Focus on future

MOUNT PLEASANT -- It's college application time for high school seniors.

Some Wando High students gathered in the school's media center Tuesday to fill out online forms while guidance counselors, college admission officers and representatives from the state's Commission on Higher Education circulated among them offering help.

Wando is one of 11 high schools scattered across the state participating in a pilot program launched by the commission.

The idea is simple: Place a bunch of high school seniors who need to fill out applications together with those who can help them.

Cynthia Mosteller, a member of the Commission on Higher Education, came up with the idea after helping her daughter apply for college. She learned how confusing the process could be, she said. "And if this was confusing for us, it must be confusing for everybody," she said.

The program is open to any student at participating high schools. But commission leaders said they especially want to help students who are among the first generation in their families to attend college.

High school guidance counselors usually tell students what they need to do to apply to college, then the student goes off on his or her own and does it, Mosteller said. But parents who didn't attend college sometimes can't answer their children's specific questions about the application process.

Wando senior Jamison Carter attended a session and completed applications for two colleges. He plans to apply to five schools, he said. He thinks it was helpful having people on hand to answer questions. "This was the best idea they've had in a long time," he said.

Lauren Hurlock, another senior, said she was taking advantage of the session, and the time away from a class, to fill out and submit an additional application for which she had run out of time. She's already applied to four schools.

While completing applications at home, she said, she had to stop frequently to gather requested information. But during the session at Wando, she could just ask guidance counselors. She also said she liked meeting and talking with college representatives.

Sylvia Chitty, Wando's guidance director, said about 160 students signed up for a session Tuesday. Students reacted positively to the program, she said.

It's important for students to get their applications completed as early as possible, Chitty said. Many schools have a Dec. 1 priority application deadline. If Wando offers the sessions next year, she said, she would like to hold them in October.

Mosteller said students who complete their applications for admission on time are more likely to complete their applications for financial aid early. That's important because financial aid dollars are limited, she said.

Derrah Cassidy, coordinator of college awareness programs for the commission, said he thinks the program will be offered next year in all state high schools that want to participate.

Mosteller said the application process is the first step in the college experience. "And we want that to be successful."

Reach Diane Knich at 937-5491 or dknich@postandcourier.com.