Free college counseling given to low income individuals (e.g. matriculate, matchlighters)

[marcus5]

What are your experiences with programs like Matriculate or matchlighters? What other programs exist to give free advising for low income individuals, and what are your experiences with them?

Also, I know Matriculate uses college students as their advising body. What about matchlighters? Should I pick matchlighters or matriculate (matchlighters says that you can only do their program and nothing else)? Or is there some other program that offers consistently better advising?

I know about Questbridge prep scholars, but the deadline for that passed for me.

[Mwfan1921]

Generally, I would choose a program that uses experienced college counselors, so IMO Matchlighters > Matriculate. Some of the programs that offer free counseling can be specific to a region or a city, and they can be just as good as the nationally based ones. Some programs also have requirements beyond low income, for example the students have to be first gen, so look at that too.

I would ask your HS counselor what programs are in your area. Often there are also local independent counselors who take on pro bono clients each year.

These threads identify some other orgs that offer free college counseling:

Volunteer to Help First Generation College Students

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College application resources for low income and first gen high schoolers

Hi! I’m looking for resource recommendations about the college application process. A lot of kids in my community attend underfunded schools that aren’t able to provide consistent college prep counseling. Most of these students are low income and first generation. Many of their parents aren’t familiar with the application process and some have language barriers. I’ve purchased a card set called what should I do with my life and a copy of colleges that change lives. I’m looking for resources that help guide students through the college application process and give advice on preparing their applications. College Confidential is a great resource but many of these students need a lot more hand holding. I’m also concerned about them being discouraged as many of them have lower stats and ecs than the average CC poster. Thank you so much

@marcus5

I know about Questbridge prep scholars, but the deadline for that passed for me.

Even though you missed the deadline for scholars, you can still apply for college thru Questbridge National College Match when the time comes. National College Match | QuestBridge