The Focus Collegiate Advantage
Simply put, the Focus Collegiate Advantage is balance.
We work with students who need more support and with those who have learning differences in a balanced way that honors the whole person. While other support services concentrate on academics, we know that they are only part of the picture. To fully support our students as they strive for independence, our focus goes beyond academic performance to include social integration and an empowered sense of self (self-advocacy, self-efficacy, and self-care in the service of self-driven goals).
Serving our students on their campus of choice, rather than at a specific university or “program,” we bring them face-to-face with the challenges and joys of living independently. We equip them to think comprehensively about their future (and we give them plenty of support to do so), manage time and budgets, see projects through to the very end, advocate for themselves, and listen thoughtfully to others.
Students enrolled in Focus Collegiate enjoy several distinct advantages:
- Dynamic, Comprehensive Support from our Full-time, Dedicated staff
- Low Student-Staff Ratios for an unbounded college experience
- We don’t limit our students to hourly increments of support, we address concerns as they arise organically
- Our service delivery is based on Student Need and their bandwidth, not the clock
- Our model is designed to reduce the need for services over time
- Our Staff Responsivity is that of a good friend – we stay in touch
- A well-compensated staff encourages continuity and minimizes disruptions
- A Summer Cohort that prepares them to pivot successfully to the novel college environment
- Parents are included: their collaboration and engagement are integral to student success
- Comfortability: when students are ready for reduced support, they stay in contact with their trusted team
Staff
We are experts in our niche. No other option comes close.
All our highly respected staff have master’s or doctoral degrees in essential disciplines to assist students in higher education and on their pathway to independence.
Each staff person has an average of 10 years direct service to college-bound young adults. Each student benefits from our aggregate knowledge and experience because we work together as an effective multidisciplinary team.
Our team members are committed, full-time employees devoted to positive student outcomes. Our staff live and breathe this stuff. (We even train student success advisors at colleges and universities.)
Supporting college students who need individualized growth and development is our collective endeavor. Through fluent teamwork and effective communication, our staff provides broad-based support when and where it is needed. Our low staff to student ratios encourage connection and responsiveness.
Our Model
There is a difference between doing OK and excelling. Achieving desired, sustainable change is the basis for our work with our students at Focus Collegiate. We believe in the ability of our students to create and articulate a vision for their future, and we help them develop a plan to work towards that vision.
Our team model affords a flexible strategy that addresses changing needs so students don’t get behind. Through openness and flexibility in the context of a trusting and mutually respectful relationship with their Focus Collegiate professionals (backed by our collaborative team), students learn to practice new behaviors and experience new successes that will influence their college experience and the rest of their lives.
We ensure our relationships matter and that our students don’t feel “virtual” even if they end up in a remote service delivery experience.
Outcomes
We mentor our students beyond resilience. In our work together, they gain not only academic stamina, but life stamina. Through self-management techniques and deliberate practice, our students build the foundations for great habits and self-discipline.
Psychological flexibility, cognitive flexibility, and self-efficacy are our hallmarks. In the course of our relationship, students gain a deeper understanding of and belief in themselves and their abilities. Confidence grows as they embrace new responsibilities and competencies, learn to solve problems, advocate for themselves, and create a balanced life of positive personal identity.