The school 'makes every effort' [=the school does all that it can] 'to help' new students become adjusted to college life.
His novel's surprise ending is not really convincing, but we'll give him 'an A for effort'.
He wanted to contribute in some way to the 'war effort'. [=to the effort to win the war]
(..) Yeah, I think that too. Maybe you would enjoy theatre arts. They're having auditions for the fall musical. Do we have that here? It's a collaborative effort with the men at Xavier. How am I a senior and not know we have that? Perhaps you haven't always been an active part of this community. (..)2017 Lady Bird