When it came time for a teenager to learn to drive, consider what it would be like if they were reluctant to even get in the car.

Then, when they finally got behind the wheel, these drivers quickly became overwhelmed by a winding road, riddled with potholes, and no clear end in sight. While driving instructors could provide some guidance, they were also inundated with a hundred or more other anxious students in the same spot. 

While all of this was happening, parents wanted to see some progress, maybe some sort of road map or driving manual to help their kids navigate this process. 

That’s akin to navigating post-secondary plans, according to Jon Carson, the founder of the College Guidance Network. 

He’s developed that road map for parents, through an online platform that provides a one-stop shop for all information pertaining to post-secondary plans. And all students in New Hampshire will have access to the tool thanks to a partnership with the Department of Education. 

“This program will support students and families every step of the way, offering a single reliable source of resources, tools and information for them,” said Frank Edelblut, the Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Education.

The College Guidance Network provides an on-demand resource library for information about college and career choices. It maps out key dates for parents and students – when to apply for financial aid, application deadlines – and the platform also hosts a series of videos and interviews with industry experts.

The origin of the College Guidance Network starts with Carson’s own experience navigating the college process with his eldest child. When his kid wanted to register for a summer SAT test, the registration for that testing date was actually closing in a few hours.

“It was really this sort of visceral experience that we don’t really know what we’re doing,” he said.

At that point, all he and his wife wanted was a road map for the process.

“As a parent, I’m about to make a very big financial transaction up ahead. There’s a lot of anxiety and sort of stress in our family around it,” he said. “And I can’t find any good content resources.”

So he began to think about what a comprehensive guide that aggregated all information about post-secondary plans would look like. Four years later, the College Guidance Network was his answer.

Beyond putting information in one place, the network serves two other purposes – supplementing the work of inundated guidance counselors, and making the idea of attending college more accessible to all students.

Bill Hudgen can attest to this first hand. As the director of school counseling in the Hudson School District, Hudgen can now use the network to guide conversations with families and provide them with more information whether it be about gap year programs or hear from admissions officers at universities about what makes an essay stand out.

“We have students in the Hudson school district that are super happy to be going to Nashua Community College because they’re the first in their family to do that. And we’re lucky this year to be blessed that we have one of our seniors who was accepted to Dartmouth,” he said. “This program would meet the needs of everyone from each end in between.”

In the past, Hudgen’s go-to answers to parents’ questions would be “it depends.” What will their financial aid package look like among different schools? It depends. Will their student not only be accepted, but be eligible for merit scholarships? It depends.

Now, he can point them to the College Guidance Network for more concrete answers.

“A quote from my counseling office to Jon – ‘Where have you been all our lives?’ We had the rollout of this program to my office. The sound I heard was thuds of everyone’s jaw hitting the table,” said Hudgen. “They didn’t believe that this was actually a product that was out there that we had access to.”

The wealth of information available through the network also helps level the playing field for first-generation students, or where cost is an added barrier for post-secondary education, said Edleblut.

While some families may shell out thousands of dollars for a private college guidance counselor to help navigate the process, now all students in New Hampshire have similar resources and access to information through this platform.

“We’re trying to bring that capacity and those resources to every family in New Hampshire, so that they now have individual coaches who are helping them to navigate secondary opportunities,” he said.

The network is also available in seven different languages.

The only caveat to access to the College Guidance Network is that you must be enrolled as a student in New Hampshire to gain access. That means for students who have paused their education, or aren’t enrolled in a school – whether that be public, private, or homeschooled – they won’t be able to access the service.

The College Guidance Network also has a New Hampshire-specific page, the New Hampshire Channel, that highlights the post-secondary opportunities in the state. This includes information about the University of New Hampshire System’s schools, private institutions, and community college options.

This allows schools to not only encourage students to stay in New Hampshire after high school, but could also entice out-of-state students to choose a school here for their post-secondary plans, said Shannon Reid, the executive director of government affairs and communications for the Community College System of New Hampshire.

When looking at the New Hampshire Channel, students may learn that the community college system graduates almost 300 nurses each year. Or, that there are degree and certificate programs in information technology, computer science or addiction counseling.

“There is a program in New Hampshire for every interest and any student,” she said. ” This platform will really help us to showcase that and to get that word out in a really efficient and innovative way to mentor stu dents.”

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