Giving Compass' Take:

• Laura Owen and Marina Koestler Ruben explain how the dearth of college counselors is contributing to the equity gap in college attendance. 

• How can funders work to close the gap in their communities? What does the landscape of college counselors look like in your area? 

• Learn how school counselors keep kids on track. 

For years, the refrain has been that rich white students can buy their ways into the college of their choice — and, given the recent scandal, it looks like the chorus was right.

Often unaware of the strategies employed by their more privileged counterparts and trusting those in positions of power, many parents mistakenly assume that their children are being provided the same level of support that other American students receive when navigating postsecondary paths.

“Buying your way into college” isn’t just a transaction that individuals employ. Rather, it’s a systematic, sweeping inequity that pervades our country’s education system and separates the “have” districts from the have-nots.

Related: LA’s school counselors strike back

When you take a closer look at school advising, a number of concerning factors surface.

First, the typical school counselor-to-student ratio is 1 to 464, yet the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) recommends a counselor-to-student ratio of 1 to 250.

Second,  1.7 million students across the United States attend schools with a police officer but no school counselor.

Third, one in five students in America has no access to a school counselor.

And, finally, students with the greatest need to meet with school counselors often have the least access.

Inadequate educational support is nothing new. Systemic inequity has been an American pastime. Prior to President Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, anyone who taught an enslaved person to read and write was considered a criminal.

Read the full article about the college counseling gap by Laura Owen and Marina Koestler Ruben at The Hechinger Report.