Class 101: help for future college students

By MELBA KISER
For The Reporter

During the 2024 legislative session, the Indiana legislature revamped the requirements for a high school diploma.

The new diploma+ program has three tracks depending on whether the focus is on college enrollment, employment, or enlistment. The legislature has set the effective dates as the 2028/2029 school year, meaning that students entering the eighth grade in 2025 who are thinking about college will be the first ones impacted by the changes. School counselors and teachers will be grappling with the changes and new requirements. The average student-to-school-counselor ratio is high.

Class 101 advisors can bridge the gap, providing the one-on-one support the student needs.

Class 101 was started in 1997 in Lexington, Ky. Today they are the nation’s largest college planning company with over 40 locations in 23 states, primarily on the east coast and part of the Midwest. Their focus is helping parents and students ensure their college preparation is well executed. The company provides more than 10 different services, including identifying career interests and exploring majors, assessment of strengths and personality profile, essay writing, resume building, ACT/SAT test preparation and score improvement, scholarship applications, completing FAFSA/financial aid forms, finding job shadowing opportunities, obtaining letters of recommendation, and admission interview coaching.

The engagement with students can start as early as eighth grade. The earlier students engage, the more guidance the advisors can offer with course selection. However, Class 101 does work with students who are entering the 12th grade. Depending on the grade of the student, Class 101 asks for one hour per week every four to six weeks for eighth graders, which increases to one hour per week every one to two weeks for a junior.

Local Class 101 offices are open for students to use as often as they wish, with the Carmel office seeing several students taking advantage of the facility from Monday to Friday between the hours of 4 and 9 p.m.

Using Class 101’s methods, a student can expect to see a 160- to 170-point increase in their SAT scores and a 0.3- to 0.55-point increase in grade-point average. Class 101 advisors will help students zero-in on qualities and characteristics that will make them stand out. Parents can get help finding favorable student loans, financial aid programs, merit-based scholarship applications, etc., that will lead to a reduction in college costs.

Students and parents who want more details can contact Class 101 at (317) 975-1012. Class 101 is located at 600 E. Carmel Drive, Suite 109, Carmel.