Postcards from the Rogue Valley

Jen Marsden speaking to students in a “Future Foundations” class, required of all juniors.

It is Tuesday, Period 8, a few days after spring break at Ashland High School. “What’s up?” a boy with a Ducks sweatshirt asks his buddy as they fist bump and then join me at the back of the classroom. I am doing my best to be an inconspicuous visitor.

Soon, 19 AHS juniors have taken their seats, settling in to hear Jen Marsden, director of the high school’s College and Career Center, talk about their journey after high school. By week’s end, Marsden will have given her 90 minute pep-talk to seven classes of juniors, part of their junior year Future Foundations class.

“As students, you spend years in school without a lot of choices about your education,” Marsden begins, “only to be asked, at age 17 or 18, to make major decisions about your future. What path will you take? What work or program of study interests you? What are you passionate about? It’s exciting, yes, but it can also be overwhelming.”

“You have to remember that you’re not deciding your entire future—you’re simply choosing your next step,” Marsden continues. “It’s all about finding an educational or career pathway that is going to be a good fit for YOU, and what’s a good fit for one student won’t be the best fit for every student.”

The possible next steps come in all shapes and sizes. “It’s huge,” she says. “Apply to a community college or four-year university, public or private, figuring out which colleges suit you best? Apply to a technical/professional career school or apprenticeships program? Work? Join the military? Take a gap year before entering college?”

Marsden brings years of experience helping students answer these questions. She has been a College & Career Specialist at AHS since 2011. She has an M.S. in Environmental Education, and before moving to Ashland she lived in the Illinois Valley for 20 years, working as a botanist and teaching courses for UC Santa Cruz while coordinating college counseling and after school programs at Illinois Valley High School. 

Marsden in her AHS office. Photo by Barbara Cervone

A strong record

Around 90 percent of AHS students graduate each year, placing it well above the Oregon state average of roughly 81 percent. Historically, around 70 to75 percent of AHS graduates go on to attend two- and four-year colleges, compared to 56 percent statewide. 

Here are some recent statistics. Of the 198 graduates of the 2025 class, 119 planned to attend four-year colleges (79 in state; 40 out-of-state) and 48 planned to attend community colleges (almost entirely within state). Three of the students heading to a four-year college were going to take a “gap year” first. Combined, this college-bound group represented 84 percent of the ’25 graduates. 

And there is more. Seventeen students indicated that their immediate post-graduation plans involved work and/or travel; 9 were headed to trade school; 3 were entering the military; 2 were planning a gap year; and 2 were undecided.

Student filling out their FAFSA

The elephant in the room

At one point in Marsden’s presentation, she asks: “You’ve heard of the phrase the elephant in the room? So what’s the elephant here?” 

“The cost,” “my family’s income,” two students call out. 

There was a time when doing adequately on the SAT’s was one of the biggest hurdles to going to college. Now it’s “the cost of attendance”: tuition, fees, room and board, books, transportation, and personal expenses.

For the 2025-2026 academic year, the average cost of attendance at private, nonprofit four-year colleges nationwide is a breathtaking $63,000. The average cost at top private universities exceeds $90,000.

Meanwhile, the cost of attendance today at Oregon’s public four-year universities is roughly $30,000-$40,000 a year — a bargain by comparison, though higher than most state schools in the Western U.S. and nationwide, largely driven by low state funding and high reliance on tuition. Public funding for higher education in Oregon places it 46^th in the country.

“What do you do if you simply cannot afford college?” Anna, a junior, asked when we first met to explore her college possibilities. “I don’t want to go into debt when I’m still a teenager.” 

Here is where FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid) comes in, I told Anna. (Note: All student names in this story are pseudonyms.)

Launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the Higher Education Act of 1965, FAFSA determines eligibility for Federal Pell Grants (up to $7,395), loans and work study programs, as well as many state and school-based aid opportunities, including the Oregon Opportunity Grant, our state’s version of the Pell Grant. For low-income students, completing the FAFSA is not optional but essential. It is also an opportunity — a nudge — for a student and their family to take a hard look at what’s financially feasible.

When it comes to private colleges and “sticker shock,” Marsden reminds students, there are pleasant surprises. Reed and Lewis & Clark in Oregon, for example, sometimes provide a generous scholarship that covers most of the cost of attendance. Approximately 100 top private colleges nationwide provide full-ride ride scholarships to admitted students with a family income below $200,000. They include the Ivy Leagues along with well-known universities like Stanford, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Caltech, University of Chicago.

AHS students between classes

Student stories

As this year’s crop of AHS juniors rise to be next year’s seniors, the “journey” will be a straight line for some and squiggly for others.

For students seeking entrance into Oregon’s university system, their grade point average is the main consideration: a minimum GPA of 3.00 is generally required for admission. Their line is typically straight. This is also true for students with an eye for a particular four- or two-year school or with financial means.

However, the students I have come to know at Ashland High School, by and large, live with squiggles, often the first in their family to go to college. Since 2021, I have mentored students who are part of the College and Career Center’s ASPIRE program, a statewide initiative that provides students with the support rarely available in high school guidance offices where the ratio of students to counselors is typically 375 to 1. 

Marsden oversees the ASPIRE program as well, complemented by Alima Matejcek, who directs Southern Oregon’s Project Youth + initiative at AHS, and Karyn Barats, secretary to the school’s counseling department and local scholarship coordinator.

Arlo, a senior, who hopes to be a politician or judge one day, sought my help with his college essays, bringing to life his experiences in student leadership at AHS and the lessons he has learned from fishing. 

Nari, a top student and musician, struggled with pleasing her parents and going to the same small religious school they attended versus charting her own course. She was attracted to universities in Boston and together we scouted the possibilities there. In the end, she headed to her parents’ alma mater in the South.

Seleena, who moved to Ashland in the middle of her junior year and balanced early morning and weekend shifts at Starbucks along with dual credit courses at SOU, dreamed of becoming a nurse. Though she lived with her parents, she paid her own living expenses, along with caring for her younger brother. Piece by piece, we put together a plan where in five years she would have a Bachelors in Nursing, the scholarships to support it, and remain in her younger brother’s life.

Jevon took a gap year, joining a Christiam missionary team in sub-Sahara Africa.

After a lot of searching, Mike signed up for an Electrical Apprenticeship Program at Rogue Community College.

April 9^th  College and Career Pathways presentation for parents

It takes a team — and funding

When she’s in her office and not presenting in classes or leading evening workshops for parents and guardians, Jen Marsden is invariably “on call” as students drop in with questions, concerns, disappointments, and successes. (She also stacks her office with snacks to encourage students to come by so that she can get to know them and find out ways she might be able to offer support.) She works just as hard helping students find employment, perhaps internships, or maybe plan a gap year after graduation. She advises parents and answers their questions.

A year ago, three local donors set up a college scholarship in Marsden’s name. When it was announced at last year’s scholarship award ceremony, the audience exploded with applause. Marsden will tell you that she couldn’t help send Ashland High School’s juniors and seniors on their way without the volunteers that back her up. They say they couldn’t do it without her.

Nationally, cutbacks in public education spending have eaten away at the college counseling available in many high schools, just when it is needed most. 

 “I count our blessings that, here in Ashland, we still value the importance of helping students spread their wings, regardless of their circumstances,” says Marsden. 

SUBSCRIBE
Add your name to the email “blast” announcing new posts. Please send your name and email address to: postcardsfromtheRV@gmail.com