6 Ways Scoir Expands Equity and Access

With the Supreme Court Decision regarding Affirmative Action and the impending Search Cliff, pursuing equity and access has become even more complicated.

Many colleges are scrambling to pivot. Odds are, you’re feeling stressed!

As a company whose mission is to expand access to higher education and improve collegiate outcomes, this is of critical importance to us, too. We're here to help your college reach your unique goals.

How Scoir is Opening Doors for Colleges and Students

Read on to learn some ways Scoir is helping:

• Colleges and universities connect with traditionally underrepresented students
• A diverse array of students find the best college for them

1. Accessibility of Use

Any student, regardless of whether their high school uses Scoir, can create a free Scoir account. And, since everything can be done on Scoir's user-friendly mobile app, a student doesn't need a computer to make the most of Scoir. 

Scoir Tip: Curious what the Scoir experience is like for students? Feel free to create a student account and explore.

2. Public Search

While 85% of Scoir's students use the platform with a high school counselor, the number of students on Scoir without a high school is on the rise. 

We know that Scoir helps students find and connect with schools. So, we're making it easier to find and engage those colleges! Now, students can search colleges, browse profiles, and engage with college content without a Scoir account. Colleges can now achieve greater market reach and diversify lead sources beyond the nearly 1 million students (and counting) using Scoir today!

Scoir Tip: Check out our publicly available College Search page.

3. Counselor Curriculum

Our Title 1 Counselor in Residence, Julie Kampshroeder, collaborates with us to ensure we are supporting historically underrepresented populations. Our Scoir Curriculum provides thoughtfully crafted automated student, parent, and guardian guidance on themes like financial aid and school search for under-resourced schools.

This year, Julie helped us build a Scoir Curriculum to help schools maximize use of the platform with their students, particularly those whose high schools may lack resources and a college counseling program.

Scoir Tip: We also offer Scoir U courses for counselors on topics like SEL and college essays, perfect to share with your counselor friends.

4. Our Pricing Model

In support of our mission to expand access, we discount our high school solutions 50% for each student receiving free or reduced lunch, and our college solutions based on the percent of first-time, full-time students receiving pell grants.

We offer robust, customized rollout and support plans that include ongoing live training support and the free curriculums mentioned above to ensure students’ schools maximize use of the tool.

Scoir is focused on working directly with districts, and building and refining our tool for their specific needs. We partner with some of the largest districts in the nation, many of whom benefit from large discounts based on their percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunch. Scoir provides critical data that helps our districts identify students who do not have a post-secondary plan or need additional guidance.

Scoir Tip: In Scoir, we highlight Title I high school designations to assist colleges in their visit scheduling efforts. (P.S. We also offer Visits to colleges for free!)

5. Supporting CBOs

We’re in the midst of piloting a free platform for Community Based Organizations, which we’ll open up to all CBOs this year. This is the first time higher education, K-12, parents and guardians, and CBOs have had the opportunity to collaborate with students on college exploration and applications in one place. 

We’re working directly with CBO leaders to ensure that the tool is effective for both them and for their students.

Scoir Tip: Get notified of new Scoir product releases by subscribing to the What’s New in Scoir blog.

6. Helping Colleges to Become More Discoverable to Students

We want students on Scoir to discover new, best-fit pathways and schools, not just search for schools they already know.

Colleges on Scoir can share dynamic and personalized content, events, and messages with students and their supporters based on: 

• Sociocultural interests: Diversity, Equality, Legal Sex, LGBTQIA, etc.
• Cultural interests that include African American, Hawaiin, Hispanic, Native American, Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Korean, Egyptian, European, and many more
• First generation status
• Location (Rural, Town, Suburban, Urban)
• Income Bands
• School Type, including schools with Title 1 designation

Check out these helpful resources for messaging and content inspiration for Scoir partner colleges.

• Blog post: Operationalizing Your Prospective Student Communications (through Messaging and Segmentation)
• Case study: How Colleges Can Use #Posts to Reach New Students

A Breakdown of Scoir’s Audience

Check out who’s using Scoir!

• 50% of all Scoir high school students attend a public school, and 50% attend a private school
• 34% of all Scoir students attend a Title I high school
• 31% of Scoir's students have a family household income under $58K
• Of those who provided race or ethnicity information, 40% are students of color (this is combining our race and hispanic ethnicity data)
• Of those who reported first gen status, 28% are first generation students

Looking for more info on Scoir for colleges? Check out the blog post: How to Build Meaningful Connections with Students on Scoir.