College Counselor

Access Opportunity’s vision is equity in opportunity for all students. Our mission is to create opportunities for high-potential students from low-income households to define their individual paths through high school, college, and career, ultimately benefiting the lives of others.

The program begins with a selective admissions process at the end of 10th grade, and continues through graduation from a four-year college. Our students are ambitious leaders who hope to use their education to make change in their communities. The ultimate goal of Access Opportunity is to help students, their families, and their communities reach their full potential.

POSITION OVERVIEW:

As our College Counselor, you will be primarily responsible for supporting our high school juniors and seniors with identifying, applying to, and financing their best fit colleges. Additionally, you will be a part of the Program Team and will support several aspects of the student’s journey in the program from recruitment to graduation from college. This is a hands-on, high-responsibility role that requires independently managing the full cycle of college admissions advising with high school students – from exploration to enrollment.

To be successful in this role, you must have strong leadership and relationship-building skills. You must have a track record of creating and fostering positive, trusting relationships with diverse youth and be committed to access, equity, and inclusion in higher education. You should also be skilled at developing and maintaining strong partnerships with colleges and admissions representatives to expand opportunities and access for students. Spanish fluency is strongly preferred; however, we are open to exceptional candidates who bring deep college advising experience and are excited to work in a multilingual, multicultural environment.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

College Counseling & Student Support

• Serve as primary counselor for caseload of ~40 high school juniors and seniors, supporting the full college application and financial aid process from start to finish; successfully manage both cohorts simultaneously without letting either group fall behind.
• Provide high-touch 1:1 advising, including building college lists, deciding where to apply, crafting strong essays, and completing financial aid applications (FAFSA, CASFA, CSS Profile, and institutional forms).
• Follow Access Opportunity curriculum and benchmarks, maintain regular contact with students, and proactively manage deadlines and follow-ups to ensure students stay on track throughout the year.
• Deliver engaging, interactive workshops and other group programming focused on building students’ college and career readiness and developing a sense of community and belonging among each cohort.
• Work closely with the Social-Emotional Learning Counselor and Career Counselor to assist students in obtaining support to meet their specific social, emotional, and academic needs, referring to outside resources as needed.
• Involve students’ families in the college admissions process by facilitating family engagement programming and providing families with appropriate resources and guidance for each stage of the process.
• Maintain excellent documentation and tracking of student progress in organizational systems, and communicate updates regularly to the team.

Program Support

• Participate in recruitment and selection of new students by conducting outreach to partners, hosting information sessions, reviewing applications, and interviewing finalists.
• Develop and maintain strategic partnerships with local high schools, colleges and universities, and community organizations.
• Meet regularly with Program Team to set and assess goals related to student support as well as your own professional development.
• Research and stay on top of best practices in our industry.
• Ensure the delivery of high-quality, consistent services within our program by accurately recording data and tracking program activities/outcomes.

Other

• Provide occasional support with development and fundraising activities, such as sharing student stories with interested donors and contributing to grant writing/reporting.​
• Assist with general program administration including logistics for workshops, ordering supplies, and other duties as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Bachelor's degree and at least 3-5 years of full-time work experience in college advising, admissions, or a related field. Due to the needs of this role, please do not apply for this position if you do not have at least 3-5 years of experience in a position where the majority of your role involved counseling or advising high school or college-aged students.
• Demonstrated commitment to Access Opportunity’s vision and mission.
• Experience building strong, supportive relationships with diverse youth both individually and as a group (i.e. facilitating workshops, classroom teaching, or leading group-based learning experiences).
• Demonstrated success working in a remote or highly autonomous environment, including strong self-management, proactive communication, and the ability to structure your own work without daily oversight.
• Strong familiarity with the college and financial aid application processes and the unique challenges first-generation students face when pursuing higher education.
• Collaborative leadership style with mature interpersonal skills and an openness to professional feedback and growth (both delivering and receiving).
• Ability to effectively manage a large volume of work, and to help students do the same.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication.
• Spanish fluency preferred.

Access Opportunity is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We live by our vision of equity in opportunity and seek to hire team members representative of the diverse communities we serve. We would love to hear about how you will bring your identities and lived experiences to your work.

This position requires occasional evening and weekend availability to meet the needs of our students. Please anticipate up to one Saturday per month for student programming (with the ability to flex your schedule at other times to accommodate for these commitments). Although day-to-day work is conducted primarily remotely, all team members must be located in the Denver Metro area in order to meet with students and attend regularly scheduled programming in-person. To build strong relationships with students, we also ask for the ability to make a two-year commitment.

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HIRING PROCESS & TIMELINE:

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with a priority deadline of Sunday, February 22.

The process is designed to give candidates a clear picture of the role while allowing us to assess the skills most important for success as a College Counselor at Access Opportunity. This will include:

• An initial phone or video interview with a member of our team.
• A short work project with a follow-up conversation to debrief and discuss your approach.
• A final interview that includes a role-play scenario with students.

Our ideal start date is on or before June 1, 2026. The selected candidate must also be available to participate in our full program workshop from June 10-14, 2026, which is a key part of onboarding and relationship-building with students and the team. There is an overnight component to this workshop which the candidate must be available to attend as well.

To apply for this position, please share your resume and complete the application questions

Access Opportunity offers a generous benefit package. These benefits include fully covered health and dental insurance, unlimited paid time off, enrollment into a 403(b) retirement plan after one-year of service with a 3% company match, and mileage reimbursement.

Spanish fluency is strongly preferred; however, we are open to exceptional candidates who bring deep college advising experience and are excited to work in a multilingual, multicultural environment.