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Episode Notes | Transcript | AskTheGuest

Hi Fives (5 Highlights) Click for 2-Minute Listen

Starting August 1, 2022, students who use the Coalition Application to apply for college, do so on Scoir. Earlier this year, Coalition announced a partnership with Scoir and Technolutions to create a one-stop college application platform.

Stacey Kostell, the CEO joins us on our podcast to tell us about the Partnership with Scoir and Technolutions, why that significantly accelerates their ability to execute their vision, and how students and all the coalition partners benefit.

Hi-Fives from the Podcast are:

One Platform
Be Where Students are
Automation
CBOs can Track Students
More Partner Colleges

Episode Notes

Episode Title: Stacey Kostell on Simplifying College Application: Apply Coalition on Scoir.

In particular, we discuss the following with her:

Partnering with Scoir & Technolutions
How Students Benefit
Partner Benefits
What’s Ahead

Topics discussed in this episode:

Partnership with Scoir & Technolutions [3:31]
Why Partner? [5:24]
Migrating Coalition Features to Scoir [6:55]
How CBOs Benefit [8:51]
A Plus for Coalition Colleges [10:06]
International Students [11:04]
What’s Ahead? [13:54]
Close [15:42]

Our Guest: Stacey Kostell is the CEO of The Coalition for College Access. Stacey has a Bachelor’s degree from Indiana State University and Master’s from Ball State University. Stacey was the Associate Director of Admissions at Arizona State University, Associate Provost and Director of Admissions at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the Vice Provost of Enrollment Management at the University of Vermont.

Memorable Quote: “And Scoir was made differently [in] that any student or any parent could set up an account. And so you know, there's already a number of international students who can go on and set up an account to be on Scoir.” Stacey Kostell.

Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript.

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Episode Transcript

Transcript of the episode’s audio.

<Start Snippet> Stacey Kostell 0:14

Watch in a year or two to come to see where this goes because we think this is really has an opportunity to simplify things for students when they apply to college.

Venkat 0:28 [Introducing Stacey Kostell, The Coalition for College]

That is Stacey Kostell, CEO of Coalition for College.

Hello, I am your host, Venkat Raman.

Earlier this year, Coalition announced a partnership with Scoir and Technolutions.

The goal of this partnership is two-fold:

Simplify Application by creating a one-stop to apply for college
Increase Access by being where students are.

Venkat Raman 1:00

Starting August 1, 2022, students who use the Coalition Application to apply for college, do so on Scoir.

Venkat Raman 1:11

Stacey joins us on our podcast to tell us about the Partnership with Scoir and Technolutions, why that significantly accelerates their ability to execute their vision, and how students and all the coalition partners benefit.

Before we jump into the podcast, here are the Hi-Fives, Five Highlights from the podcast:

Stacey K 1:43 [Highlights - Hi Fives]

[One Platform]

Then our partnership with Technolutions, which many of universities use and the Single Sign On process that that they've created, it allows students to manage from search really through enrollment all on one platform.

[Be Where Students are]

So every Title One school can get on the Scoir platform for free. And that allows us to really be where students are.

[Automation]

Because it is in directly in so many high schools, you know, high school counselors can also you know, see, oh, you know, one of my students by going to the University of Connecticut, and it says here that I need to send their transcripts

[CBOs can Track Students]

is to actually have a way for community based organizations that we work with at the coalition to be able to load and track their students as well.

[More Partner Colleges]

We hope so. We've already had over 20 new colleges join us here because they're excited about what we're doing.

Venkat Raman 2:54

These were the Hi5s, brought to you by “College Matters. Alma Matters.”

Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Venkat Raman 3:05

Now, I'm sure you want to hear the entire podcast with Stacey.

So without further ado, here's the podcast with Stacey Kostell!

—-----------

Venkat Raman 3:15

If you're ready, we can jump right into it.

Stacey 3:18

Let's go.

Venkat Raman 3:20

Cool. So maybe the best place to start is tell us about your partnership with Scoir and Technolutions, I believe. Tell us what, what's going on?

Stacey 3:31 [Partnership with Scoir & Technolutions]

Yeah, so it has been a busy and exciting time for the question for college. Yeah, we started a new partnership, which now is live for students to use with Scoir as well as technicians. So when students want to apply to a coalition member school, they can now do that through the Scoir platform. And one of the advantages of doing that is, you know, Scoir has already built in some great college search functionality. So it's a great way to you know, kind of begin your journey. And by adding in this new application, you know, for students who already have a Scoir account, once they go to fill out the application profile, all their information automatically downloads on that. So it makes it simpler for schools and because of then our partnership with Technolutions, which many of universities use and the Single Sign On process that that they've created, that allows students to manage from search really through enrollment all on one platform. So we've tried to really simplify and take a look at people called portal fatigue. And these students who have to go to so many different web pages and remember so many different to real They simplify the process.

Venkat Raman 5:05

So what what was the motivation for this partnership? I mean, coalition, from what I understand was getting a fair number of students, you guys were doing great work now? Did you just need it from a platform perspective? Or do you think there were more benefits to this?

Stacey 5:24 [Why Partner?]

Yeah, I think a couple of reasons. I mean, the main reason that we really wanted to partner with Scoir is mission alignment.

So Scoir is in many schools around the country. And it's a campus or kind of college advising and search software that many high schools use, and they give their software for a very reduced price.

And typically, in the past has been free for Title One schools. So every title one school can get on the Scoir platform for free. And that allows us to really be where students are. So the the part of this partnership that we like the best was really for the coalition to be in front of so many potential students that really were a target audience. So you know, students, many of them who, from a limited income background and in their first in their family to go to college, you know, certainly a group that had been underrepresented on college campuses. So I think that you know, so those are the two main the mission alignment, and really, as being more students are.

Venkat Raman 6:42

What are the main coalition sort of features and benefits that you're carrying over? I mean, you had a lot of support groups and an entire ecosystem, right?

Stacey 6:55 [Migrating Coalition Features to Scoir]

Yeah. And I think, you know, what we're able to do now is really build on what we had. So you know, that the application, you know, itself with those shared questions by our coalition members are still there.

The benefit is, there's this way that it automatically populates when the student has, you know, already had a Scoir account and will continue. Now, this is our first year, and that information will continue to build out.

You know, in the, in the past, we had the locker, I think, now, there's still a shared storage space where students can can do what they need to do.

And then because it is in directly in so many high schools, you know, high school counselors can also, you know, see, oh, you know, one of my students by to the University of Connecticut, and it says here that I need to send their transcripts. So all of that is done in an automated way. So our goal here is to make it easier for students. And also, you know, really easier for high schools.

The other thing that Scoir is in the process of building now, which will begin on in the next couple of weeks, is to actually have a way for community based organizations that we work with at the coalition to be able to load and track their students as well to be able to to help them along the way, whether that be college search or the application process or helping with enrollment. So we're, you know, we think that we're taking the ecosystem that we had, and really building upon that and show in exciting ways.

Venkat Raman 8:44

What about connectivity to the CBOs? And other things that you just mentioned? that, did that become easier too?

Stacey 8:51 [How CBOs Benefit]

It's, Yes, it should, I mean, certainly all of the things that the Coalition has all always done. So you know, we certainly still have the community based organization, you know, list that our partners, we still are going to do. And we're still, you know, we'll start doing some in person programming. So all the things that the coalition used to do will still be in play. I think, what what we also did at the same time that we went into this new partnership, was, at the same time, go back and really kind of do some tweaking, and some retooling of our mission, vision and priorities for the year. I think what you'll see coming from the coalition is even I would say a deeper commitment to access work than we've ever had. So you'll see every program that we're doing all the visits that we're doing, we're really trying to make sure that we're keeping our target in mind.

Stacey 8:51

Now, how does it help your coalition college partners, is that going to grow as a result of this?

Stacey 10:06 [A Plus for Coalition Colleges]

Yeah, I mean, I certainly hope so we've already had over 20 New colleges join us here because they're excited about what we're doing. So I think I think people are excited and for not all of our members use Slate Technolutions, but many of them do. And for the schools that do, certainly there's some features that we've added that can make this easier for them than what we've done previously. So I think I think there's some wins there. And I think for all, and what we've talked about this commitment to access and being where students are, hopefully, that's, that's the shared mission that we all have. And so it can also help them with the work and goals and mission that they have around bringing in a diverse student body.

Venkat Raman 11:00

What about international students? I mean, can they use this? And

Stacey 11:04 [International Students]

absolutely, so one of the great things about Scoir is any student can have an account for free. So most of the time when there is, you know, college kind of search and advising system in high schools, it's usually only for students in that high school. And Scoir was made differently than any student or any parent could set up an account. And so, you know, there's already a number of international students who can go on and set up an account to be on Scoir. And, you know, they can take advantage of all the college search functionality they can apply to coalition member schools, you know, they can they can use that same information as if their high school, use the product. So, certainly expecting that many international students will continue to use the coalition tools and our programming.

Venkat Raman 12:03

Do you have a feel for what, what kind of percentage, you know, the students that are that have accounts on Scoir are international?

Stacey 12:13

Yeah, in the past, it's been in Scoir, it's been a really low percentage, just because, I mean, certainly, they could use the color search functionality, but it's not where they would have gone to apply. So it's probably not something that they knew a lot about. Sure. Since Scoir doesn't have a lot of international high schools. I think now that the coalition has partnered with them, we're seeing more students, more international students go on Scoir and start an account. And in fact, later this week, we're having a program for international students to kind of, you know, we're calling and ask us anything, and we'll have college partners on to help them through their process. But we'll certainly talk about how to make an account on Scoir and how to do that additional follow up process. And I think one of the things that we've noticed recently, a lot of the international students that that have been coming to our programs and engaging are really from all around the country. And many of them, you know, also our students who are looking for know, are there ways to help fund their education? So it's, it's a really broad audience, just like we're seeing on domestic students, which is exciting.

Venkat Raman 13:27

That's awesome. That's awesome. Now, do the international students also get the benefit of the CBOs? And other resources? Are

Stacey 13:36

we actually we actually have some international community based organizations as well. Okay. Okay.

Venkat Raman 13:46

Where are you guys taking all this over the next year or two? I mean, yeah, more students. But

Stacey 13:54 [What’s Ahead?]

but, you know, this year, whenever, as I'm calling this is our transition year and kind of a large scale pilot, for lack of a better term. So yeah, we'll have 100 plus schools, just you know, when when you do a technology change, and you do it in a short timeframe, you know, that it's a lot. It's a lot of work in a short amount of time. Sure. So, you know, our will have 100 plus members active and taking applications this year. And that hope is, you know, next year that'll be you know, we would love to see that double, we'll see how long that takes are beyond that, I will say that we have continued to have some great conversations, both with our members who definitely will get on next year. But also people who are like I really like what you're doing and we're strong like considering joining and being on the platform next year. So, you know, so far there's been lots of positive feedback Scoir and technicians are both excellent partners who, you know, really listen to feedback and I want to really do what's best for students.

Venkat Raman 15:05

Got it? How'd you guys do last year? I mean, it'd be, you know, the past 12 months more students than the previous year. And

Stacey 15:13

we were about the same. We're about even with last year. Yep. Okay. Yeah. Oh, at least as far as applications go, I mean, certainly virtual programs varied, depending on the topic. Some are, you know, wildly popular and others, you know, not as much, but I think it's important to have a variety of opportunities for students.

Venkat Raman 15:39

Any closing thoughts as we wind down here?

Stacey 15:42 [Close]

No, I don't think so. I mean, we, we are excited about the direction and I would say, you know, watch in a year or two to come to see where this goes, because we think this is really has an opportunity to simplify things for students when they apply to college.

Venkat Raman 15:59

Yeah, I'm sure all the parents and students would really like that. So yes, absolutely. Fantastic. So Stacey, thank you so much for coming on and giving us an update. I wish you all the best with this partnership. Certainly looks like you're on to making it even better. So thank you again, and we'll talk soon.

Stacey 16:22

Okay, thank you so much. Bye, bye.

--------------------

Venkat 16:30

Hi again!

Hope you enjoyed our podcast with Stacey Kostell on the new Coalition Application.

Here are the takeaways:

A Single Platform to apply using Scoir
100+ Coalition College Partners
High Schools and Community-based organizations in the US and Int’l to help students apply

I hope high school students take advantage of these benefits while applying to college.

For your questions or comments on this podcast, please email podcast at almamatters.io [podcast@almamatters.io].

Thank you all so much for listening to our podcast today.

Transcripts for this podcast and previous podcasts are on almamatters.io forward slash podcasts [almamatters.io/podcasts].

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Till we meet again, take care and be safe.

Thank you!

Summary Keywords

MyCoalition, Coalition Application, Coalition App, College Applications, College Admissions, Podcast for High Schoolers, College Podcast for High Schoolers, International Students, US Colleges, Coalition for College Access, High School Students, High School, College-bound, Scoir, College List, Community-based Organization, First Generation, College Counselor

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