link below:
- DCSF/Kayne Destination College Student Newsletter
- CollegePoint Student Newsletter
On October 1st, the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) along with the CSS Profile, and other State Financial Aid applications, will open up for the 2021-2022 program year. We recommend that you support your students in gathering the necessary documents required to submit their applications. Our recommended deadline for students to submit their financial aid applications is December 15th.
This kit contains information regarding resources, opportunities, information, and updates to better assist and inform students and their families.
Volunteer to Edit College Lists
We’re looking for varsity or veteran coaches who feel comfortable reviewing and providing feedback to other coaches about their student’s college lists.
Haven’t Been Matched Yet? Read this: Our Matching Update
This document will be updated monthly throughout at least August 2020, and provide a sense of how far along we are in processing our new class of 2021 students. We hope this provides some context around this year’s matching timeline.
Community & Support Platforms
Upcoming Events & Deadlines
Office Hours: September
We are hosting optional virtual office hours for volunteers to connect with SM staff and one another! They will be held on:
These office hours are drop in style, so feel free to join to ask a quick question or join us for the entire hour. We typically do a round of quick introductions and have experienced coaches jump in to assist with college admissions questions!
These office hours are not recorded, but the goal is to offer another place for coaches to check in with us, build community, and get some questions answered!
College Toolkit
The College Toolkit is our resource bank/archive documents, guides, and links on topics as wide ranging as how to build a balance college list, how to submit the FAFSA, scholarship lists, and more.
If you have resources you think should be added to the toolkit, we’d love to consider them!
Class of 2021 Corner
Data Tracking & Reporting Needs: For students in C/O 2021 you will only need to submit Coach Reports. Read through this document for more details.
Milestones: Students are required to submit their College Ready Milestones, along with occasional other check-ins. Review the new milestones here.
Student Support Playbook: Review the playbook before your first conversation with students!
College Ready Milestones
You’re encouraged to look through our Milestones page for an overview of the year’s work ahead!
Please note that the majority of these dates represent only a suggested deadline to help keep you and your students on track – we recognize that each student has different needs and works through the process at a different pace.
Unresponsive Student Protocol
Unresponsive Student Protocol for Coaches
Have you been matched with a student who isn’t responding? Has your scholar gone radio silent after you began working together? We know from precedent that this unfortunately happens with a small number of our students each year, so we’ve created a guide to help you out and clarify our expectations.
Thanks in advance for your patience, persistence, and keeping us in the loop!
