Lesson Plan: Pathways to Higher Education

Click here to download the lesson plan deck

In light of April being National Community College Month, as well as the timeframe in which many of your senior students will hone in on their post-graduation plan, we’ve created a lesson plan that outlines some of the pathways possible in pursuit of a degree. The presentation covers the varied profiles of a college student today, the enrollment patterns across institution types, and goes further in-depth on the community college experience and the returns of an associate and bachelor’s degree. We also provide an introduction to the community college transfer path, and the support a student can get on RaiseMe if pursuing that option.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Describe the many identity factors of today’s college student, including housing, learning environment, and employment.
• Define net price and analyze the cost breakdown for various institution types.
• Form an opinion on the value of a college degree and consider the options available to make higher education a cost-effective option.
• Identify an action they can take in high school to propel their college-going path.

Click the image to view the full presentation deck

How to Use this Lesson Plan

Consider sharing this lesson plan with students during homeroom or an advisory period. Similarly, if you are looking to fill any time with upcoming testing dates, a class-wide discussion of this material could be fruitful. If you have any workshops coming up, for students or parents, feel free to use any of the slides that will support your presentation theme. If you will have any one-on-one conversations with seniors concerning their post-graduation plans, you may find the information about community college – and RaiseMe for transfer – useful.

Relatedly, be sure to check out this blog post on our new interactive award letter feature, where seniors can input their award letter information and dig in to their options with concrete numbers.

Introducing RaiseMe Lesson Plans

RaiseMe created a series of lesson plan content for educators, designed to thoughtfully engage high school students of all ages in college readiness activities and build stronger college-going culture in schools. Help put students on the right path and in control of their futures by exploring some of our other lesson plans on understanding financial aid, college discovery, HBCUs, understanding the PSAT, interpreting your GPA, and more.

Have questions or feedback for us, or want to contribute a lesson plan idea or content to our library? Reach out and let us know: hello@raise.me. To invite students to begin starting earning micro-scholarships for their academic and extracurricular achievements on RaiseMe, sign into your RaiseMe Educator Portal here.