BEdA Handbook
2024 Track G: Navigating Through

This workshop designed to equip you with the knowledge and tools to navigate the complex world of financial aid.

In this session, participants will delve into the intricacies of the financial aid process, gaining a comprehensive understanding of key concepts and updates to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). We'll explore recent changes and best practices for maximizing financial aid opportunities, ensuring that no student is left behind due to the ongoing FAFSA delays and process barriers.

Moreover, we will address the critical need to intentionally support students of color in accessing financial aid funds. Through interactive discussions and real-life case studies, attendees will learn how to identify and overcome systemic barriers that disproportionately affect marginalized communities. From cultural competency to targeted outreach strategies, this workshop will empower you to be a catalyst for change in promoting educational equity.

Join us as we embark on a journey to empower students unlock the doors to higher education through informed financial aid advocacy and support. Together, let's build a future where every student has the opportunity to thrive and succeed.

Audience: Educators, counselors, administrators, community advocates, and anyone passionate about promoting educational equity and supporting students on their journey to higher education.

Join us and become a champion for educational access and equity in your community!

Outcomes: Workshop takeaways

• Understanding the financial aid process and recent updates to the FAFSA.
• Strategies for maximizing financial aid opportunities for all students.
• Culturally responsive approaches to supporting students of color in accessing financial aid.
• Practical tools and resources for promoting educational equity in your institution or community.

This workshop is designed to empower advisors, navigators, coaches and other student facing staff in BEdA to advance equity and student success. In this session, participants will explore the intersection of constructivist listening,  student agency, and equity advancing practices to gain practical insights and strategies to better support adult learners on their educational journey.  This action oriented experience will provide opportunities for deep conversation and learning from others in the system while building individualized approaches to the application of coaching techniques that center student experiences to advance equity within BEdA programs and beyond.

Session Materials

• Active Listening, Student Engagement, and Equity in BEdA
• Constructivist Listening
• Whose Culture had Capital?
• Lens of Systemic Oppression
• Liberatory Design Deck
• BEdA Vision, Mission, Values & Goals

This session is an opportunity for counselors, advisors, and student support staff to analyze coordinated care, and the intersection with anti-oppressive values and practices. Attendees will examine levels of case management and practices that enable creating a culturally responsive coordinated care community that can disrupt harmful narratives and procedures for community college adult learners.

Outcomes:

• Attendees will define coordinated care practice.
• Attendees will define oppression, intersectionality, and cultural responsiveness.
• Attendees will analyze oppression as a catalyst for inequity.
• Attendees will be introduced to anti-oppressive values and antiracist praxis as tools.

Session Materials

• Antiracist Coordinated Care

Explore the intersection of self-care and student success in this engaging session tailored for frontline staff in student support roles. Led by a facilitator with direct experience in student support services, this interactive session will name a few of the unique challenges faced by those in these roles and offers practical strategies for maintaining well-being in high-pressure environments. Discover how prioritizing self-care directly contributes to fostering student success by ensuring staff are equipped to support students effectively. Learn to recognize signs of burnout, develop personalized self-care plans, and cultivate a supportive workplace culture that enhances both staff and student well-being. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to the field, this session provides valuable insights and actionable steps for cultivating a healthier, more sustainable approach to work and life. Join us in building a community of support and resilience to prioritize well-being and create a more conducive environment for student success.

Session Materials

• Nourishing the Front-Line
• BEdA Self-care Wheel

Individuals often experience workplace burnout as a personal failing and a private burden. Yet burnout in higher education—particularly for those who provide direct service to students—is frequently rooted in a workplace culture that urges speed, relentless productivity, and operating in silos or isolation over mindful approaches, meaningful work, and communal workstyles. In this session, participants will learn the systemic causes of burnout among higher education professionals and consider strategies for reshaping our workplaces to allow for gentler ways of working that nurture the mind, body, and spirit, including applying traditional wisdom from cultures around the world. There is much to glean from exploring this topic whether you are classified staff or an administrator, and whether you are new to the field or an experienced professional.

Outcomes:

1. Knowledge: Define workplace burnout and identify how it manifests.
2. Comprehension: Describe elements of a thriving workplace culture and how those elements support employees’ well-being.
3. Analysis: Compare and contrast mainstream American workstyles and concepts of self-care with traditional wisdom about work and rest from cultures around the world.
4. Synthesis: Generate ideas for a proposal (or draft a proposal) to address certain systemic causes of burnout in your workplace.

Session Materials

• More than Self-Care