When "What Happens After High School?" Doesn't Have a Simple Answer
For over 40 years, educational consultants, school psychologists, and clinicians have referred students to CIP when college, independent living, and career readiness all need to happen at once. Here’s what you need to know to make that call with confidence.
Who This Page is For
If you’re an independent educational consultant, school psychologist, clinical psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, transition specialist, or regional center service coordinator, you’ve likely had a family ask you a version of the same question: “They got into college — or they didn’t — now what?” CIP exists for exactly that moment. This page gives you the program details, outcomes data, and referral process you need — no sales pitch required.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Works directly with families navigating transition planning, often coordinating care across school, home, and clinical providers.
Transition Specialist
Focuses specifically on the move from high school to postsecondary life, helping families plan for education, employment, and independent living together.
Regional Center Service Coordinator
Connects individuals with developmental disabilities to services and supports, often the professional families rely on to identify vetted, comprehensive program options.
School Psychologist
Supports students' academic and emotional development within the school system, often the first to flag when a student needs more structured support than college alone can offer.
Clinical Psychologist
Provides diagnostic and therapeutic support, frequently the one to identify when a student's readiness for independence needs a more comprehensive program than outpatient care can provide.
Independent Educational Consultant
Guides families through school and program placement decisions, often the first professional a family consults when college or a gap year isn't going as planned.
Who CIP Is For — and Who It Isn't
CIP is a strong fit for a student who...
- Has a formal diagnosis (autism, ADHD, or a related learning difference) and needs structured, comprehensive support — not just accommodations
- Needs support across academics, independent living, and career/vocational skills together, not one in isolation
- Would benefit from a structured, interdisciplinary staffing model (not a single coach or mentor)
- Is ready for a residential or semi-independent living component as part of the growth process
CIP is likely not the right fit if...
- Needs primarily clinical/medical treatment rather than an educational and life-skills model
- Is ready to succeed with light-touch, drop-in support alone
- Is looking for a short-term, wilderness-style, or crisis-intervention program
- Needs to remain living at home for reasons unrelated to program fit
Why Professionals Refer to CIP
Between 2012 and 2015, professional referrals to CIP generated 132 applications and 59 enrolled students — a 44% conversion rate, the highest of any referral source CIP tracks. Consultants and clinicians refer to CIP because the outcomes hold up once a family looks closely.
Full outcomes data — academic, independent-living, and career metrics — is available below and in the downloadable Professional Overview.
What Makes the CIP Model Different
Most alternatives offer one piece of this. CIP is built around all three running at the same time, under one roof, coordinated by one team:
Interdisciplinary Staffing
Academic advisors, career coaches, and life-skills staff coordinate as one team around each student — not separate providers a family has to manage themselves.
Independent & Semi-Independent Living
Students build real-world independence in residential or semi-independent settings, not a classroom simulation of it.
Comprehensive, Integrated Curriculum
Academics, career development, and life skills are taught together and reinforced daily — not delivered as disconnected accommodations.
What Happens After You Refer a Student
- 1 You refer — Submit the short form below with the student and family’s basic info.
- 2 We reach out — A National Enrollment Specialist (NES) contacts the family directly within one business day.
- 3 The family is qualified — Our team has a real conversation to confirm fit before anything formal happens.
- 4 An invitation to apply is sent — Only once the family is qualified, so no one receives a premature or mismatched application invite.
You’ll be copied on next steps, and can follow up directly with the assigned NES at any time.
Refer a Student
What Happens After You Refer a Student
You submit the short form above with basic student and family information. An NES contacts the family within one business day, has a qualifying conversation, and only then sends a formal application invitation — nothing is automated or premature.
See the “Who CIP Is For” section above. In general, CIP fits students with a formal diagnosis who need academic, independent-living, and career support together, not any one in isolation. If you’re unsure, refer anyway — our team will assess fit directly with the family.
This varies by student and program start date (Full-Year or Summer@CIP), but families are typically in active conversation with an NES within a week of referral.
Yes. Contact the NES team directly to arrange a visit to any of CIP’s five centers — Bloomington, Brevard, Berkshire, Long Beach, or Berkeley.
Yes. You’ll be copied on next steps and can follow up directly with the assigned NES at any point in the process.
Yes — this is one of CIP’s most common referral scenarios. CIP also increasingly works with high-school-stage families planning ahead, not only post-failed-attempt situations.
