Published: June 13, 2019 By

Counselors and administrators from rural high schools across ŷڱƵ arrived at the ŷڱƵ Boulder campus Wednesday as part of a four-day program designed to increase enrollment of underrepresented students.

ŷڱƵ FIRST: College Tour for Rural High School Counselors is a program offered by the ŷڱƵ Boulder Office of Admissions, in collaboration with the Denver and ŷڱƵ Springs campuses.

High schools counselors at ŷڱƵ Boulder

Rural high school counselors visit ŷڱƵ Boulder campus. (Image credits: Casey Cass/ŷڱƵ Boulder)

Counselors visited the schools to learn about the unique academic opportunities, funding resources and student support services offered by each campus.

Karen Ganss, assistant director of the Access Recruitment Team at ŷڱƵ Boulder, sees the program as an opportunity to make ŷڱƵ Boulder more accessible to high school students across the state.

“In smaller, tight-knit communities, students tend to have strong connections to educators at their high school,” said Ganss. “Yet may not have the ability to travel far distances to visit college campuses across ŷڱƵ.”

To address this, the Office of Admissions seeks to educate counselors on the benefits and accessibility of a ŷڱƵ education, so they can communicate those benefits to their students.

Students from rural communities make up just 5% of undergraduate students enrolled at ŷڱƵ Boulder, 5% at ŷڱƵ Denver and 7.7% at UCCS.

“We know that students from smaller towns across ŷڱƵ tend to graduate high school at very high rates, yet enroll in college at much lower rates than their urban peers,” said Ganss. “It is our mission as an institution to serve the entire state, and this absolutely includes our smaller communities.”

Counselors began their tour in ŷڱƵ Springs on Monday and completed the program in Boulder Thursday.

During their Boulder visit, counselors had the opportunity to talk with current students from rural towns across ŷڱƵ and learn about ongoing outreach programs and initiatives from David Meens, director of the Office for Outreach and Engagement.

Beyond this year, Ganss hopes to continue the Rural Counselor Tour each summer.

“The admissions offices are working diligently to ensure rural students are part of the conversation when it comes to access to college,” said Ganss.