JACKSON TWP — Students in the Seneca Valley School District soon will have another tool to help them prepare for life after high school.

The school board Monday night approved a three-year agreement with Naviance that operates a web-based college and career services program. The agreement will cost the district slightly more than $26,000 for the three years.

The program operates like a virtual guidance counselor, helping students explore and pick colleges or a career, helping students prepare for standardized tests and helping to match students to scholarships.

However, unlike a guidance counselor, the program will be available to students and their parents 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Seneca Valley High School Principal Mark Korcinsky briefed the school board about the program and said it will be open to any student in grades 7-12.

Korcinsky said any student can fill out a profile on the website, which will then match them to scholarships and serve as an online holding place for documents such as transcripts, college applications and essays.

It also offers a personality test to help match students to potential careers.

The program is expected to drastically increase student efficiency in the college and career process, Korcinsky said.

For instance, students will no longer have to request a copy of their transcript for every college application. Rather, they can simply upload the document to their application through the Naviance program.

The software also is expected to help guidance counselors who now will have the chance to easily shift through the mountains of documents inherent in any student’s college application process.

But perhaps the most important aspect, Korcinsky said, is that the Naviance program gives parents an opportunity to be much more involved in their child’s college or career preparation.

“One of the nice features that attracted us is called the family connections portal,” he said. “Students and their families can go in there, and it’s just a guidance counselor activity. It becomes a family activity.”

Korcinsky said several other school districts in the region use Naviance such as Hampton and Pine-Richland in Allegheny County.

The principal went to the two schools to see the program, and came away convinced that it would be a great at Seneca Valley.

“We’re really looking forward to getting our students and their families involved in this,” he said.

Korcinsky added on Tuesday that he hopes to have the program in use by July 1, at which time juniors can start filling out profiles on the site.

Naviance estimated that more than 4.5 million students worldwide use its software, according to its website.