College Planning Consultant (CPC) Training
Training Overview: The College Planning Consultant (CPC) Training provides participants with the knowledge and skill needed to provide high quality college planning services to students and clients. The CPC training is designed to help participants learn how to help their clients make informed college decisions – decisions that include attending to the many facts and feelings that today’s youth often encounter while navigating their pathway to college. Completion of the coursework provides participants with the CPC certificate.
The CPC training course consists of approximately 30 training hours in total including instruction and completion of all work associated with the course. Seven hours of face-to-face, in person instruction are required and occur on a single day. After the one-day in person training, three additional hour-long Zoom-based meetings will be held to outline and discuss follow up activities and provide support to complete the CPC training.
Intended for: The CPC training is designed for counselors, advisors, educators, consultants, and other professionals working with students/clients who want to improve their knowledge to support the postsecondary planning process. This training is not intended to be an introduction to college planning, but is appropriate for people who have attained a four-year (Bachelor’s) degree.
Our Instructor: Dr. Tim Poynton
Dr. Tim Poynton has more than two decades of experience as a school counselor educator and researcher focused on postsecondary planning with high school students and young adults. He is an approved instructor for the National Career Development Association’s (NCDA) Facilitating Career Development and School Career Development Advisor training programs, is a co-author of the College UnMazed workbook and school-based curriculum and has delivered more than 100 conference presentations and professional development seminars across the United States.
He holds the Certified Career Services Provider (CCSP), Certified Clinical Supervisor of Career Counseling (CCSCC), and Certified School Career Development Advisor (CSCDA) credentials from the NCDA.
Tim is currently a Commissioner for the Certified Career Services Provider (CCSP) credential with the NCDA, a founding editor for the Journal of College Access, and was the American School Counselor Association’s Counselor Educator of the Year in 2011. He is an associate professor in the Department of Counseling & School Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where his primary teaching responsibilities are focused on teaching college and career counseling at the graduate level. He also is a college advisor for a small number of clients.
Course Core Competencies
- Using a semi-structured motivational interview process designed for college planning and advising
- Core active listening skills to support clients
- Empathic understanding
- Identifying and using objective college information
- Making the most of IPEDS data
- Leveraging Common Data Set information
- Applying career theories and models
- Using career assessment techniques to help students identify careers and majors to consider
- Understanding the career information sources available to support major/career exploration
- Structuring the college choice process
- Understanding when to pay attention to objective information at each step of the college process can help the information be useful instead of overwhelming
- Identifying student/family priorities
- Using the My College Fit Priorities card sort activity in multiple ways to support communication between you, students, and families
Assignments will be provided to help participants practice and demonstrate the ability use all of the resources, tools, and techniques listed above.
Development of these competencies positions participants to effectively support college planning in multiple settings, including private practice, high schools (including vocational-technical high schools), college and career coaching, TRiO and other college access programs.
Course Completion and Certification
Upon successful completion and mastery of the CPC curriculum, including required participation in training sessions and completion of all assignments, students will receive a certificate of completion attesting to CPC training completion. This certificate confirms the student has gained the knowledge and core competencies listed above.
Please Note: Due to the rising cost of labor and the use of resources to process invoices and other services, TAD Grants will charge 3% of the total amount due when a student requests an invoice, Purchase Order and/or TAD Grants to purchase the Required Student Manual, coordinate payment for Association Membership Dues and/or Credential Application Fees.