Yesterday, IECA and Oregon State University officially launched the AXS Companion, to help any student navigate the Common Application process. 

The project is over a year in the making, and is a collaborative effort between IECA and Oregon State University, using the talent and resources of both, with special assistance from OSU’s award-winning Ecampus. The AXS Companion is a step-by-step tool to assist students as they complete the Common Application the most popular college application platform.

The site is here: http://axscompanion.org  

And here is a six-minute introductory video.

We are indebted to NACAC members who contributed time and talent to help his come about.  You’ll see familiar faces as you navigate the site.

First things first: This is a free resource, and anyone can use or share it widely.  No login or account is required, and no student data is collected or used.  Although the impetus for it was the desire to help students who are under-served by professional college counseling services, we believe that even students (and their parents) who are well served may find it helpful in navigating the Common Application. We have kept branding to a minimum to encourage other institutions to share and use this resource to effect the outcome we all hope for: More college access for everyone, but especially students from under-served backgrounds.

The AXS Companion includes about 50 modules, so students can use it for end-to-end assistance, or on an ad hoc basis to manage only those sections that are confusing to them.

Here is the Oregon State University Press Release: https://today.oregonstate.edu/news/oregon-state-university-helps-develop-tool-help-underserved-students-applying-college

And here is the IECA Press Release: https://www.iecaonline.com/introducing-the-axs-companion-to-common-app-a-free-resource-designed-to-support-under-resourced-students/

If you’re looking for ways to distribute this, some suggestions:

• If you are in a professional organization that is connected directly or tangentially to college admissions, feel free to send this post to your membership.  This would include your regional ACAC e-lists.
• Notify groups of high school counselors, youth group leaders, CBOs or other groups (like churches) where you might recruit.
• If you work at a college or university that accepts Common App (or even one that doesn’t) feel free to send to your inquiry pool, especially those who might live in ZIP Codes that would suggest a need for this.
• Similarly, if you have Pre-College Programs, Gear Up, Outward Bound, or other programs on campus that work with high school students, this might be helpful for them.
• If you work at a land grant university that runs extension services, those field offices might be especially helpful to use in distributing to students in more rural areas.
• If you have a social media presence, or even membership in Facebook or similar groups, you can of course feel free to share there.

IECA and Oregon State, in conjunction with Oregon State’s Ecampus, donated all the resources necessary to bring this to fruition.   We hope you and the students you work with will find this helpful. If this is as successful as we hope it will be, we have plans to make next year’s version bigger and better. We’d love your feedback.

I’m happy to answer any questions that might arise. Email me at Oregon State, or call my landline, at 541-737-0759.