Tag: Perfect

  • College Search Help: 5 Ways to Find Your Perfect College Fit without Stress

    College Search Help: 5 Ways to Find Your Perfect College Fit without Stress

    If you’ve been scrolling “best colleges” lists and feeling more stressed than inspired, you’re not doing it wrong—you’re just starting in a place that’s designed to overwhelm you. Rankings can be interesting later, but they’re not a significant first step because they’re not personal. Your best match is the school that fits your life, learning style, and goals.

    Begin with a short list of non-negotiables. Think of these as the filters that keep you from wasting time on campuses that look impressive but don’t actually work for you.

    Here are common non-negotiables to choose from:

    • Distance from home: Staying in San Diego, somewhere in California, or open to out of state

    • Setting: big city, beach town, suburb, college town, rural

    • Campus size: small and intimate vs large and energetic

    • Budget range: realistic yearly cost after aid, not sticker price

    • Academic direction: undecided, specific major, pre-health, engineering, arts

    • Support needs: tutoring, advising, mental health resources, disability services

    • Culture: social scene, Greek life presence, faith-based options, commuter-friendly

    San Diego students often have a unique set of priorities—maybe you want to stay close to family, keep a part-time job, or find a campus that feels similar to the Southern California vibe. That’s not “limiting yourself.” That’s being strategic.

    Once you have your non-negotiables, add 3–5 “nice to haves.” Examples: study abroad strength, ocean access, strong internships in LA, guaranteed housing, smaller class sizes, or a campus with a big sports atmosphere.

    Your goal in this step is clarity. When you know what you need, the search gets calmer because you’re not trying to make every college work.

    Build a balanced list with a simple three-bucket system

    A lot of stress comes from an unbalanced list—either everything feels like a reach, or everything feels too safe, or you have 25 schools and no idea how to narrow it. A better approach is a list that’s intentionally built to give you strong options no matter what.

    Use a three-bucket system:

    • Likely: you’re confidently in range for admission, and you’d genuinely attend

    • Target: you’re competitive, and it’s a realistic match

    • Reach: admission is more selective or unpredictable, but it’s still worth a shot

    Try this ratio for a first draft:

    • 3–4 likely

    • 4–6 target

    • 2–3 reach

    If you’re applying in California, remember that some schools can be unpredictable even for strong students. That’s normal. The point of a balanced list is that you’re not placing your entire future on a few outcomes.

    To keep this step grounded, base your buckets on real indicators:

    • Recent admitted student averages (GPA ranges, course rigor, test policy if relevant)

    • Major-specific selectivity (some programs are more challenging to get into than the school overall)

    • Your transcript strength over time (upward trends matter)

    Then add one more filter: Would I actually be excited to attend if it’s the only option I get? If the answer is no, it doesn’t belong on the list.

    Research like a detective: look for proof, not vibes

    College fit scorecard and campus research materials used to compare schools and reduce stress during the college decision process.College fit scorecard and campus research materials used to compare schools and reduce stress during the college decision process.

    College marketing is excellent at making every campus feel perfect. Your job is to look for evidence that a school will support the life you want.

    Think of research in three layers:

    1: the basics

    • Majors and concentrations

    • Typical class sizes in your intended department

    • First-year requirements and flexibility to change majors

    • Housing policies and meal plans

    • Cost and financial aid clarity

    2: the student experience

    • Clubs and communities related to your interests

    • Support programs (first gen, transfer support, cultural centers)

    • Career services and internship pipelines

    • Safety and transportation, especially if you won’t have a car

    3: outcomes

    • Internship participation and where students intern

    • Job placement support, career fairs, and alumni networks

    • Graduate school acceptance support if that’s your path

    If you’re in San Diego or elsewhere in Southern California, you can also research a school through a local lens:

    • Does it connect to opportunities in San Diego, Orange County, or LA?

    • Are there strong relationships with regional employers?

    • Is it easy to travel home without stress?

    A practical tip: for each college, create a simple note with three headings:

    • Why it fits me

    • What I’m unsure about

    • What I need to confirm

    That turns “research” into a decision tool instead of endless scrolling.

    Make your campus visits smarter, even if you can’t travel far

    Not everyone can fly across the country to tour schools. The good news is you can get a clear sense of fit without spending a fortune.

    If you can visit in person, go in with a short plan:

    • Take a student-led tour

    • Sit in one class if possible

    • Walk through the neighborhood just off campus

    • Eat where students eat

    • Visit the department you care about (or attend an info session)

    Pay attention to things students rarely say out loud:

    • Are students staying on campus between classes or escaping to their cars?

    • Do people look comfortable, rushed, social, or stressed?

    • Does the campus feel navigable and safe for you?

    If you can’t visit, use “virtual proof”:

    • Student vlogs that show ordinary days (not the perfect highlight reel)

    • Online campus maps and walking tours

    • Department events or webinars

    • Student panels where you can ask questions live

    Southern California students sometimes underestimate how different campus life can feel outside the region. If you’re considering out-of-state, ask about the weather, housing during breaks, and travel logistics. Those details matter more than people admit, especially your first year.

    Compare colleges with a scorecard so decisions feel obvious

    Students walking on a palm tree lined campus walkway in Southern California, representing the college environment and campus life.Students walking on a palm tree lined campus walkway in Southern California, representing the college environment and campus life.

    When everything starts blending, stress spikes. A scorecard brings things back to reality.

    Create a simple rating system from 1 to 5 for categories that actually matter to you. Here are good categories:

    • Academic strength for your interests

    • Flexibility if you change your mind

    • Cost after aid and scholarship opportunities

    • Campus culture and community

    • Support and advising quality

    • Housing and day-to-day comfort

    • Career support and internships

    • Location fit (distance, vibe, weather, transportation)

    Then add two written prompts for each school:

    This is where you’ll notice patterns. One school might score slightly lower academically but feel far more supportive. Another might be impressive on paper but doesn’t offer the environment you need to do your best work.

    If you’re feeling torn between two schools, do a “real life week” test:
    Picture a typical Tuesday. What time do you wake up? How far do you walk? Where do you study? Who helps when you’re stuck? What happens when you’re homesick? The right fit usually becomes clearer when you stop imagining the highlight moments and start imagining the routine.

    Reduce stress with a simple timeline and decision plan

    The final stress trigger is not the search itself—it’s the feeling that you’re behind, or that one wrong decision will ruin everything. You can calm that down with an easy-to-follow plan.

    Here’s a simple structure that works well:

    1: Two weeks to build your list

    • Set your non-negotiables

    • Draft your likely, target, and reach buckets

    • Remove any school you wouldn’t attend

    2: Two to four weeks to research deeply

    • Fill in your notes for each school

    • Attend a webinar or student panel for your top choices

    • Confirm costs using net price calculators when possible

    3: Finalize and prepare

    • Lock your final list

    • Track requirements in one place (deadlines, essays, letters, portfolios)

    • Start essays with stories, not speeches—small moments that show who you are

    For San Diego and Southern California students juggling sports, jobs, family responsibilities, or multiple activities, the key is consistency over intensity. A calm college search is usually built with small weekly steps, not last-minute marathons.

    One more mindset shift that helps: you’re not searching for one “perfect” school. You’re building a set of great options where you can succeed in different ways. That’s what takes the pressure off.

    At College Planning Source, we help students and families navigate every step of the college admissions process. Get direct one-on-one guidance with a complimentary virtual college planning assessment—call 858-676-0700 or schedule online at collegeplanningsource.com/assessments. 

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  • Smart strategies to help students find the perfect college

    Smart strategies to help students find the perfect college

    Key points:

    You’ll often hear two words come up in advising sessions as students look ahead to college: match and fit. They sound interchangeable, but they’re not.

    Match refers to what colleges are looking for from students. It’s mostly determined by admissions requirements such as GPA and test scores, and in some cases, other criteria like auditions, portfolios, or athletic ability. Fit is more of an art than a science; it refers to what the student is looking for in a college, including personal preferences, social and cultural environment, financial factors, and academic offerings. When we talk to students about college fit, it’s an opportunity for them to ask themselves whether they like what a certain institution offers beyond being admitted.

    In the college admissions process, both terms matter. A strong match without a good fit can leave a student disengaged and negatively affect their chances of graduating from college. Nearly a quarter of undergraduate freshmen drop out before their second year, and it seems likely to me that a lot of these cases boil down to bad fits. On the other hand, a great fit that isn’t a match could be difficult for admission in the first place, and if a student is admitted anyway, the rigorous coursework they encounter might be more than they’re ready for. To maximize postsecondary success, advisors, families, and students alike should fully understand the difference between match and fit and know how to approach conversations about each of them.

    Match: Reach, target, and solid

    As I’ve worked with advisors over the years, one of the best ways we’ve found to guide students on match is using the categories of “Reach,” “Target,” and “Solid” schools. We can determine which schools belong to what category using the data that colleges share about the average incoming GPAs and test scores of admitted classes. Typically, they report weighted GPAs and composite test scores from the middle 50 percent of accepted applicants, i.e., from the students who fall anywhere from the 25th to 75th percentile of those admitted.

    • Reach: These are schools where admission is less likely, either because a student’s test scores and GPA are below the middle 50 percent or because the school traditionally admits only a small percentage of eligible applicants.
    • Target: These are schools where either GPA or test scores fall in the middle 50 percent of admitted students.
    • Solid: These are schools where students are well within the middle 50 percent for both GPA and test scores.

    Building a balanced college list across these categories is essential in the college planning process. Often, I see high-achieving students over-index on too many Reach schools, which may make it hard for them to get accepted anywhere on their list, simply because their preferred schools are ultra-selective. Meanwhile, parents and guardians may focus heavily on fit and overlook whether the student actually meets the college’s admission criteria. Advisors play a key role in keeping these data-informed conversations grounded with the goal of a balanced list of college options for students to pursue.

    The importance of early planning

    Timing matters. In general, if you meet with students early enough, conversations about fit are productive, but if you’re meeting with students for the first time in their senior year, the utmost priority should be helping them build a balanced list. Ideally, we want to avoid a situation where a student thinks they’re going to get into the most competitive colleges in the country on the strength of their GPA and test scores, only to find out that it’s not that easy. If advisors wait until senior year to address match, students and families may already have unrealistic expectations, leading to difficult conversations when options are limited.

    On the other hand, we would stress that although GPA is the factor given the most weight by admissions offices, there are ways to overcome match deficits with other elements of a college application. For instance, if a student worked part-time to support their family or participated in co-curricular activities, colleges using holistic review may see this as part of the student’s story, helping to balance a GPA that falls outside the typical range. These experiences highlight a student’s passions and potential contributions to their chosen major and campus community. We don’t want students to have unrealistic expectations, but we also shouldn’t limit them based on numbers alone.

    In any case, advisors should introduce both match and fit concepts as early as 9th grade. If students have a specific college in mind, they need to be aware of the match requirements from the first day of freshman year of high school. This allows students to plan and track academic progress against requirements and lets families begin exploring what kind of environment, resources, and financial realities would make for the right fit.

    Fit: A personal process

    Once match is established, the next step is making sure students ask: “What do I want in my college experience?” The answers will involve a wide range of factors:

    • Institutional type: Public or private? Small liberal arts college or large research university?
    • Academic considerations: What majors are offered? Are there study abroad programs? Internship opportunities?
    • Student life: What is the student body like? What kind of extracurriculars, sports, and support services are offered? Are there fraternities and sororities? What is the campus culture?
    • Affordability: What financial aid or scholarships can I expect? What is the true net cost of attendance?
    • Outcomes: What a student hopes to gain from their postsecondary experience, including specific degrees or credentials, career preparation, financial benefits, personal growth, and skill development.

    Fit also requires conversations within families. I’ve found that open communication can reveal misunderstandings that would otherwise falsely limit students’ options. Sometimes students assume their parents want them close to home, when in fact, parents just want them to find the right environment. Other times, families discover affordability looks very different once they use tools like free cost calculators. Ongoing dialogue about these topics between advisors, students, and families during the high school years helps prepare for better decisions in the end.

    Bringing it all together

    With more than 4,000 colleges and universities in the U.S. alone, every student can find a college or university that aligns with their goals and abilities. Doing so, however, is both an art and a science. Advisors who help families focus on both dimensions, and start the conversation early, set students up to receive those treasured acceptance letters and to thrive once they arrive on campus.

    For school districts developing their proficiency in postsecondary readiness factors, like advising, there is an increasing amount of support available. For one, TexasCCMR.org, has free guidance resources to strengthen advising programs and other aspects of college and career readiness. While Texas-focused, many of the insights and tools on the site can be helpful for districts across the country in building their teams’ capabilities.

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  • Vessi: A Waterproof and Comfortable Shoe, Perfect for in and out of the Hospital

    Vessi: A Waterproof and Comfortable Shoe, Perfect for in and out of the Hospital

    Home » Careers in Nursing » Vessi: A Waterproof and Comfortable Shoe, Perfect for in and out of the Hospital

    Anyone who works in healthcare knows these jobs can be hard on the body — especially the feet.

    That’s why high-quality footwear is key.

    Enter Vessi, a waterproof footwear brand praised by healthcare workers, including nurses, for their foot health support and other features that make them practical for work and beyond.

    “These are comfortable and reliable for working 10-hour shifts as a nurse. Great shock absorbers that get me through my shift easily,” said Vessi customer Althea R., in one of many testimonials endorsing Vessis.

    Practical features

    Vessis are an ideal choice for nurses and other healthcare workers because they’re:

    • Comfortable: Healthcare workers work notoriously long shifts — sometimes upwards of 12 hours at a time. Pain in areas of the body including the feet, legs, and back can happen if proper footwear is foregone. The good news is that Vessis are built to support 8- to 12-hour days of standing, and their cloud-like cushioning midsole keeps you comfortable from first step to last.
    • 100% waterproof: Messes happen, especially in a healthcare setting. Vessis are designed to endure the worst of them with their patented Dyma-tex® waterproof knit, which enables water, spills, and unexpected messes to bead right off. Unlike other waterproof materials, Dyma-tex® is lightweight, breathable, and flexible.

    “As a nurse and mom, they can be used for waterproof safety at births or walking to school in the rain!” said Vessi customer Angela B.V.

    • Easy to care for: If your Vessis need a refresh — whether from a messier shift at work or from routine wear — simply toss them into the washing machine. Some Vessis are machine washable, meaning that keeping them hygienic (and appearing in tip-top shape) is a cinch.
    • Stylish: Not only can you wear Vessis at work, but you can sport them before and afterward. Consider them your handy, work-to-life (and vice versa!) shoe.
    • Simple to slip on and off: Yes, this is good for convenience, but it also reduces the transfer of germs — which is key when you work in healthcare.
    • Discounted for healthcare workers: Nurses and other healthcare workers receive 20% off sitewide with ID.me verification.
    Vessi’s Weekend shoe

    Fan-favorite styles from Vessi include the Weekend and Pacific collections.

    The Weekend Collection is available for men and women, as well as kids. They come with lightweight, cushioned midsoles and an upper portion that is crafted in a breathable knit. Color options range from classic white and neutral tones, including beige to pastels, and brights like green and pink. What’s more, shoes in this collection include sneakers as well as a Chelsea boot style.

    Vessi calls its Pacific Sneakers “the most versatile shoe ever,” which means they can handle your long-haul travels as well as everyday errands closer to home. Whether you’re wearing them to bike to work, during the big meeting (and throughout your shift), or walking the dog before bed, the Pacific Sneaker is truly made for everyday and everything. Like those in the Weekend Collection, these shoes have a lightweight cushioning midsole and a breathable upper knit. Available for men and women, the Pacific Sneaker offers shoes in classic neutrals, such as white and black, as well as limited edition hues like the grey-green Grotto colorway.

    If the insoles offered in your Vessis don’t work for your health needs, simply swap them out (they’re easy to remove) for your preferred insoles or orthotics.

    With Vessis, versatility is the name of the game, helping healthcare workers check off their to-do lists in functional waterproof kicks that are also comfortable while on — and off — the clock.

    To learn more and shop the full line of Vessis, visit vessi.com

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  • How to do the perfect merger

    How to do the perfect merger

    As we reported on Wednesday, the University of Greenwich and the University of Kent have announced their intention to create a new “super-university” – tentatively called the London and South East University Group (LSEUG).

    It’s worth getting the terminology together. Also styled as a “multi-university group” (a clear nod, if not a direct parallel, to the “multi academy trust”) there will be one unified governing body, one academic board, one executive team, and one vice chancellor (which will be Jane Harrington, currently vice chancellor at Greenwich).

    Despite the “super-university” framing in press statements there is intended to be no changes for students and applicants – people will still apply to, and graduate from, either Kent or Greenwich. For all other purposes – regulation, funding, employment – the idea is of a single entity, but there is still a lot to be worked out.

    Further work on the details of the merger (and it does look like a merger, even though neither university uses that language) will lead to a decision on an implementation around the end of the calendar year. If everything goes to plan, the new structure and entity will be in place in time for the 2026–27 academic year.

    So staff at both universities are in for what will be a busy 12 months in quite a condensed timeframe.

    Everybody else

    And not just them. A university with dual identities but a single structure is not exactly an anomaly – the University of Coventry and its “CU” sub-brand, the University of South Wales and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the various FE groups (like Cornwall College) – but the degree to which we are looking at two trading names rather than two institutions will determine a lot of regulatory and funding decisions.

    For instance – how would Research England determine eligibility for the REF? Both constituent parts of the new entity entered the previous exercise, and both have developed an impact and publication profile in the years since. But it is very likely that Greenwich and Kent have two very different “research cultures”, even though scores for “environment” were similar in REF2021.

    The REF rules point, in England, to OfS Approved (fee cap) status plus research degree awarding powers (unless specific permission is granted) as the price of participation and access to QR funding.

    So would the new entity be able to maintain two OfS registrations and two sets of degree awarding powers? A “merger” is, as you might expect, a reportable event – and would lead to a reassessment of the financial sustainability and governance arrangements of both providers involved (as per section 144 of the Regulatory Framework).

    There would also need to be a reassessment of quality and standards – here OfS is clear that it would use the compliance history of previously registered provider(s) in assessing what would potentially be a new application for registration (para 372 here). All of this, of course, is subject to the usual vagaries of OfS judgement in an individual case.

    Beware of the leopard

    You’d have to be au fait with the footnotes to the analysis of responses to the 2022 consultation on quality and standards conditions(!) to know that:

    A merger or acquisition is a reportable event, and we would make a judgement about whether such an event resulted in any increased risk for any condition of registration for any of the providers involved. A merger or acquisition of two registered providers also requires a decision to deregister the dissolving entity – a decision to deregister a provider in these circumstances also means we consider whether any regulatory benefits or regulatory protection for students in relation to the deregistering provider transfer to the lead provider. Therefore, the relevance of any compliance history will be considered and, if appropriate, a new risk assessment will be completed as part of this process.

    There is not a playbook or a process for two universities merging – despite what feels like three years of Wonkhe articles suggesting that something like this could be on the cards – and despite the actual example of City St George’s University of London (which makes things a little easier by using only one, albeit unwieldy, trading name) there is no evidence of work being done in advance of what could well be a rush of other examples.

    I mention this not to take a pop at the Office for Students, but to suggest that this absence of a clearly defined regulatory path may be discouraging other registered providers from making similar decisions. If mergers are the financial stable future of the sector, there needs to be a simple process to allow them to happen.

    Compare, for example, the clear and straightforward guidance (and checklist) available from HESA.

    Outside privy

    Paragraph 306 of the current regulatory framework suggests that there are circumstances in mergers where university title is up for debate too. Both the University of Kent and the University of Greenwich have university title (you can tell that because they can both use the word “university” in their names) – Kent via a Royal Charter in 1965, Greenwich via a 1992 Order of the Privy Council.

    From what we know so far the London and South East University Group (name not yet confirmed) will bring the two current institutions (the University of Kent, the University of Greenwich) under one structure. If the name of the overall structure contains the word “university” it will need to have approval for its new use of the word university in a company name.

    I’d love to draw a parallel with City St George’s but that one is just weird – City didn’t use its 1966 university title after 2006 (it used City, University of London), St George’s Hospital Medical School never used its 2022 university title, it was St George’s, University of London), but the combined provider uses the 1966 City title despite still being a member of the University of London, because as of the 2022 University of London Act you can now have university title within the University of London.

    It isn’t made clear in any of the guidance, but generally only a legal entity can hold university title. A lot depends on the chosen company structure of the new body – if we are reversing two existing companies into a new entity then I’d honestly be surprised if it wasn’t the new entity that needs university title: and the existing ones (referring as they do, to existing names) wouldn’t be enough.

    Could we have one entity with two university titles? Generally not, but to offer consistency to students and applicants you’d hope some arrangement could be made, at least over the short to medium term.

    Though OfS nominally gets to determine university status these days, in legal reality it issues a recommendation to the Department for Education that it can offer a response of “non-objection” to the Registrar of Companies (at Companies House) who makes the final determination. That’s a lot of people to get to agree.

    Sandbox

    The mere act of doing something that hasn’t quite been done this way before causes administrative problems. For all the OfS’ processes aim to provide the legendary “level playing field”, in practice it has been helpful if your provider looks quite a lot like existing providers. LSEUG, with its Greenwich and Kent sub-brands, does not look like any current provider and as such it could face a bumpy ride – via a series of exceptions and special cases – into good standing with OfS.

    A special case should not be a worry, and if – as many predict – this merger is the first of many there will be a number of precedents set that should make it easier for future providers in a similar situation. That’s great for them, but not much comfort for the team across Kent and Greenwich that will be arguing the case with OfS, DfE, and others on a number of rules and requirements.

    At its best, regulation should apply reliably and equally to everyone. But there is a case, where regulation needs to evolve, to establish a sandbox where new ways to assure against the various OfS and DfE concerns can be developed and deployed. And perhaps that could help make regulation less onerous for everyone.

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  • Detroit District Offered Gift Cards For Perfect Attendance. 4,936 Kids Earned It – The 74

    Detroit District Offered Gift Cards For Perfect Attendance. 4,936 Kids Earned It – The 74


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    Nearly 5,000 Detroit high school students have earned at least one $200 incentive for perfect attendance since early January.

    High school students in the Detroit Public Schools Community District can earn $200 gift cards for each two-week period in which they have perfect attendance, from Jan. 6 through March 21.

    There have been two cycles so far for which students have received the gift cards and, in addition to the 4,936 students who had perfect attendance in at least one of two-week periods, 2,028 have had perfect attendance in both cycles, according to data Superintendent Nikolai Vitti shared with Chalkbeat this week.

    The attendance incentive is aimed at improving attendance in the district, where two-thirds of nearly 49,999 students were considered chronically absent during the 2023-24 school year. The incentive is among a number of efforts the district has employed over the years to create an attendance-going culture among students. The district has invested heavily into attendance agents to improve attendance and this school year announced that students with extremely high rates of chronic absenteeism will be held back a grade at the K-8 level and required to repeat classes at the high school level.

    The number of students earning the perfect attendance incentive is a fraction of the nearly 15,000 high school students in the district, leading one school board member to question last week whether the incentive is working. But Vitti said he is encouraged that the program is getting more high school students to class and resulting in a small decrease in the chronic absenteeism rate for high school students. He said the district and board will have to evaluate the program’s success at the end of the school year.

    Chronic absenteeism has been one of the district’s biggest challenges for years. The chronic absenteeism rate has declined, from a high of nearly 80% at the height of the pandemic, when quarantining rules meant many students missed school because of COVID exposure. But last school year’s much lower chronic absenteeism rate of 66% still means it is difficult to have consistency in the classroom and improve academic achievement.

    Students in Michigan are chronically absent when they miss 10%, or 18 days in a 180-day school year. Statewide, 30% of students are considered chronically absent, compared to 23% nationally. A recent education scorecard cited the state’s rate as being a factor in students’ slow academic recovery from the pandemic.

    Here are some of the highlights of the students who’ve received the incentive so far::

    • 3,473 students had perfect attendance during the first cycle.
    • 3,492 students had perfect attendance during the second cycle.
    • About 10% already had perfect attendance.
    • About 4% were considered chronically absent at the time the incentive began.
    • About 16% had missed 10% of the school year at the time the incentive began.
    • About 25% had missed 5-10% of the school year.
    • About 44% had missed 5% or fewer days in the school year.

    At a Detroit school board meeting last week, Vitti said the statistic showing that just 10% of the students who earned the incentive already had perfect attendance is an indication that “this is not just rewarding those that have already been going to school.”

    Board member Monique Bryant questioned what school leaders are doing to promote the incentive to students who haven’t earned it.

    Bryant suggested that data Vitti shared at the meeting showing that chronic absenteeism is down by 5 percentage points for high school students since the incentive began is an illustration that most students aren’t rising to the goal of the incentive.

    Vitti responded that it depends on how you look at the data.

    “Right now, chronic absenteeism at the high school levels improved by five percentage points,” Vitti said. “That means that 700 high school students are not chronically absent where they were last year. I’d also say that at least on the 97th day, our chronic absenteeism at the high school levels is the lowest it’s been since the pandemic.”

    The question for board members to decide at the end of the school year is whether the incentive “is the right investment with other challenges that we have districtwide,” Vitti said. “But I think the data is suggesting it’s working for many students … but not all.”

    Board member Ida Simmons Short urged the district to survey students to learn more about what is preventing them from coming to school.

    The causes of chronic absenteeism are numerous and include physical and mental health reasons, lack of transportation,and lack of affordable housing. Most of them tie back to poverty. Vitti specifically cited transportation, because half of the students in the district don’t attend their neighborhood school and the district doesn’t provide school bus transportation for high school students, who must take city buses to get to school.

    “Sometimes they’re unreliable, they’re late, they’re too far away from where the child lives,” Vitti said.

    Vitti said traditional school bus transportation for high school students “was decimated” under emergency management and it could cost between $50 million and $100 million to bring that level of transportation back.

    Another factor, Vitti said, is that for some students, school isn’t relevant. Middle and high school students, in particular, “struggle to understand, ‘why am I going to school every day? How is this connected to what I’m going to I need to know for life.’”

    Mi’Kah West, a Cass Technical High School student who serves as a student representative on the board, said that when talking to other members of the District Executive Youth Council last week, many said students overall are excited about the incentive.

    One thing that stuck out, she said, was council members saying they heard students in the hallways or on social media saying they were coming to school because they want the money.

    “And, while we don’t want to just say we want to come to school for the money,” West said, “I think it’s important to see that students … may have stayed home because they don’t want to come to school, but they’re willing to come to school now.”

    Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at [email protected].

    Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.


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  • How to Find the Perfect College for You

    How to Find the Perfect College for You




    College Search: How to Find the Perfect College for You



















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