We'll get started in like three minutes. Okay, started on time. Um, you guys should be out of here by 7:30 is when we'll wrap up. Um, but if you haven't done so, um, there is a QR code to for students to check in to say yes, I'm
attending. This is also virtually live, so we also have people watching from home. Um, and so just making sure you're if you're here without your student that you check in for them. Um, and so hopefully you
know their ID number and stuff, but yeah. Nobody wants to move up front. You guys are all so far away. All right, guys. We're gonna get started. Um, my name is Miss Emanuel and I'm one of the counselors here. And
then, um, tonight at the door helping where the other counselors. Um, so we have Miss Delaney out there and then Miss Hartman and Miss Schmidt. Up here in the front, um, is our student panel.
Um, ever so kindly they're their time to share with you guys their lived experience. So, you get to ask them questions tonight. And then we also have Key Brandstead here. She is the Riverland um PSO advisor.
At the bottom of the screen, um every slide will have that QR code. So you can scan that QR code and as I'm going throughout the presentation, if you have a question that pops in your mind as I'm talking about a slide, feel free to submit that question at any time and
then at the end we'll get to those questions. All right. Um, if you haven't done so, there's people joining us online and they probably haven't done this yet, but we need everybody um, students, if you're here as a parent and your student's not with you, that's okay.
Still scan that QR code and you can check in for them. We'll also be posting this on our website um, so that you guys can have access to this presentation, too. I'll give you some time to scan the QR
code if you haven't already. So, a few things I want to know. Um, if you can just some of you are sitting by maybe your family or a friend or something, but just turn to the next to you and say, "Tell them what brought you here tonight." So, I'm going to give you like 30 seconds to do this. So, just
turn to your neighbor and say, "This is what brought me here tonight." Ready? Go. All right. A few things we're going to discuss tonight are ways that students can get college credit. There's um different ways and then we'll talk about what is
PSO. Um there's a lot of terminology around this and it gets confusing for students. Um and sometimes even staff get confused by it too, parents. Um so I'm going to um dive into that. Just the eligibility, the expectations
um of a PSO student. Um there's pros and cons. to doing PSO. Again, we have our student panel here and then trans like how do credits transfer? That's a lot of questions that we get too. Um and just the time commitment and the criteria.
Okay, so this slide talks about the different ways that students can earn college credit here at Austin Public Schools. One way is students can take an AP class and then they take an AP test in May to see if they get college credit. Um,
Riverland specifically, if a student gets a three or higher, they can transfer that credit in to Riverland. Other colleges are different. They might need a student might need a four or five on the AP test, but that's one way students can and students would just
register. Then the next is through RCC classes. And this is what gets confusing because students are like, I want to do a PSO. It's like RCC or going out to a college. So RCC is what um is called concurrent
enrollment for the state of Minnesota. RCC are classes taught here by an instructor who is certified to teach college classes. We have a lot of RCC opportunity for students all the way from our welding department to
challenges in math and English. Okay, that students just need to register with their counselor and put it in their academic plan and then they apply to we help them apply to Riverland if they haven't. We send their transcripts and test scores.
The next thing is PSO. Um that's where students get to choose. I want to go to a college and take classes at a college. It can be any college. It does not have to just be Riverland. So, a student could take classes at the U of M. They
take them at um a different college, RCTC, any college that does PSO. However, you need to follow steps and processes to do PSO. One is attending a PSO night because that's part of a state
law like we have to advise you on the pros and cons. Um, you also have to let your district know as a student, they have to let us know by May 30th their intent. When I say intent, I use that
word loosely like my intent is I think I want to do PSO and then you come to this night, you get information um and then they go through the process. So just because you did the intent form doesn't mean you're a PSO student yet. There's lots of steps. Okay. So this is
step one is to complete that district intent form for any student who wants to go out to a college and take classes at a college. Um those of you here, if you can just by a show of hands, let me know if you've
heard of any of these before. that I just mentioned. Okay, awesome. I know some of our students here up front, they're doing maybe a combination of um AP, RCC, PSO,
and that's kind of the nice thing is um you can do all three if you wanted to. All right, what is PSO? Um [clears throat] I had mentioned where you go to a college it's taught by a college faculty member. Um students have
to follow the college expectations guidelines. Um there's no wiggle room and it is available for 10th through 12th grade students. You get um you start your college transcript and that's huge you guys.
This is like a big thing because they start their college transcript and the college rules and expectations are different. Would you guys agree with me up front? Yeah. They're all nodding their head like, "Yep." Um, so what I want to know
is um how many of you know someone who did PSO? So just turn and talk to your neighbor um and let if you know somebody who did PSO. So, I have six volunteers here um that have all done PSO. What is one thing,
one advice that you could give our audience about the start of PSO? Like your first experience doing PSO? Was it like what was it like for you? finding where my classes were at first
building. But although the first week was okay, So, I don't know if you caught both of them, but both of them said basically I was confused at first. Um, I had to find I had to navigate the campus. Students
have to do this all by themselves. Parents, I'm going to tell you, you're letting them go to a college campus when you sign them up for PSO, and it is on the student um from the start of the process to the end of the process. So,
that's something important to know. Next, I'm going to cover um what's financially covered because this gets um asked a lot is what what's covered. Well, the tuition, um the cost of books is covered and um the course fees and
then there's a mileage re reimbursement form if people um qualify for that. Um that's income based. Um what's not covered? Meals. Um you know, you're not high school, you got to find meals at the college or
bring your own lunch. Um any personal equipment tools. So some of our students have taken like ceramics um you know and if they keep something uh they they have to pay for that. So I use CNA as a um example. Lots of our
students will do a CNA class and they need to go buy scrubs for that. Um and that's their personal item. They don't return that. So they they do have to pay for that. Um, so any lost books too, when your students get their books, if
they do not return them to the bookstore, they do get a fee. And what's the typical fee of a book? So, the cost of the textbook, which could range from $60 to 300 depending
upon what the instructor is using. Okay. Um, and then summer classes, we get asked that a lot. Can I PSO in the summer. If you're going to pay for it out of pocket, you sure can take classes at the college. Um, it's not under the PSO, like it's not funded through PSO.
Uh, my question for you guys is now anything that surprised you about those costs? Um, what's covered? What's not covered? Got it all. Um, am I eligible? Yeah. Are you in 10th grade? Um, those are the qualifications.
So, you have to have an MCA score of an 850 or higher. Now, that was back in eighth grade and I didn't think my MCAs were important. Yep, they're important. Um students if they are going to go to
Riverland as a 10th grader specifically and they didn't meet the 850 score they can take an ACUPPLACER and they would have to meet the college ACUPPLACER placement level um which Keley works on that and that's one thing
but if they're going to another college they would have to meet that 850. The reason being is because we have a an agreement um with Riverland. And so since we have that agreement, they can if they didn't meet the 850 that they can take the
ACUPPLACER. And then for 10th graders, um you can take one CTE class. So a CTE class is a career technical education course. Um it's a lot of electives. There are a couple in there like
um is a CTE class. Um once they take that, they have to get a C or better in that class and then they can take anything the next semester. So,
um if I'm a 10th grader and I take my CNA class because it is a CTE class and I get a C or better second semester I could take anything. So, I could take a I could take a biology. I could take um a business
class. Like, I could take anything. It doesn't have to just be on the 10th grade list. Every college has a 10th grade only list. That's what you have to go off the first semester. 11th and 12th graders a little bit
different. Um they're a junior senior and then they have to meet the college criteria. every college is different. Um, it's [clears throat] usually based on a student's GPA. That's number one.
Um, and then if they don't meet that, are they like in the upper half of their class, upper onethird of their class? We look at that. Um, if they don't meet that, we look at test scores. If they don't meet that, then we go to
ACUPPLACER testing. Um, one important thing is if you're going to take a PSO class, you have to drop one class here. One credit varying class.
Okay. How many classes are you taking right now between PSO and high school? Student panel. How many classes you have?
Okay. >> I'm taking four classes, two at the high school and two. So, as you can see, you can mix and match. It's going to be based, it's not based on how many slots they fill up. It's based on the credit amount that
they're taking. So, um, each one of them's different and what they're taking, but they had to drop one class here to be able to do PSO. You can't have all seven classes here. Here's Riverland specific eligibility.
Um, So you can see um I have the MCA score up there for 11th and 12th graders. GPA has to be a 2.5. What I will tell you if your child or you as a student has a 2.5 GPA,
we are going to want to check your test scores. And if those don't meet um things, we're going to want to take an ACUPPLACER because that 2.5 GPA places you into a middle level of being able to take not all college classes, but some.
A 2.6 GPA opens up the whole opportunity. So, just know that um if your child has that 2.5 or you as a student, if you have that 2.5 GPA, let's look at your test scores and see if those help you so that you can take as
many classes as you need to or as you want. These are expectations of a college student. Again, I mentioned, hey parents, this is on your child, okay? Um, so expectations that they're
going to show up and attend. You're not going to have access to know if they're attending their college class. Instructors don't take attendance. Okay? They do it by grade. They also can um kick you out if you don't show up. Am I right?
Um, communication is super important because they have to communicate with Key, with the high school staff, with you as a parent. There's a lot of communication that needs to happen. They also have to be independent.
Super, super important. You heard these guys in the beginning. They said, "I had to find my classroom." Yeah. And then if you couldn't find it, had to ask questions like it's on them. Um, deadlines. This is super important.
Um, every instructor out at the college is a little different in their deadlines. And if you miss a deadline, it's impactful, right? They're all shaking their heads. Okay. Um, colleges
have set up academic standards. Your student has to have a 2.0 GPA and complete 67% of their classes or they go on academic warning and then if they do if they fall below those standards again
they get suspended from taking classes and from financial aid. This is all super important because when your student comes home and they have a D in their college class, they probably got
on academic warning and you know that. Okay. Super super important. So, I'm gonna ask these guys to share the biggest adjustment that they had going from high school to college and taking
the classes at the college. What was your biggest adjustment from taking classes here to going out to the college? >> I would My biggest adjustment was um kind of depending on myself more
because at the college um like she said you're kind of there by yourself even though the professors are there to help you with stuff. They're a lot more stricter. So you
was like management. Showing up on time and going to classes and stuff was like management. Okay, so they said organization, time management, procrastination, those were all big adjustments that they had to
figure out. Um, and independence, they had to figure that out along the way. Here's just a little example of how much time commitment this really does take. So, one college course would equal one hour
of class time plus two hours outside of school. All right? So, if a student is taking 12 college credits, they're going to spend about 36 hours doing their college work in class, outside of class,
and then if they're working a 20our job, that's a lot. So, I like to point this out because students walk in and they're like, "Oh, I got this. I can take, you know, eight classes at the college. I do that here."
No. you you've got to back off a little bit. Okay. So, parents when they're talking to you about PSO, like what's the balance? Um, are they working? How many hours are they working? Do they need to cut back? All of that is super
important. So, I know I have some students in here or parents. Um, can you guys talk about um with each other? Just kind of pair and share here. What is it with the schedule that's going to make
this like exciting and fun? What What is it that's going to be a challenge maybe? So, I'm going to give you like 30 seconds to kind of pair and share about your students schedule. Um the excitement and the challenge. Go.
Miss Delaney, can one of you come down? Um, I think I have a question out in the audience. Can you bring the mic? All right, we have a question here. So, I'm going to take the question and then um
I'm Janica Tarawal, a parent of one of the student and my question specifically has to do with uh the schedule that is set up for students from camp
uh that is the high school to the college because most of the time I work at night and I'm having this difficult time with my daughter just calling me randomly oh I'm done with my high school
classes and I need to be on the campa So I'm like that's a little bit tough for me. So that timing is a tough one. I really want to know how uh the adjustment are done so that parents are able to fit right in between
there. >> So um he talked about and especially for 10th graders, right? or if my child doesn't have their license. Um, that's a big piece of it. How is your child going
to get from point A to point B? Um, because there's we don't have a bus. I mean, there is the one transportation service, right? But that runs and that costs I think a dollar per ride here in town. Um, I can give it a little bit of
advice. Um, Sometimes students pair up. Um I think you guys have done that. These guys have here. Um they get to know each other. They see each other in the same classes and they're like, "Oh, let's ride together." Um otherwise, yes,
it falls on to you as a family member to figure out how am I going to get from point A to point B? Because we don't provide that transportation. It's not funded. It's it's all on you guys as a family and the student to figure that out. And I'll talk about it in a slide
coming up, but um that's a big factor because and these guys can speak to it. We can't make a perfect schedule for a student. We do our very very best in the counseling department, but if they're taking
um uh pre-calc honors and they really want to take that class here, well, we only have one section. Here's when it is. So sometimes you got to have um you got to make tough decisions of you know what's the priority and stuff. Um so
those are some yeah this is where that schedule can come into conflict. So thank you for sharing that and asking the question. Um I have examples of some schedules up here. So students can be a part-time student meaning they're taking 12
credits or less at the college. If they're full-time, it's on that far side. These these two um on the left and in the middle, those are part-time students. So, we get a lot of questions sometimes from students. What's my schedule going to look like? Well, it
really depends. Um you'll see a thing in there called a PSO placeholder. That's for students to be able to work on their um college work or connect with their instructor. Super important that
they can get out to campus or they could they could zoom um with their instructor too if they needed to. I'll be talking about access to resources out there. There's a tutoring center and we we want our students to access that when they
need it. And so schedules are really based upon credit amount. It's not based upon, oh, I have to have seven classes. It's how many credits you're taking. So those are just some examples of a
full-time schedule and part-time ones. Here's the credit conversion. Um, four college credits. So, if I take a four college credit class, it's going to come back to the high school as one high school credit.
So, this student right here is taking nine college credits, which will come back as 2.25. They need to have three high school credits in their schedule for that semester.
Okay? It's a lot of math. So, they either need to pick up another class at the college. That's three credits to get to 12. That's full-time. Or they could pick up an RCC class. You
heard um one of them talk to you about I take an RCC class here. And then I have three classes out at the college. There's your 12 credits. Um or they have to pick up two high school classes because our classes are a five credit.
Okay. So, credits are different. These are some key factors um in success for college students. Okay. Um you've heard them speak about some of the things. Time management huge
because nobody's to see if Mo's working on her school work besides her college instructor. Um timelines and deadlines, super important. You miss it, it can impact, it can have a huge
impact. Um transportation and the logistics, how am I getting from point A to point B? Um attendance, that's super important. um at the college there's expectations of that because they can um do a failure to
not show up, do a failure to not withdraw from the class because I haven't seen you, you haven't been submitting your work. And so the instructors the instructors can give those out. Um super important too, students have to
follow their high school policies and procedures and then they're signing up to follow another policy and procedure system and they're two different ones and they have to know both. And then you heard him talk about
independence and responsibility. Um that's super super important. Um that they can ask for help. They can um navigate who do I go to for what? How do I um get everything I need? Or I don't
know this question. Like they ask a lot of questions which is super helpful. So, here's what I want you to do. You can turn to your um neighbor again and talk about one strength.
So, what strength does your student have or do you have as a student on that list and one skill that you might need to grow in? 30 seconds. Lots of great conversations happening. my student panel. I'm gonna have two of
them share out what was their strength going into PSO and what did they need to work on. Okay. My strength was showing up every day. My weakness was processing. I think mine was
good at showing up on time, but >> that's a frequent Okay. Um, and that's why I made them share because yeah, we're we're good at showing up but sometimes putting off the work. Um, when you go to a college, so they
know our system here. They know that we use Schooly. We have Infinite Campus. Um, when you go out to the college, they use different systems. Riverland specific uses Bright And that's where coursework is done and
assignments are done. And let me tell you, these guys are going to share what Bright Space is like and what their experience was with Bright Space. So, they're going to share one fun fact about Bright Space, but
it really The lockown browser was the most surprising thing for me. The cameras. Okay, so you heard sometimes I have issues turning in my assignment like it maybe uploads blank or I wasn't able to
upload it and then I got to seek out the help and I don't know who to go to, what to do. And then you heard a lockown browser. Um, we allow students to use their devices here, right? But our devices don't always support what Riverland has.
So those are some things to keep in mind, too, because you're working with two different systems, two different rules and policies. So, [clears throat] um I would advise that students work with their Riverland advisor because
they do have computer labs out there. Okay. Um that's one way. Um they could work with their instructor on a plan too. I always say sometimes the public library could be an option. Um sometimes
they use their phone as an option. But yeah, lockdown browser is like a camera on the um and our device doesn't always support that. And then um they have to learn how to use this platform by themselves. They all had to
learn it. Okay. Um e-services is like our infinite campus world. Again, these guys all had to navigate that. And e-services is where they register for the classes. They keep their email up to date in there or their address. Um our
infinite campus world. The last one, super important, email. Um, check your students email tonight and see how many emails in there. You'd be surprised. I've seen anywhere from like a thousand to 2,000
at the college. This is the way they communicate. All right? They communicate via email. And if you're not checking your Riverland email, what happens? You miss out on a lot of information. So, she said, "I miss out on a lot of
information. Due dates, class was cancelled." Um, so super important that your student can check their email and not have 2,000 emails in their inbox. All right. These are the resources at a specifically I would say Riverland, but
lots of other colleges have these too. Um, there's advising. So, For Riverland, there's an accessibility service. So, if your student um has an IEP or a 504, needs accommodations,
modifications, they have that out there. Um they have mental health tutoring, they have um testing, you know, testing spots, they have a library, they have computer labs. again,
these guys and students out there, you have to be able to access those. Um, it's on you. So, when you're struggling in your PSO class and mom and dad are after you, right, you have to be able to go to the
tutoring center and get the help and support that's available on that campus. These are ways that students can take college classes. Um, so [clears throat] they could do on campus, they could do online, um, which is asynchronous. They could do
a hybrid model where they're coming like two days a week, but then the other day maybe they're working online. Um, they could do uh, they call it like high flex, biodal, trrimodal. They have a few of those um that some of the instructors
run. I want you guys to share like three of you to share like what model you guys have worked on and what it's like. >> I've done most of them right now online. Last semester I did
online preer online. It's kind of hard to school. Yeah, I had a online college class. Last semester I had a class on campus and I have to attend every day. Like it's a must. Like I need to attend it.
So I have to skip some of my classes that I have at the high school. >> So that's the Another important thing that they're working with again both systems because you can't skip class here to attend your PSO classes. Um so
it's super important that they're communicating with the counseling department about that. Um these are just some different things about credits transferring. So there's a thing called Mntc transfer 40 credits. Um those are credits that
are like transferable to another Minnesota State College, right? It's just transferred right in. Um so you'll see that in the course when students are registering, they can see if it's an MNT Mntc transfer um credit.
If it doesn't say that, like it doesn't say goal three or goal four, it's not an MNT Mntc transfer credit. Um when students ask like the U of M is a great example. If a student gets a
degree, specifically the AA degree from Riverland, it will transfer to the U of M. Okay? Now, if they only do a few classes from that degree, I can't guarantee it's all going to transfer. Okay? Um there's some
private college that colleges that also accept that full transfer degree. Every college, you guys, is different on how they accept things. So, don't go in saying like, "Oh, I took classes and this college is going to take it. It's
not a guarantee." Your best friend could be transferrology.com. If you set up an account, it is I I use it all the time with students that come into my office um and they're like, "Whoa, I didn't know this
existed." Right? Um, but that it's a really really good tool to say like I took stats at the college. How is it going to transfer to the U of M? Is it going to count or what's it going to look like? Um, just a plug for that. Not
all colleges use transferology. Um, St. Thomas is one that they have their own transfer system right on their website, but I would say quite a few colleges use transferology. APS um course requirements. So, what
meets APS graduation requirements? You got to consider those first. So, what meets English? We do have a course equivalent sheet. Um and it it's going to be linked onto our website, but I'll show you that tonight. Some college
courses do count towards high school credit. Um but as elective. So, I'm going to give you an example. Um, some of you have taken college classes in here before, but comp one, raise your hand if you've done comp one,
that counts towards an English credit. And then they say, "Oh, well, I'm going to do comp two." It does not count towards English for high school. It's elective. they have to take like a humanities or literature class,
but for college it counts towards English. So, there's there's some differences in how things count. Um, and it's super important that your child is meeting or you as a student, you're meeting your high school graduation requirements. So,
I'm going to show you that sheet. Um, I'm actually going to show you at the end. I'll show you a bunch of resources at the end. It'll just be easier that way. Benefits and risks. There are some benefits for students to do PSO. There's
flexibility. It's not a cost to take the class. Um, if I want to challenge myself, if I want independence, but then you can see there's risks. It starts your permanent transcript for college. And this does follow you. Um,
It could delay graduation, especially because college has different rules um when it comes time to like incompletes or they got an FW and counselors can vouch for this. I didn't know about it
and nobody told me and I'm like, uh, you need this class to graduate, right? And so those are some different things. Um, if students aren't communicating with us because at the high school, we don't get their transcripts until the end of the
semester, which is like nearing the end of our semester. Um, we don't know how they're doing in their classes unless they share with us. Um, parents, you don't have access to the platform. You're trusting your child. And Key does a wonderful job when she
can, but can't communicate with you guys. Um, it's all through the student. And then high school, we try to loop you in when we know about it. There can be schedule conflicts like we talked about. Maybe they have to start their day at Riverland, then come here,
and then go back to Riverland. So, there can be schedule conflicts that happen. Um, and then I mentioned the parent involvement is is limited because they are a college student. Now's your opportunity. Um, Miss Hartman
or who has the mic back there? Now's your opportunity to ask these students any questions that you have. So, I'm gonna turn over the mics.
Anybody have a question for them? You're you're letting them off the hook. Yeah. Right here. Um, so I notices aren't um covered on expenses. Are you
guys able to sign up for summeres for college through financial aid or summeres even option? Unfortunately, financial aid cannot be used until a student graduates and so
there is no scholarship or um financial aid options to pay for summer. We do have payment plans. So, if you really are interested in getting an AA degree or something and kind of spacing it out for a more manageable load, um you could
do a payment plan and work with our business office. The other thing that I recommend is um a lot of the time students can walk at the May graduation if they finish up the summer after and since you would graduate by then then you could get financial aid to wrap up
any last minute summer classes that you might need them to >> any other like student questions that you have. Yeah. as a parent completely confused like to be honest. Um okay so my
question uh you talk as an example about Riverland right but for example another option right what's the option for high school student here in Austin to take PC PSO
courses at U of M is there's no in person right my understanding so but there are online options Correct. And another question, hold the system works only for Minnesota uh
colleges or it's like a national wide thing. Good question. I'll take that one. [laughter] Um first for the U of M. Yeah, they could do online. Um if you're going to
choose in person, you got to figure out how to get your child there. Are they gonna drive? They gonna take the bus. Like there's so many colleges. There's um an MDE website that lists colleges that have PSO options and what their
options are. Um so yes, online can be options or in person. Second is is this just Minnesota? Yes, just Minnesota. Um so just Minnesota colleges. It can't be in Florida or it's
just Minnesota colleges. Yes. >> I will say though, if you're talking more about like transferability after um if they're choosing to go to a different state after high school, uh that's where I get to work with the students. Like I know one of my friends down here is
looking at Texas. And so we'll look at the school that she's um planning to go to and use transferology. If transferology is not available for that school, then we get in contact with their advising office and we give them a list of like, hey, this is what we
registered for based off of your program requirements. What of these would you take? What wouldn't you take? And then that kind of gives them a better idea of, okay, if they're not going to take AM, do I really want to do that here or would I rather focus on a class that they would take to transfer over later?
So, we talk all about that in our registration meetings about their goals, what they're hoping to do um in terms of a program and then also where they plan to go after high school if they don't finish during high school. Okay,
[clears throat] I'm going to keep going. There is a Oh, one in the back. >> You mentioned that students can do through and that would be covered financial aid. >> Yes. >> If they want to go to Riverland or any other >> Yes,
>> that would be covered. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Good questions. >> These are a student's next steps. That's a lot. You guys did get a green sheet. Um that's their checklist on their
steps. So first step is to complete that district intent form and then once they do that it's the student's job to research the college and the eligibility and then to apply
um within that research and eligibility is to come to PSO information night and then once they apply to the college now I'm going to put a plug if you're to Riverland again. Um, so that's just one thing. Then they'll complete there is
you got like a is it orange salmon color sheet. Um, that's our APS um agreement form. You do have to sign off as a parent on that and students have to initial like, "Yep, I understand this." Um, there's NOSR forms, there's
college supplemental form, there's a bunch of forms. Um, and then they connect with us as their school counselor. and they should have all of their forms completed by the time they meet with us.
Then they would check their email that they used to apply to the college because that's how they're going to get communication. Once we send their paperwork over to the college, so I'll use Riverland. Once I send it off to Riverland, I'm out.
I don't get any more communication. It all goes to the student. And then they have to follow the college steps. And then after that, they have to give us a copy of their schedule so that we can adjust their high school schedule.
It's a lot. And so parents, I would encourage you to walk through this with them, but I'm going to throw a plug in there. Do not apply for your student. They need to fill out the application. They need to remember because this is
part of being independent. Thank you. Here's examples of just I just broke down a few of the steps because we get a lot of questions on these. The district intent form, step one, research. Okay,
here's the college. I kind of already talked about Riverland. Here's the application. And then there's an NOSR form. I'm going to zoom in on that so you can see it in a bigger side. This is the NOSR form and it's
confusing. Um, section one, that very top section is filled out by student and parent. And there's key things that go into that. These guys all know that if they bring it to us incomplete, we can't send it
over to the college because the college is going to send it back to us and then your students starting over. So when they bring in their form, that's something that we're checking like is everything complete. The section two is filled out by the
counselor. So students, you have to have section one completed, section two is us, section three is the college. Okay, that's just the NOSR form and that's across the board. Like if a
student is going to go to another college, it's the same thing. It's the same form. The only unique part is, and I don't know many other colleges that do this, but Riverland will take an NOSR form for
fall and spring. They'll do both because your student can get registered for fall and spring. So students, you would want to give your counselor two copies. How many?
Two. If you give me one, then you're only registering for one semester. Here's how you can make decisions. It's really a personal choice. Um like why do you want to do PSO? If it's just to get out of the high
school, like think about it more. You've heard these guys talk about some of their challenges. Um, do you want to do part-time or full-time? That's super important. How many classes are you going to take out there? Because then how many do you need here? And then will
PSO help work towards your future goals? Um, and then really, are you prepared? Like, are you prepared to take all of this on? That's a big question. This is who we are. Um, we're here to help support, but we are not going to
fill out the paperwork for you. Okay? They try and we send them and we guide them. Right? Um, all of the forms, the NOSR form, it's accessed on the college website. We also have a website and I'll
show you that where you can access the form. This is key. If you have Riverland specific questions, you can always contact her at any time.
These I have on here. So, if you scan that QR code at the top, that is all the information about PSO, all the forms, all the access. There's so much on there. Um, and then some of you asked about like PSO specific. I would guide
you to Minnesota Department of Education. They have so much on that website. Um, so there's a lot of good information. Um, and I'll give you a hint. If you go to our APSO information
website, I have lots of these linked on to there. So, go to the first one. Um, these are the final questions. So, uh, Miss Delaney has that popped up. I'm gonna >> We actually had one question back here. Yeah, go for it.
>> Besides scrubs. Yes. Who's done CNA up here? Um, she asked anything else besides scrubs that you need? What about test? The tests that you take. Can you speak to that? >> Hold on.
this year. Um, last year it was free to take the test to get your certificate, but this year it cost 260, I think. But if you fail and if you want to retake it again, you're going to have to pay more. So to take the class, no fee, but
they're offering an opportunity to take a certification test. That's not covered under PSO. So I think you said 260 about to take the test. Um, and they talk to you about that, right, in your class. Um, there's no funding for that right
now. Does your student have to take the certification test? No, they could just take the class. Um, but if they want to get certified as a CNA, then there's an extra cost. Good question. All right. Um, so I'll do some of the
online ones. So the first one was, I was wondering how we do PSO online. I say online classes it's up to you to communicate with the teacher get your assignments in time
you work on your it's all on break or if other classes they want you to do assignments on you kind of work at your own pace. They give you So there's no like teacher teaching.
They're in Brightpace and they're navigating that. And that's what Carter talked about was I was really confused because it was set up different. So you're navigating Brightpace. No teacher direct instruction.
What GPA is used? The weighted Unweed. >> Unweed. >> How many credits is the CNA class? >> Four. They said four credits. So, it actually replaces two electives here, which is kind of cool. >> Um, will the college help us learn about
websites and apps that we use or do we have to figure that out on our own? you have to figure out on your own. There's also like um during the summer time there's a PSO course that's given to you. So you have to like go through it and that kind of
helps you figure out the whole yeah orientation. So they do provide opportunities to learn their platforms and if the student chooses again if they choose to
attend then they can learn about those platforms otherwise they're learning on their own. >> Um should you still take PSO if you're not sure what you want to do when you're older? >> Yes. They said yes. These guys are like
yes. And why why would you say yes? I say yes because it's full of college credit points. So if you still don't know what to do but you go to PS so you still have you will get like college credits and all that. So I recommend for sure. One of the advising pieces on that too
is if you don't know what you want to do but you have some interest areas we talk about that and we can put you in classes. So if you thought about psychology we can try that out and see if that is venue that you'd like to explore and then if it's not the nice thing is a lot of times it does go
towards MNTC or like a gen ed area so we try to be intentional about exploring things while also working towards uh a degree as well. >> Um do some colleges provide laptops?
>> No, you have to supply your own or use the ones. Um, we we supply like they can use ours. >> And then for the sake of time, I'll do one more on here. >> Perfect. >> Um, do PSO students have to turn the
participant agreement sheet that we were given to our counselors? >> Um, the salmon one. Yes, that's one of the forms that has to come in to us. So, that orange colored one needs to come in.
So, um I'm gonna wrap things up. I would love the reason we had a student panel this year was feedback from last year. Um somebody had said, "Hey, can we hear from students who are actually going PSO
and what their experience is like and their um expertise?" So, please please take time to give feedback. Um I'll even post it. I'll leave it up here, but feel free you guys to um ask questions. We're
around. We're going to stick around for a few minutes here if you have further questions. But let me show you and then I'll pop this feedback thing back up. I told you guys I would show you the resources really quick. So, this is Transferology.
This is Riverland's PSO website. This is our website with all of the PSO stuff. Again, we're going to be posting that course equivalency sheet on here. Um, but you can see it's kind of just a one-stop shop.
Um, this is what you guys got tonight. This is just common colleges because they're all different. Timelines, deadlines are all different amongst colleges. This is our equivalency sheet. Um, so you can see like what they need, what
what they could take at Riverland. And then last one was the PSO agreement form. Yes, this has to get handed into us all on our website. So, I'll go back. I'm gonna put up that
feedback form just so that you guys have it. So, if you could take like two seconds to provide the feedback and you guys are free to go again if you have questions. Um, I will put a
frequently asked question thing on the website and answer some of the questions that came in. But thank you so much for spending your Wednesday evening with us.