Empower high school counselors to strengthen your recruitment pipeline

High school counselors play one of the most influential (yet often underappreciated) roles in shaping higher ed enrollment outcomes. Every day, they guide students and families through applications, deadlines, and financial questions, bridging the gap between uncertainty and opportunity. When counselors trust and advocate for your institution, they can become one of your most effective recruitment channels and a continual source of qualified, right-fit applicants.

As a counselor for five years, I saw firsthand the difference counselors make in students’ lives. In my role at EAB, I am proud to have realized a long-standing goal of creating a Counselor Advisory Board for Appily, comprised of counselors from high schools and community-based organizations nationwide.

Recent conversations with members of Appily’s Counselor Advisory Board highlight what frontline advisors need most. Their insights, outlined below, highlight five ways counselors shape enrollment outcomes and how institutions can better support their work.

1. Counselors guide students through the noise

Students encounter no shortage of information during the college search, but volume does not equal clarity. Counselors help students interpret deadlines, statistics, and marketing messages, grounding the search in what truly matters for fit and opportunity.

To do that well, counselors rely on sources they trust. While institutional websites are an important starting point, counselors and students alike look for a credible second source to validate what they’re seeing and understand the real student experience. Appily was designed to serve that role. As one counselor explained,

That distinction matters. Counselors help students discern which messages reflect genuine fit and opportunity, and when counselors have access to clear, unbiased data, they can deliver that guidance with confidence. Second sources like Appily complement, rather than compete with, your college website, helping students engage with greater trust early in the search.

2. Counselors help students expand their horizons

Many students begin their search with a narrow list of familiar institutions. Counselors broaden that perspective, introducing options that align with a student’s academic, personal, and financial goals, even when those schools were not initially on the radar. One Counselor Advisory Board member shared,

This work is about more than awareness. Counselors curate possibilities, ensuring students are not limited by misconceptions or incomplete information. Appily supports this effort by surfacing institutions that fit a student’s profile via the College Match feature, sometimes revealing strong matches the student may never have encountered otherwise.

When your institution appears in a counselor-facilitated discovery moment like this, it arrives with context and credibility, often leading to deeper exploration and more meaningful engagement.

3. Counselors bring clarity to a complex process

Applications, essays, test scores, financial aid forms, and college comparisons can quickly overwhelm students. Counselors break the process into manageable steps, help students prioritize, and keep them moving forward.

That clarity hinges on tools and resources that make exploration intuitive rather than intimidating. Appily’s solution is to allow students to create lists of saved colleges that meet their criteria. As one counselor noted,

When students can organize their options, counselors can focus on meaningful guidance instead of troubleshooting technology or walking students through convoluted workflows. And when exploring your institution feels straightforward, students build confidence earlier in the journey, strengthening the path from inquiry to application.

4. Counselors help families navigate affordability and ROI

Cost remains one of the most stressful aspects of the college search. Sticker prices rarely reflect what students will actually pay, scholarship information can be difficult to compare, and conversations about value often carry fear of making the wrong decision.

Counselors help families distinguish between price and return on investment, identify realistic options, and avoid ruling out strong-fit institutions too early. Appily supports counselors in this work by showing scholarship estimates, cost information, and financial fit indicators directly alongside academic and cultural fit criteria. When this information is visible early in a student’s search, counselors can shift the conversation from anxiety to strategy, helping families understand which institutions offer attainable pathways and how various options compare. As one counselor put it:

For colleges, this transparency strengthens your value narrative. When you can show that your institution may be more affordable than families assume or illustrate your return on investment clearly, counselors can help maintain momentum in the student’s decision-making process. As affordability aligns with interest, students engage more deeply and envision your campus as a realistic next step.

Tools like Appily make it easier for counselors to connect students with these opportunities at exactly the right time. When virtual and in-person tour options are clearly presented alongside a student’s saved colleges, counselors can quickly help them take that next step while enthusiasm is high. And for institutions, these moments act as powerful drivers of further engagement. EAB analysis found that students who engage with an EAB virtual tour are 3.9x more likely to advance to an in-person visit.

In a competitive enrollment environment, small nudges matter. When counselors have seamless ways to guide students from curiosity to campus engagement, they accelerate the journey toward enrollment—and help students make informed, confident decisions.

The bottom line

Counselors sit at the heart of the college search, guiding students through one of the most complex and pivotal decisions of their lives. They interpret information, broaden horizons, simplify next steps, demystify affordability, and encourage students to meaningfully engage with campuses. When colleges recognize and support this work, they strengthen one of the most influential channels in their enrollment strategy. As Counselor Advisory Board member Sarah Macallum of Noble School shared,

That joy carries responsibility. Colleges that invest in meeting counselors’ needs earn advocates who champion their campuses every day. For institutions looking to deepen their connection to the counseling community, partnering with solutions that prioritize counselor needs is a powerful place to start. 

Yolanda Coleman

Director, Counselor Marketing

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