Workshop students report on how to afford college as they grapple with it personally
- Brie Zeltner
- Nov 19
- 5 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
Virginia high school participants write, create social media posts on health, safety and personal finance
November 20, 2025
By Brie Zeltner
Youthcast Media Group®
During the second class of our fall feature writing workshop on affording college, our student-journalists got the chance to interview a giant in the field– Sandy Baum, senior fellow in the Center on Education Data and Policy at the Urban Institute, who has written multiple books on the topic, has testified before House and Senate committees and is frequently quoted in national media.
Their first question got to the heart of what many, if not all of them, face in their communities: “When it comes to underfunded or under-resourced high schools, many students don't feel properly prepared for college. Do you see this as a widespread problem? And what can those students do to get ready for college while having to pay for the extra classes or program,” asked Hayden Hernly, a senior at Archbishop Carroll High School in D.C.
Baum’s response was tough, but honest: “It's not fair. Some students manage to overcome it but it takes a lot more to overcome that than it does if you're in a school where everything is laid out for you easily,” she said. “It's not a level playing field, and there's nothing that the colleges can do to cure that.”
"It’s rare for teenagers to get such straight talk from adults and to be able to lead the conversation," said workshop participant Ambrielle Parker, a sophomore at the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA).
“That was new to me and I was really shy with doing it,” at first, she said. “I’m still getting there, but I do feel more comfortable with it now.”
Natalie Spina, a senior at CAPA on her fourth workshop with YMG, said it was refreshing to ask questions and feel respected as a student journalist by such experienced experts.
“It’s not easy to get interviews with adults when you’re a teenager trying to get into the journalism field. It’s even harder to get adults in positions of power. It’s taught me to just feel so much more comfortable when interviewing adults,” she said.
Our feature writing workshop is our longest and most intensive program– 16 sessions over six weeks. The logistics of teaching 15 students virtually and lining up enough interviews for three high-quality stories in three cities can be exhausting, but it’s my favorite program we offer.
After 11 workshops as lead instructor, 141 student-journalists trained, and 34 stories published in 21 media outlets, let me tell you why.
It takes time for student journalists to build the skills, confidence and perspective required to write a good story. They start by hearing the “big picture” from at least two experts in the field, like Baum.
After speaking with experts, students polled and interviewed their peers across the country and found that 85% are a little or very worried about being able to afford college, and 71% are most worried about being a burden on their families financially or about having a lot of debt upon college graduation.
They heard from students who felt unprepared for college academically and ultimately dropped out and returned home. They heard from other students who felt let down by their overtaxed high school college counselors and confused about their options for aid and scholarships.
Seeing the problem – and its solutions– through a citywide and national lens provided a brand new perspective for many of them, students said.
“It shows that these are things that need some fixing,” said Ericka Otero, another Philadelphia workshop participant. “Everybody sharing their stories is honestly so beautiful and I’m glad that it isn’t only Pennsylvania [students] struggling with college, because it reveals this much bigger issue that needs to be addressed.”
Some workshop participants even said they gained valuable information that will impact their own college decisions: “It has helped me really dig deeper into my college applications and getting the money I need for college,” said Hayden, the senior at Archbishop Carroll High School in D.C.
Right now, they’re finishing the hardest part of any story: actually writing it. Thankfully, they’ve got amazing– and patient!-- YMG journalist-mentors to help them along: longtime USA Today personal finance reporter Sandy Block, former Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Meehan and Dio Roberson, former managing editor of Generocity in Philadelphia. For many students, it’s the first time they’ve had a chance to work in depth with a professional journalist.
“It’s very valuable because it’s not every day that I get to talk to someone related specifically to something I would pursue,” said Isabella Chavez, a junior at Miami Lakes Educational Center, who is considering a career in journalism. “It’s like looking through a mirror to my potential future self and I can see myself in them.”
Workshops are also one of our rare opportunities at YMG to lift our students up into leadership roles, paving the way for them to continue to work with us as college interns and then help them make connections in the field.
Natalie, who is acting as an assistant mentor-editor to her Philadelphia team for the second time, said working with YMG over her high school career has inspired her to become a journalist.
“Closely observing the work of my ME while also continuing to grow with my peers has been an unmatched opportunity. I've decided that the field is one I truly enjoy being in,” she said. Natalie hopes to attend a Philadelphia-area college (she’s applying to Chestnut Hill, Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, Immaculata and UPenn, among others) and become an investigative or opinion journalist.
It’s a privilege to meet, mentor and train students like Natalie, Ericka, Hayden, Isabella and Ambrielle. They give me hope for the future of journalism– and frankly, our world.
This fall, we’re also wrapping up our first semester work with students in Annandale High School’s journalism class, who are writing stories and making social media posts on safe driving, health equity and personal finance topics - including affording college! An experienced team of staff and volunteers is working closely with them: Mentor-editors John Waggoner and Hannah Gaber (both formerly of USA Today with expertise in personal finance and multimedia journalism, respectively), me, Crystal Joseph, YMG’s programs assistant, and founder Jayne O’Donnell.
We’re able to work at AHS because of a grant from the Jack R. Anderson Foundation — he was a local journalist turned Senate aide, not the investigative journalist — along with Chain Bridge Bank, which is helping to fund the personal finance work, the Governors Highway Safety Association and General Motors, which are supporting our social media work on road safety.
It takes a lot of time and investment to make magic like this happen for our students. If they leave you feeling equally inspired during this season of gratitude, consider a donation to YMG so that we can keep the magic going.