response to public comment

Comment	Response
	The comment did not address issues with the data collection for which this request seeks approval.
Joyce Smith, National Association for College Admission Counseling Michael Rose mrose@nacacnet.org Public comment 1jz-8lwe-gwxm
NACAC hopes that the Department’s Study of Enhanced College Advising in Upward Bound will produce a greater body of evidence demonstrating the importance of professional development and access to resources for those who help students navigate the college admission process. In applying to and selecting a college, students must balance a wide array of considerations, including cost, location, and academic offerings. They must also manage a timeline that consists of multiple deadlines, tests, forms, and other requirements. Finding the right college is a complicated process for any student, but the challenges are accentuated for first-generation and low-income students, who are less likely to have close friends or family members who have attended college, and, as discussed above, whose schools are less likely to provide substantial college guidance services…. NACAC has long advocated for more effective dissemination of the Department’s resources that may help counselors and students throughout the college application process. Because of limited time and resources, it can take years for all of the Department’s resources to trickle down to school counselors, despite best efforts of groups like NACAC to publicize them. For this reason, we are pleased that the Department intends to include distribution of resources as part of the Study of Enhanced College Advising. We hope that the Department will use the results of this study to think about how it can better distribute resources to all counselors in the future, and will learn which types of resources are most useful to counselors and students.	We thank NACAC for their comments, which are based on related professional experience and relevant research. The U.S. Department of Education supports the dissemination of effective resources to support the services college counselors provide to low-income and first generation students. Should the results of the Enhanced College Advising demonstration show potential for the materials to improve students’ college outcomes the Department will make these materials widely available to both college counselors and students.