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SALT LAKE CITY — Technology is changing the college admissions process, but not all students are benefiting.
Utah schools are trying to address the digital divide facing some students who want to go to college, but may not be tech savvy. The digital divide has two issues: one is the high ratio of students to school counselors, and the other is the influx of refugees, immigrants and other first-generation college students who may not have Internet access or web skills.
In terms of student to counselor ratio, Lillian Tsosie-Jensen at the State Office of Education said the average in Utah is one to 356 and can be as high as one to 600 in larger schools.
"To be able to provide the individual services in some of these efforts is sometimes not manageable with the caseloads that some of our school counselors have," she said.
With barely any one-on-one attention from counselors, today's high school juniors and seniors are filling out applications and running into stumbling blocks. Tsosie-Jensen said it can be unsettling for a first generation college student to fill out what would seem to be a simple online application.
Our first generation college students are hesitant to fill out a simple application. It's so unsettling to them to do something for the first time.
–Lillian Tsosie-Jensen, State Office of Education
"Our first generation college students are hesitant to fill out a simple application or what we would think is a simple application," she said. "It's so unsettling to them to do something for the first time."
One way students are finding to combat filling out several different applications is by using universal applications, like Common Application, then sending it to multiple schools. Common Application is accepted by nearly 500 higher education institutions across the country, making it easy for students to save time and effort when choosing where to apply.
Tsosie-Jensen said working in smaller groups, like mentors like the GearUp Program, can help college applicants as well. Counselors in several Utah schools have used data projects as they work to fix the digital divide, in addition to holding special nights at the school students who need more help applying for college.
Ben Lomond High School, for example, had a scholarship and financial aid night for first generation college students with the help of Weber State.
