ACCIS is the Association of College Counselors in Independent Schools.  We are a not-for-profit that was founded in 2005 to support the essential work of independent school college counselors.  We provide support to our members via profesional development programs, communication about latest developments in the profession, and an active elist.  ACCIS represents over 300 independent schools and more than 700 counselors.  Please explore this FAQ and the website to learn more about the mission of the organization and our member benefits.

The origins of ACCIS can be found in the now-defunct NAIS College Connection Institute.

A few years ago, NAIS reached out to a core group of independent school counselors who took the lead on two very successful summer CCI's.  Then NAIS refined its mission, chose to focus all but exclusively on heads of school and trustees, and left the CCI staff wondering what had just happened. ACCIS owes its founding to that core group of CCI staffers and participants who felt their experience had been too strong, too valuable to lose.

With the blessing and support of NAIS, those CCI veterans went to work. ACCIS has since experienced essential support from NAIS in a variety of ways, from things as basic as database contact information to things as profound as connections with other similar organizations.

Schools join ACCIS, and the entire college counseling staff of your school is included in the membership.  The bigger your department, the more for your money!  More important, a central premise of ACCIS is that college counselors are, and should be, leading voices in and for their schools.  We hope to support college counselors in helping their schools be leaders on the national stage, for the good of schools, of college counselors, and especially of the young people in our care.

ACCIS hopes to offer a national voice for independent school college counselors. There may be times when speaking with greater force of numbers from our particular perspective will be of value to the counselors we support and the students we serve.

As an affiliate, ACCIS supports NACAC through adherence to NACAC's Principles of Good Practice; emphasis on the importance of ACCIS member attendance at NACAC's annual conference; and annual creation of programming at NACAC meant specifically to serve the needs of independent school college counselors.

NACAC is a great organization, and it has done an enormous amount to advance our profession.  One indication of our respect for NACAC is that the ACCIS Bylaws require any school seeking to join ACCIS to hold NACAC membership first.The purpose of ACCIS is not to question or break from NACAC; rather, it is to provide an affiliate organization that focuses all its efforts on supporting college counselors who work in independent schools.  NACAC has many other constituents to serve, and we don't feel that independent school counselors should be the focus of NACAC's undivided attention.

ACCIS aims to work in partnership with all organizations seeking to support college counselors.  It's hard work.  Wherever we can join together, we will. ACCIS hopes to be a positive presence, offering support on issues of regional significance, and providing another source of programming.

As with NACAC membership, NAIS membership is also a prerequisite to ACCIS membership. Moreover, ACCIS would not exist without NAIS.

ACCIS members are involved with regional and national College Board presentations.  Our members participate in College Board Forum, offer programming, and provide a voice for independent schools impacted by College Board issues.

Among the insights ACCIS gained from NAIS is that we would need active engagement from committed volunteers, as well as substantial funding, to launch a national organization.  NAIS recommended that we seek a finite number of Founding Members who were willing not only to work very hard but also to make a substantial financial commitment over the first three years in order to launch the organization.

Thirty six Founders have stepped up, with a price tag of $3,000 per year for three years.  That start-up money provides the necessary capital to fund our current work, and it enables us to keep the General Membership dues low, as we seek to reach out to more than 1,100 potential member schools.  The Founding Schools' initial commitment thus makes the very existence of ACCIS possible, and the Founders have a special role in guiding ACCIS through its early years.

After that, ACCIS will go only as far its total Membership wants to take it. Starting this organization is one thing; sustaining it will be another.  There has been, and will continue to be, an organic quality to the evolution of ACCIS. As we grow, there will be plenty of meaningful opportunities for all independent school college counselors interested in ACCIS.

General Members will be kept abreast of all ACCIS program opportunities, whether at NACAC, NAIS, College Board, various regional ACAC meetings, or stand-alone initiatives such as our own Summer Institute, Colloquia and Counselor Tours. Above all, ACCIS will seek to serve its members: What are the issues on the minds of college counselors in independent schools, and what can ACCIS do to provide support? As we receive questions, we'll try to provide answers.

ACCIS will also seek to provide supporting documents and research that members might find valuable in working with their constituents, whether students, parents, colleges, or-especially important in independent schools-heads of school and boards of trustees.  Along the way, ACCIS will also seek to provide a strong, clear voice in the national conversation about the college admissions process.

There is certainly that risk, and we understand the concern; however, the risk and concern are the same that NAIS schools run every day.  The key letter in NAIS and ACCIS is the I for "independent."

Anytime any institution or organization declares itself "independent," reaction from those of egalitarian instincts may run along the lines of "Oh, so they think they're too good for us." Anyone familiar with the lengths to which independent schools go to be as inclusive and diverse as possible knows that exclusivity is the last thing we value.

The salient feature here is independence, and the assumption of the greatest risk of all-the risk of failing with no one to bail you out.  Each NAIS school must operate on its own, often in a "no excuses" environment created by virtue of high expectations and even higher tuitions.  ACCIS college counselors work within that context.

ACCIS exists to support the efforts of such college counselors, who often walk what can be a very high wire over not much resembling a safety net.  That independent school college counselors, who often work alone, want to join together in mutual growth and development seems reasonable, and it should not be seen as a threat to anyone nor as a desire to be elitist.