College Planning
Personal Planning Starts Here
SJA offers college advising, not placement, and that distinction is important. With the Sisters of St. Joseph as our guides, SJA college advisors strive to cultivate meaningful (and right) relationships with each student. Getting to know each SJA Angel as an individual with unique talents, strengths, goals, and interests is core to how the college advisors work because they understand college is not a “one size fits all” experience.
Angels meet one-on-one multiple times with their advisor, receive intentional, personalized guidance, and are given access to a variety of resources to best facilitate the search and application process.
2018-2022 College Acceptance List College Advising and Resource Center Transcript Release Form
Naviance
Naviance is a web-based, comprehensive college search and application program. Angels will receive access to and instruction in Naviance during spring of their sophomore year.
Naviance:
- Provides comparative data on colleges and universities and allows students the ability to see their admissibility to a school, while comparing their information with previous SJA grads who applied to the same institution.
- Has a direct link to each school’s website along with addresses, deadlines, requirements, and procedures, and keeps records of all applications and their outcomes.
- Lists scholarships and summer opportunities.
- Includes inquiries on personality and learning styles, as well as a career interest inventory with explanation of jobs, projections on the job market and salary ranges.
SCOIR
SCOIR is a total access college exploration tool, allowing students, parents, and advisors the ability to discover pertinent information about post-secondary options. SCOIR combines the practicality of the college search process with the modernity of social media. Students will receive access to and instruction in SCOIR during the spring of their freshman year.
RESOURCES
Here you’ll find links to the Common Application, College Board, and ACT, as well as the most updated list of colleges and universities who admit students without using standardized test scores (test-optional or test-blind).
Consistent with their belief that all Angels are far more than a test-score, SJA college advisors do not endorse, or provide referrals for, any tutoring, or standardized test preparation companies. SJA college advisors do provide individualized recommendations for all Angels on how standardized testing may, or may not impact their college application list, as well as scholarship options.
College Advising Events
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Topic: Supporting your student in applying to college
paying for college
The links below will take you to various scholarship and financial aid resources, such as FAFSA, the CSS Profile, the scholarship databases Going Merry and Fastweb.com, as well as local scholarship opportunities with St. Louis Graduates.
We understand that college affordability is a crucial conversation for many families. To assist our families in addressing college costs, we are now offering an important resource, the SMARTTRACK® College Funding Program.
- As College Financing Professionals, SMARTTRACK® can help you pay less for college by paying smart, or in a more tax-efficient way.
- SMARTTRACK® will offer college funding webinars twice per year and SJA college advisors highly recommend that all families attend at least once during their student’s freshman, or sophomore year.
- SJA is providing all families access to the SMARTTRACK® College Funding High School Initiative to assist our families with the financial piece of college planning. If you’re concerned that you won’t qualify for financial aid, haven’t saved enough, or don’t have an effective plan to cover the considerable costs of educating all your children, SMARTTRACK® can help.
SMARTTRACK College Funding
Going Merry
FAFSA
CSS Profile
Local Scholarship Opportunities - St. Louis Graduates
Scholarship Database - FastWeb
The A+ Schools Program
This is a school-improvement initiative established by the Outstanding Schools Act of 1993. The program is raising academic standards, opening new doors to higher education and introducing students to the teaching profession through tutoring and mentoring activities. For complete information about the A+ program, please visit the Missouri Department of Higher Education & Workforce Development.
BENEFITS OF AN A+ SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS:
Qualifying graduating students will be eligible for the following:
- Tuition to attend any Missouri public community college or public vocational/technical school.
- Students who have an Illinois permanent address, but attend a Missouri A+ high school, are eligible for the A+ benefits.
- Tuition incentives which will be made available after the student has made a good faith effort to first secure all available federal post-secondary student financial assistance funds that do not require repayment.
Tuition reimbursement is contingent upon availability of state funds.
Please contact Mrs. Donna Videmschek with questions at (314) 394-4312 or at dvidemschek@sja1840.org.
