LARAEC Faculty, Counselor, and Staff Resources
What can we help you with?
Onboarding, Counseling, and Transitions Resources
Orientation, Onboarding, and Education Plans
Starting students off on the right foot can lead to increased engagement, persistence, and completions. Hear from some of our colleagues about how they conduct orientations and onboarding.
Mira Costa College and Poway Adult School Share strategies for using welcome videos and early outreach to engage new students.
LARAEC Counseling APT members share their remote orientation and registration strategies.
Counseling, Motivation, and Persistence
As our Counseling Action Planning Team continues to collect resources for advising staff, they will post here. For 2022-25 increasing engagement, retention, persistence of our adult student are priorities. Here are some articles with great ideas.
12 Key Strategies to Improve Student Retention
What Adult Learners Say You Can Do to Support Their Success
Bridge the Gap with Dual Enrollment
Dual enrollment programs allow adult school students working on their high school diploma or equivalency to take classes at California community colleges at the same time tuition free (some fees may apply). Some college classes may count for both high school and college.
In 2021, CAEP contracted a study to examine the lessons and opportunities of implementing adult dual enrollment in California. This study examines many of the active or emerging programs across the state.
2022 CAEP Adult Dual Enrollment and SB554 Brief
In LACCD, West LA College offers dual-enrollment for adult education students
Building a College Going Campus Culture
Building a college-going culture takes participation from all staff and faculty. A college-going culture can help students see that post-secondary education (including career training) is an avenue for creating a future that inspires them. Transitions to college don’t happen by just providing access to information and a process of registration; transitions to college happen when all students see the real possibility of attending and being successful. Sometimes the hardest part of transitions is helping students develop a college-identity and the belief that they can do it!
Below are some resources and simple ways to help create a college-going culture on your campus:
Simple Ways to Create College-Going Culture
Creating a College-Going Culture Guide from the College Board
College Conversations– Incorporating college into discussions and writings
The Connection Between Persistence and College/Career Planning
Research shows that incorporating career development skills and career planning increases retention, persistence, commitment to school, academic success, and educational self-efficacy. The more we can connect school as an access to life goals the more likely we are to have students enroll, stay through completion, and transition to what’s next.
Read some key findings from research in this area.
Financial Aid Resources for Staff
Want to know what's on the FAFSA?
We found some helpful resources on the FAFSA website. These resources let you look at the questions that are included in the FAFSA. There is also a DEMO site that gives you sample login names and passwords so you can see what it looks like from the students side.
Hosting a Cash for College Event at Your School
Students and families can attend FREE Cash for College workshops across California for help completing the FAFSA, CADAA, and Chafee Applications.
Resources for Dreamers and Undocumented Students
The California Dream Act allows undocumented students to receive certain types of financial aid. Look at the FAQs below to see if your students qualify.
California Student Aid Commission
CSAC offers in-person and online training to counselors and advisors that support students transitioning to college. Check out one of their free workshops offered all over California.
Annual Financial Aid Training Workshops
LARAEC Student College Resource Page
The LARAEC student college resource page contains links and contacts to all LACCD colleges and local CSUs. It also has student oriented videos related to financial aid and college registration, along with other resources.
To visit the student college page click here
Connecting Students with Support Services
A big part of student persistence is ensuring studenst have their basic need met. It is challenging to make school a priority when personal challenges demand attention. The student support resource page includes a variety of contacts for students.
Click here for a list of Los Angeles Area referral agencies and Check out the student support page for more links.
