Summary
This 9th-grade campus visit activity will complement a student tour of a college campus to learn about postsecondary options. In this learning activity, students will identify obstacles that prevent individuals from pursuing postsecondary education and explore resources and strategies to overcome those obstacles.
Essential Questions
What keeps individuals from pursuing a postsecondary education?
What are some resources to help overcome those challenges?
Objectives
Identify common obstacles that prevent students from going to college.
Match available resources and strategies to overcome those obstacles.
Snapshot
Introduction
Students identify obstacles that prevent students from going to college.
Knowledge Building
Students examine ways to overcome academic, financial, and support obstacles.
Wrap-Up
Students apply what they learned to solve real-world scenarios.
Materials List
Activity Slides (attached)
Overcoming Challenges handout (attached; one per student; print two-sided)
Station Posters (attached; one set; print one-sided on 11x17” paper)
High School Transcript handout (attached; three copies; print one-sided)
Copy paper (one per student, each one cut in half)
Chart paper or giant sticky notes (three sheets)
Tape
Marker
Buckets or baskets (one per group)
Sticky notes (six)
Writing utensils
Preparation
During the Introduction portion of this learning experience, students will receive two half-sheets of copy paper. They will write one reason on each sheet explaining why some students might not go to college. Before beginning the activity, gather enough copy paper for each student to have one full sheet. Cut each sheet in half (8.5" × 5.5") to create two half-sheets per student.
During the Knowledge Building portion of this learning experience, students will visit three stations: Academic, Financial, and Support. Print the attached Station Posters on 11x17" paper. Print three copies of the attached High School Transcript handout to place at the Academic Station. On six sticky notes, write one of the following vocabulary words: FAFSA, Loan, Oklahoma’s Promise, Pell Grant, Scholarship, and Work-Study. Randomly place the sticky notes on the Financial Station poster so that students can move them easily while still reading the printed text.
Introduction
10 Minute(s)
Introduce the activity using the attached Activity Slides. Display slide 3, titled “Housekeeping: Norms,” and review the list of expectations for the visit with students:
Behave like a guest and represent your school well.
Keep cell phones on silent and put away.
Leave the campus as clean as it was when you arrived.
Follow all instructions.
Stay with your group.
Stay engaged in all activities.
Ask questions that are on topic.
Share the essential questions on slide 4 and the learning objectives on slide 5.
Display slide 6 and introduce the Commit and Toss strategy. Divide students into two or more groups of 6–8. Place an empty bucket in the center of each group. Give each student two half-sheets of copy paper. Ask groups to consider what might prevent students from going to college. Allow them time to think, then direct each student to write one reason per sheet.
Have students crumple each sheet of paper and gently toss both into their group’s bucket. When all students have tossed their papers, have groups swap buckets with another group.
Display slide 7. Instruct each group to remove, uncrumple, and read the responses from the new bucket. Have groups discuss and select their top three reasons. Their “favorite” reasons may be those they agree with most or those they find most common.
Collect each group’s three reasons, then sort them onto the three unlabeled hanging chart papers. One chart should represent academic obstacles, one financial obstacles, and one support obstacles.
As you tape the reasons to the charts, read them aloud to keep students engaged.
Transition to slide 8 and ask students to identify similarities in the challenges on the first chart. Repeat this for the other two charts. Then, ask students how they would title each chart. Guide the discussion toward academic, financial, and support (or synonyms of those terms).
Knowledge Building
30 Minute(s)
Display slide 9 and share with students that academic concerns, costs, and feeling unsupported are some of the most common challenges students face when pursuing postsecondary education. Give each student a copy of the attached Overcoming Challenges handout. Preview the activity by letting students know that they will visit three different stations (Academic, Financial, and Support) to learn about ways to overcome those obstacles. Let students know they have 8–10 minutes to complete the task at each station, taking notes on their handout. Divide the class evenly into three groups, and have each group begin at a different station. Tell students that they are to stay with their group as they visit all three stations.
Academic Station: Students learn about a transcript and the story it tells. They should read the poster, analyze the High School Transcript handout, and answer the questions in the Academics section of their Overcoming Challenges handout.
Financial Station: Students compare paying for college with paying for expensive sneakers. Using the vocabulary words and definitions from their Overcoming Challenges handout: Pell Grant, Loan, Scholarship, Work-Study, Oklahoma’s Promise, and FAFSA. Students match each term with the sneaker payment option on the poster, then answer the question in the Financial section of their handout.
Support Station: Students identify people who can support them as they begin their journey toward future goals. They record those individuals in the Support section of their Overcoming Challenges handout.
As students work, monitor the time and visit each station to answer any questions. Give students approximately 8 minutes at each station to complete their tasks. When students are done at the Financial Station, use the hidden slide 11 to check their work, then reset the station by moving the sticky notes containing the vocabulary words back to their original location.
When students have completed one station, transition to slide 10 and direct them to move to the next station: Academic → Financial → Support → academic. Return to slide 9 and repeat this process until all groups have visited each station.
After students have visited all three stations, bring the group together and show slide 12. Have students think about what they learned at the stations by asking the questions on the slide:
Which challenge (academic, financial, or support) might be the hardest for you to overcome? Why?
What is the name of a resource or person who might help you with that challenge?
Ask for volunteers to share their responses. Then move to slide 13. Have students reflect on their learning by asking the questions on the slide:
What’s one thing you learned today that makes college feel more possible for you?
What is one step you could take next semester to prepare for life after high school?
Ask for volunteers to share.
Wrap-Up
5 Minute(s)
Display slide 14. Ask students to follow along while you read the scenario aloud:
“James is a junior in high school with a 3.5 GPA. He’s passionate about computers and hopes to major in computer science at a four-year university.
He lives with his parents and younger sister. His mom is a cashier, and his dad works in construction. There’s very little savings, and most of their income is spent on rent, food, and bills. His parents are supportive, but they can't help financially with college.
What are some things James can do to help pay for college?”
Give students a few moments to recall what they learned today about financial aid. Ask them what options the example student, James, might have to help them pay for college.
Show slide 15. Ask students to follow along while you read the scenario aloud:
“Elijah is a sophomore. He’s a quiet, low-key student who shows up, completes most assignments, and stays out of trouble. He makes mostly Bs and Cs, has a 2.8 GPA, and takes standard-level classes.
Elijah has started thinking about college now that his friends are talking about applications, scholarships, and letters of recommendation. He worries that he hasn’t done anything notable at school to add to a college application or that teachers could write about him in a letter of recommendation.
What can Elijah do in the last two years of high school to make him stand out to colleges?”
Give students a few moments to recall what they learned today about being academically prepared for a postsecondary education. Ask them to suggest actions the example student, Elijah, can take in the last two years of high school to make them stand out to colleges.
Display slide 16. Ask students to follow along while you read the scenario aloud:
“Janelle is a senior at Eastview High School. She’s independent, hardworking, and focused on doing well in school. She has a 3.5 GPA and is on track to graduate. Janelle wants to go to college, but she’s having trouble taking the next steps.
Janelle hasn’t filled out the FAFSA, visited any colleges, or asked for recommendation letters. She feels overwhelmed by the process because her parents didn’t go to college and don't know how to help her.
Who can Janelle turn to for guidance?”
Give students a few moments to recall what they learned today about support systems. Ask them who the example student, Janelle, could turn to for guidance regarding financial aid, applications, and enrollment in a postsecondary institution.
Show slide 17 and ask the group, “Are there resources and scholarships that could help you go to college here?” Ask for students to keep this question in mind as they go on their campus tour.
Research Rationale
Acquiring knowledge about educational requirements for various careers helps students align their career aspirations with ideas about postsecondary education, which increases educational attainment (Perry et al., 2016). This is important because college can be a life-altering experience for students. For example, earning a bachelor's degree will allow students to earn, on average, $1 million more than high school graduates over the course of their careers (Starrett et al., 2022). College also offers students an opportunity to build relationships with mentors and peers that will benefit them throughout their careers (D’Agostino, 2022). College graduates tend to have more job satisfaction, jobs that offer a greater sense of accomplishment, more independence and opportunities for creativity, and more social interactions in their jobs than non-college graduates (Wolniak & Engberg, 2019). Additionally, college graduation increases the chances of employment. Over the last 20 years, the unemployment rate for college graduates has been approximately half that of high school graduates (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). Postsecondary education helps students develop skills that prepare them for careers in the tech-driven economy, including nonroutine, abstract skills that aid in problem-solving, multitasking, and creativity (Oreopoulos & Petronijevic, 2013).
The campus visit activity will help students and administrators set expectations for students to meet Oklahoma’s Academic Standards of being college, career, and citizenship-ready (Oklahoma State Department of Education, 2025), as well as The K20 Center's College and Career Preparation Standards for ninth grade (K20 Center, 2025, standard 9.3.1).
Resources
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. (2022, March 9). High school graduates with no college had unemployment rate of 4.5 percent in February 2022. The Economics Daily. https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/high-school-graduates-with-no-college-had-unemployment-rate-of-4-5-percent-in-february-2022.htm
D’Agostino, S. (2022, August 4). Leveling the playing field for social capital. Can technology help equalize students’ access to relationships that provide support, information and opportunity? Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/08/05/how-colleges-can-level-playing-field-social-capital
K20 Center. (n.d.). Commit and toss. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/119
Oreopoulos, P., & Petronijevic, U. (2013). Making College Worth It: A Review of Research on the Returns to Higher Education (No. w19053; p. w19053). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://doi.org/10.3386/w19053
Perry, B. L., Martinez E., Morris, E., Link, T. C., & Leukefeld, C. (2016). Misalignment of Career and Educational Aspirations in Middle School: Differences across Race, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Status. Social Sciences, 5(3), 35. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci5030035
Starrett, A., Irvin, M. J., Limberg, D., & Ferguson, S. (2022). Rethinking the college-for-all ethos. Theory Into Practice, 61(4), 443–453. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2022.2107341
Wolniak, G. C., & Engberg, M. E. (2019). Do “High-Impact” College Experiences Affect Early Career Outcomes? The Review of Higher Education, 42(3), 825–858. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2019.0021
Oklahoma State Department of Education. (2025). Oklahoma Academic Standards. https://oklahoma.gov/education/services/standards-learning/oklahoma-academic-standards.html
K20 Center. (2025). Student college and career preparation standards 6–12. https://k20center.ou.edu/collegeandcareerpreparation
