Warner School offers guaranteed school counseling scholarships

Students enrolling in a school counseling program will receive 50 percent tuition support

The University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education and Human Development announces a new scholarship program designed to make its innovative school counseling programs more affordable and to attract the best and the brightest to serve in area K-12 schools as counselors. The new guaranteed 50 percent school counseling scholarships will help to address a statewide shortage of school counselors by preparing high-quality graduates who will be able to provide K-12 students with the guidance and socio-emotional support they need to succeed in school and in life. 

“Deeply rooted in social justice and K-12 education, the Warner School is in a unique position to help close this gap by attracting and inspiring a new generation of passionate, talented school counselors who are committed to not only impacting the success of individual students but also school systems at large,” says Anand R. Marri, incoming dean of the Warner School, effective January 2019. “I am pleased to be able to lead the Warner School through a new era as we continue to look for ways to support our students and to partner with, and invest in, K-12 schools across the region.”

Students who begin a master’s program leading to New York State provisional certification in school counseling at Warner in 2019 will be guaranteed a minimum 50 percent tuition scholarship, provided they can commit to spend at least two years as a school counselor in a U.S. school upon graduation. Applicants are encouraged to apply by the January 15, 2019 and March 15, 2019 admissions deadlines. 

The need for school counselors has never been greater. Academic success is very difficult to achieve when students are struggling with more basic needs—as is the case for too many students today, particularly in urban schools. School counselors can play very important roles not only in supporting individual students, but also in fostering a more inclusive and supportive school climate—as shown by the work accomplished at East High School, where the University of Rochester serves as the Educational Partnership Organization (EPO). Currently, few schools are served by an adequate number of school counselors. To make the problem worse, schools across New York State are seeing an upsurge of vacancies as an increasing number of school counselors continue to retire.

The Warner School has a long tradition of being a leader in counseling and the preparation of school counselors who are well-prepared to provide the academic, career, and social-emotional counseling and developmental learning needed by a diverse student population. In addition to meeting all coursework requirements, graduate students in the school counseling program at Warner have the unique opportunity to participate in the “turnaround” of an urban school by doing one of their internships at East High School, where they can personally experience best practices that have helped transform this urban school. In fact, Warner school counseling students can pursue an additional Advanced Certificate in Urban Teaching and Leadership for no additional credits, if interested. The Warner School has had a 100 percent job placement rate for all school counseling graduates within the year following graduation.

The new school counseling scholarship program is an extension of the Warner School’s long-standing commitment to making graduate programs accessible to education professionals committed to serving K-12 schools. Additional scholarship opportunities, including a guaranteed 50 percent scholarship for programs leading to New York State teaching certification and the Designated Leader Scholarship for K-12 educators nominated by their school district for their leadership potential and applying for programs leading to New York State certification as School Building Leader or School District Leader.
 
Learn more about the Warner School’s school counseling programs, or contact Warner Admissions at (585) 275-3950 to request more information.