Mapping College Resources

We created this interactive map to highlight differences by community in how much access students have to school- and community-based college advising. Numerous research studies show that school counselors and high-quality college advising programs can lead to substantially greater rates of college enrollment and persistence for low-income and first-generation students.

Some students–because of where they live or their family’s affluence–have access to extensive college planning supports. Many other hard working, talented students, however, do not have people they can turn to in their schools or communities for support completing college and financial aid applications.

This lack of access to college advising contributes to persistent socioeconomic inequalities in college access and completion.

How to use the map

The map incorporates college planning resources from numerous sources. We have tried to make the map as intuitive and easy to use as possible. A few suggestions to get started:

Use the navigation buttons, your mouse, or touch gestures on the map to navigate around the country and zoom; icons will appear as you zoom to the state and local levels.
Enter an address, zip code or city into the search bar to fly to that location.
Click on the target button to fly and zoom in on your current location.
When zoomed into an area, fly to a particular school or community icon by clicking on its name in the drop down list on the left; filter the icons shown on the filter screen in the upper left of the map.
Toggle college icons on and off using the button in the top left corner of the map.
If viewing the map from a mobile device, add the map as an icon to your home screen so that you can view the map using the entire device screen.

You might also find it helpful to read some of our case studies to see how this map can be most useful for you.

Help us keep the map current and accurate!

The map is and will remain free for any individual to use. We hope that the college planning community–practitioners, leaders, policy makers, funders, and researchers–will contribute to the completeness of the map by sharing information about college advising programs that we have not currently captured in the map. We also welcome technical feedback on how to improve the map’s functionality. The map’s underlying data can also be downloaded for free.

For more on why we created this map, what we hope it will achieve, and how you can help us keep it current and accurate, please keep reading.

College advising at the state and federal levels

For over a decade the federal government has supported college advising programs at the high school, community, and college level through the TRIO and GEAR UP programs. More recently, several states have pursued statewide college advising initiatives, like AdviseTN in Tennessee.

Advances in interactive technologies and innovations in college advising have now made it possible to provide personalized information and one-on-one college guidance to students across the country, even if they don’t have access to these resources in their own communities. Former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Up Next campaign provides young Americans with text message reminders about important college and financial aid application deadlines and resources, and makes it possible for students to connect with college advisors via text message. CollegePoint is a Bloomberg Philanthropies-funded national virtual college advising initiative that provides high-achieving, low- and moderate-income high school students across the country with sustained, one-on-one advising throughout the college and financial aid application processes.

Which communities and students should national and state advising initiatives target?

As similar national and regional college advising initiatives expand, there will be increasing value in targeting these efforts to schools and communities that would otherwise lack access to high-quality college and financial aid information and assistance.

While there are several existing directories that provide partial information about the availability of college planning resources in communities across the country, we did not find an existing database that comprehensively tracks these resources. Nor are the existing databases structured in a way that allows people to easily interact and explore college advising resources in their community or state.

Case studies and examples for using the map

The information from this map can be understood and used in many different ways depending on your role and relationship to the college advising system. With that in mind, we’ve written a number of short case studies to illustrate how you might make the most of this resource:

As the grant reviewer for a national funder, you’ve received an application from the Westfield, Pennsylvania school district and would like more context for the college advising program they propose. You search for the town on the map and see that several schools in the area have strikingly high student-counselor ratios, no apparent community-based advising programs, and a high proportion of FRPL students. After seeing the high need and potential impact in this area, you decide to forward this proposal for further review.
As a state policy maker in Oregon, you’ve taken an interest in college access as a state-wide issue. Looking around Oregon on the map, you see that while a handful of schools in the central and western regions are served by community-based advising organizations, many are not. Noticing also that most of these schools seem to lack counselors entirely, you realize it may be worth investigating policies that support students without access to these critical resources.
As a college admissions officer working in a post-secondary institution in Miami, Florida, you would like to see if there are high schools in the area that would benefit from support with the college application process. You browse the city map and compare schools with and without TRIO support, high and low counselor ratios, and varying proximity to other higher education institutions. Picking a few schools that have also had historically low application rates for your institution, you set up an outreach agenda for the next month.
As the parent of a student in Greeley, Colorado, you want to see if there are any community advising organizations in your area that your child can access. You search for your school on the map and see that both GEAR UP and TRIO operate in the city. After looking up eligibility and program details, you decide to call each program to learn more.
As a student in Atlanta, Georgia, you’ve heard of a few colleges you could apply to in the area after graduation. With a quick search on the map, you see that there are far more schools nearby than you expected, and you also see a link to the college advising organization at your high school. With all this in mind, you set up a meeting with your school counselor to think more about next steps.