In March, UNITE-LA’s Research & Evaluation team facilitated a mini focus group with nearly a dozen high school counselors and college advisors at the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s CARES Symposium. Counselors were asked a set of open-ended questions using the Poll Everywhere platform to gather live feedback on pressing issues around financial aid completion, general college planning and pandemic-related challenges for students and high school counselors.  We solicited information on counselor challenges and action items to best support students and families in the final stretch of the financial aid season.

Participants offered a number of systemic, school-level solutions, and one counselor captured the essence of supporting students during these unprecedented times: "It is hard right now, and creativity and out-of-box thinking [are] important."