What If We Break Up?

February 2, 2011

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Financial Aid, Traditional Admissions , , , 4 Comments

“A match be to made, not a prize to be won.”

Maybe the single most important quote ever attached to the college search process.

But, sometimes, even after cross-country road trips and long hours of internet research and conversations with admission counselors and athletic recruiters and comparisons of various financial aid offerings, the wonderful courtship doesn’t produce the perfect match.

That’s why you have divorce lawyers and transfer counselors.

So, what do you do?

  • Acknowledgment – Is this just freshman nerves and insecurity or real issues of incompatibility?  Sit down and write down: What is it that is causing this feeling? Look at what you wrote down.  Is it tangible?  If so, is it fixable?  Often times, it is better to stay put and work through the problems.  But, not always…
  • Acceptance –  The beautiful campus in the brochure has turned to the frozen tundra and the professor who seemed like the perfect mentor has left for another institution.   I thought I would love Nursing, but there’s – like- science involved.  I thought I’d like the country setting, but cows scare me.  It’s just not working out.  Most students who enter college do not graduate from that college.  You are not alone.
  • Plan, Don’t Panic – Don’t stop going to classes.  Don’t withdraw if you’re halfway through the semester.  Make sure you know what your current institution’s policies are in terms of dropping classes.  What will it cost you – full tuition, or partial tuition?  Will you get a failing grade or an incomplete?

What school might meet the needs that this school didn’t meet?  How many credits (and which credits) will be accepted by your potential suitors?  What type of aid package, if any, can you expect?

While it won’t be the length and intensity of your 1st college courtship, this 2nd college search should still be a serious decision, maybe a decision made with more facts and less emotion, now that you’ve been through this before.  Or you may be making a 3rd or 4th trip down the Bursar’s aisle.

  • Talk – to faculty and administrators you may trust at your first institution.  To your parents.  To friends from high school and newly made friends from college.  To a transfer counselor at any school you may be considering for the future.  Heck, call or email me; I’ll be glad to help.
  • Don’t walk away – While I am a big believer in lifetime learning and college being just as viable at 40 as it is at 20, I would strongly discourage “walking away”.  You chose your first college for valid reasons and – unless those reasons have changed – you should continue your journey.  There is a big difference between saying that going to College X was a mistake and saying that going to College was a mistake. Make sure you know what statement you’re making because it is always harder to start something again once you stop.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions.  Please feel free to email me at info@cc4therestofus.com, call me at 908-403-3819, join me on Facebook on “College Counseling for the Rest of Us” and join me on Twitter at @MichaelCCR.

ROI Rage: Let’s Go Crazy

January 26, 2011

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Financial Aid, Traditional Admissions , , , Leave a comment

Dear Parents of Teenagers:

Think back to 1999.  {Click here for the Prince song.}

Who was in your household back then; How old were they?

Now – with that information – if I could get for you a brand new 1999 Porsche 911 {Click here for the Prince song about Corvettes; he didn’t do one about Porsches} or a 1999 Honda Odyssey, {not a Prince song}, which car would you get?

Most folks choose the vehicle with the 3rd row cup holders, not the one that could go 0-60 the fastest.

And yet, too often – when it comes to selecting a college – you are told that you have to buy the Academic equivalent of the Porsche.  It ranks higher in the magazine ratings.  It has prestige.  It’s sleek and cool and gets you to your destination faster.  You won’t be hired if you pull in with an Odyssey.  Hiring managers only hire Porsche owners.

And lately, this argument has taken a turn for the worst.  Since only the Porsche owners get jobs, and you have to pay good money to buy the Academic Odysseys, don’t buy anything at all.  It’s not worth it. Click for such an article; no music attached.

Let me focus on my breathing and take a moment to respond, because statements like this make me delirious. {Prince, with the Muppets}

First, beyond any monetary consideration (and this is part of the argument I sometimes forget to make), there is a value to the discourse, the knowledge of the professors, the intellectual, social, athletic and spiritual gains and challenges, to the friendships, the clubs and organizations and the responsibilities placed upon us.  College, in varying degrees but always in some degree – shapes who you are, who you know, what you know and what you value.  Like a great raspberry beret, there is no price that can be put on such things.

–Second, the monetary value has been both well publicized and horribly understated.  You may have heard that the average person with a bachelor’s degree earns $2.1 million in their lifetime and a high school graduate earns $1.2 million. If I gave you 2 sets of stocks or 2 sets of ANY INVESTMENT with the same payoff, which one would you pick? As I stated, I think this data, is by definition, horribly understated.  Since the Census data deals with with current data, it doesn’t reflect inflation, salary increases, etc.  Although we currently live in a world where COLA salary increases cannot be assumed, it CAN be assumed that – over a 40 to 50 year career – salary data will only become more and more divergent.  In other words, it is a fairly sure bet that the average 2016 College graduate will earn much, much more than a million dollars more than someone who stops in 2012 with a high school diploma.

Of course, this data is all for folks that GRADUATE college.  And that brings me back to my Odyssey.

There are far too many academic “families of five”, too many students who should be driving the academic equivalent of an automatic transmission, who are buying “Porsche Colleges” because they will supposedly provide the best return on investment.  When the opposite – for those individuals – is far more likely.  They run a higher risk of not graduating.  They are far more likely to not get anywhere near the internships advertised at the “dealership” (i.e. – admissions office) and to feel disenfranchised by not following their own Odyssey.

Unfortunately, data for folks who have to trade in their Porsche Colleges after a semester or two is a little hard to find.   But, as a proud owner of a 2001 Saturn, I suggest to you to find the model that’s right for you and meets your needs.  In the meantime, let’s go crazy.

As always, I welcome your comments, your ratings, your Facebook posts and your emails.  I can be reached at info@cc4therestofus.com, on Facebook at “College Counseling for the Rest of Us”, on Twitter @MichaelCCR and by cell at 908-403-3819.

The FAFSA is For Everyone

January 26, 2011

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Financial Aid , , Leave a comment

TOP 7 REASONS WHY THE FAFSA IS FOR EVERYONE

My guest post for the College Planning Group is now available at this link. Only slightly edited from my original submission, but I forgive them. It touches on why every family should complete the FAFSA.  Enjoy!

I expect to have the “regular” weekly blog up by midnight tonight – tentatively called “ROI Rage – College IS Worth It”.

Why Publish a College a Day?

January 19, 2011

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Adult and/or Graduate Admissions, Financial Aid, Traditional Admissions , , , 1 Comment

Most weekdays, I spend 60-90 minutes on my “College of the Day” feature – collecting data, preparing the post, providing links to the College’s website and social media accounts.

It’s a good chunk of time built into every business day as I try to get a new, emerging business off the ground.  And in many cases, that specific college is of little interest to my “usual customers”.  My Facebook fans (yeah, “likes”, I know), my Twitter followers, my clients and my Linkedin connections are mostly from the northeastern part of the United States, in general, and New Jersey, specifically.   Few of them will ever take a college course in Alaska or Oklahoma or Kentucky.

So why do it?

Off the bat, I can think of 4000 reasons why.  College of the Day is less than two months old. And yet, I’ve discovered the Ranger Rangers, from Ranger, TX and the Bailey Mountain Cloggers.  I’ve learned about the the “SnowTube” video channel and a school that offers courses on flash drive. I found out about Miami-Dade’s Emerging Technologies Center and the only school with an alumni chapter on the Moon.  I’ve learned there is a college in the U.S. that is 320 miles above the Arctic Circle. I’ve learned about a cheerleading dynasty in Kentucky, a Bowling dynasty in New Jersey and an incredible educational value in South Dakota.

And, yet,  I’ve written about LESS THAN 1% of the Colleges in this country – only 30 out of 4000!

Simply, this country offers an incredibly (and wonderfully) diverse menu of colleges and we know about far too few of them.

By posting information about a different college each day, I believe I become a better counselor for all of you.  And I share free information for all of you to access, so that you can become better consumers.  I provide links to college websites, athletics pages and social media accounts.  I meet new colleagues (and friends) who can provide me – and you- with insider information.  And I get a daily “B-12” shot, knowing what great schools – and great people – are out there, waiting to be discovered.

And I can do all of this without using up gas, paying tolls,  adding mileage to my old Saturn or waiting in an airport for a connecting flight. These vignettes certainly do not replace an actual campus tour, but they do allow access to the nation’s colleges without cost or travel time.

So, onward we go until (approximately) 2020. Who knows whether there will be Facebook or Twitter.  Who knows if the websites will be on Web 4.0.  But there are thousands of wonderful stories and worthy colleges whose tales shall be told. Let’s enjoy the ride together!

All Free Today

January 12, 2011

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Adult and/or Graduate Admissions, Financial Aid, Traditional Admissions , , , Leave a comment

If the title of this post sounds familiar, you’ve probably seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at some point in your life.

But the topic today is not Benny Hill’s acting career or whether Toot Sweets would have made a great candy. We’re here to talk about how much access we have to FREE information during the College Search process.

And if the topic seems somewhat familiar, I’ve touched on the availability of free “stuff” both in my “Unexpected Friends” post on 11/10/10 and my “One Night in Plattsburgh” post on 12/15/10.  I think it’s a topic worth emphasizing.

You pay enough for college. It’s a fantastic investment, but it is rarely cheap.   Therefore, families look for any savings or deals they can find.  However, when it comes to the information and services needed during the search for College,  families often end up paying for things that they could have obtained for free.  Or they don’t obtain the information or receive the service at all because they think they can’t afford it.

Here a few of the items that are free – no charge – zilch – zero – gratis. I’ve come up with 8 categories of things that are ALL FREE TODAY:

1) Guidance Counselors and the Guidance Office – Ultimately, your taxes (if your child attends a public HS) or your tuition dollars (if he or she attends a private school) do pay for this, but in terms of direct costs, you have a paid staff professional staff member, support staff, paper and electronic access to thousands of books and other periodicals about colleges and the college search.  All at your disposal, with no admission price.  While many are overworked and some are better than others, in general, you have a committed, educated, caring person (or two or three) willing to help you achieve your goals.

2) College Admissions Counselors and Admission Offices – On the other side of the fence, you have an admission counselor who recruited you, is reviewing your file, has a responsible for recruiting cool people like you from their “territory” and went into the position because they like helping people like you.  And they are free (somebody else’s tuition is paying for them – at least for now).  He or she is specifically trained to answer your questions.  And the support staff, generally, are similarly well versed and also – almost always – quite friendly.  And the materials available through the Admissions office are informative, diverse and – yes – FREE.  (Some schools will charge for a PRINT catalog.)

3) The FAFSA – It is the FREE Application for Federal Student Aid.  Free.  No Charge.  It does not cost you a dime to find out if you are eligible for federal grants, loans and scholarships.  If you pay anyone to fill out a FAFSA for you, you should pay only for the convenience of not spending 45-60 minutes filling out a form. Anything more expensive than that should be filled under wasted money (or, in some cases, fraud).  I would strongly suggest that you NEVER pay someone to complete a FAFSA for you.

4) College Fairs – At your high school, your community college, at convention centers – there are college fairs seemingly every day and night.  I can attest to that from years in the field.  And, while my College had to pay to attend some of the bigger fairs, these events are all free to you.  No charge to visit with hundreds of college representatives from around the country – colleges that WANT to talk to you and share their “sales pitch”.  And give out FREE pens and flash drives and rulers and markers and key chains and lanyards and…………………

5) The Library and – to some extent – Barnes and Noble – Some of the Colleges that you are looking at can be pretty far away.  And your guidance office might not have EVERY College Search book (although I bet their catalog matches the library and B&N).  But the hours, quiet, convenience, and – in the case of Barnes and Noble – beverages and pastries (those are not free) – allows you to do your college research in a relaxed environment without the distractions of a high school guidance office.  And, if you are a parent reading this (like, I suspect most of you are), then I assume you would definitely prefer doing research someone other than the high school guidance office.

6) The World Wide Web – From www.fafsa.ed.gov to www.finaid.org, there are a plethora (trying to use that word in all my blogs now) of excellent online financial aid resources – all free.  In fact, that is the clearest indication that the site is worthwhile and legitimate.  If it costs something, run away.  But, also keep in mind that each college has a detailed website with courses, costs, admission policies and much, much more.  As well as – for most of them – Facebook pages and YouTube channels and Twitter accounts….

7) Viewbooks and Videos and Flash Drives and Catalogs and Search Pieces and Brochures – I’ve covered this a bit in the other bullet items above, but the Colleges (other than a few print catalogs) are not charging for their information.  They want you to have it.  Many trees die, as it were as millions of viewbooks and brochures are mailed out handed out to people like you.  All free.  And while they are generally glossy and filled with slogans, there is usually quite a bit of nutritional value beneath the candy coating – courses and mission statements, career paths and student service options, and much, much more.

8) Family and Friends – More so than at any other time in history, you know people who went to college – friends, family and neighbors.  And they are not being paid by a college.  And they are usually more than willing to “tell it like it is” (or was).  Just bear in mind that the information is from their unique viewpoint and may be outdated, if they went to school a few years ago.

So, only pay for what you should pay for.  And enjoy the ride.   I’m off with Caractacus (played by Dick Van Dyke) to find the Bulgarian castle where SATs are made (see below):

The Educational Testing Service's "Secret Lair"

The Educational Testing Service's "Secret Lair"

As always, I welcome your comments, your ratings, your Facebook posts and your emails.  I can be reached at info@cc4therestofus.com, on Facebook at “College Counseling for the Rest of Us”, on Twitter @MichaelCCR and by cell at 908-403-3819.

One Night In Plattsburgh Makes a Hard Man Humble

December 15, 2010

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Financial Aid 2 Comments

As per my promise from last week’s blog post, the semi-witty “What’s In Your Wallet?”, this week’s blog post is about financial aid.

I started writing another semi-witty essay, with cool references to the 1980’s and Star Wars and the particular song referenced in the title.  But I came to realize that financial aid is confusing enough, most folks think it is even more confusing than it really is and most of what I need to tell you about financial aid, in general, can be summed up in a few bullet points.

Saying that – click here if the title has you humming a certain tune in your head.

So, here goes.  Financial Aid 101.

1) Fill out the FAFSA. Regardless of whether you think you’ll get any financial assistance, go to www.fafsa.ed.gov and fill out the FAFSA form.

2) Try to do so as early as reasonably possible. The form goes “live” on Janaury 1, but the worksheet is already up there.

3) A big key to doing it early is knowing your tax information.  So, if 2010 was alot like 2009, you can probably estimate pretty well based on the 2009 info.  If 2010 was not the same (job loss, promotion, divorce, lottery winnings), then I would strongly suggest completing your 1040 pretty early this winter.

4) The form is FREE.  There is a ton of FREE good advice available online (I’ll list 5 key sites in item #5).  College financial aid counselors and high school counselors are FREE (well, in terms of giving financial aid advice, I mean).  Many states offer FREE counseling via a website, email or a phone center.  Don’t pay good money that you could use for a college education to find out how much money you can get, when you could have obtained the same information for FREE.  Did I mention FREE? And I will be glad to provide Financial Aid information, guidance, advice for – say it with me now – FREE.

5) There are 5 key websites I would suggest to you. www.fafsa.ed.gov is the federal website).  If you are in New Jersey, the state site is www.hesaa.org.  Two great private sites are www.finaid.org and www.fastweb.com.  The fifth site would be the financial aid section of your college’s website.

6) ASK QUESTIONS. Because it’s important.  And because the answers are – yes, sir – FREE.  And because, oftentimes, financial aid folks are very busy and you may have to ask twice to get results.

7) Understand that the FAFSA is NOT the 1040 form.  It does not come with possible schedules.  It is MUCH more cut-and-dried.  Anyone selling you the idea that they can find more money if they complete your FAFSA for you really means more money for them, not for you.

8) The FAFSA process is “equally unfair”.  I talk about that in a little more detail in the original version of the blog (see below), but basically the calculations make sense, but they assume you have spent like someone living in the 1960’s or 1970s.  So – the formula is fairly equal, but it assumes you all have saved much more than you probably have.

9) Most people think that their situation is “unique”.  While it, generally, is not, it IS personal.  My experience is that financial aid questions are rarely asked in public, but often asked in private. That’s fine by me.  My email is ccrmichael@gmail.com and I encourage you to reach out if you do have questions.  And I’ll answer them.  For – say it with me – FREE.

10) Student Loans are considered financial aid by the feds.  One of the reasons to fill out the FAFSA – without it, you can’t get a Stafford Loan.

11) Click on this link for a five minute video (produced by FASTWEB). It will provide you with a basic outline of what you need to do, but it is also pretty funny.

As always, I welcome your comments, your ratings, your Facebook posts and your emails.  I can be reached at CCRMichael@gmail.com, on Facebook at “College Counseling for the Rest of Us”, on Twitter @MichaelCCR and by cell at 908-403-3819.

And for those of you who want to know what direction I was originally going with this article, here’s the 1st half of the original piece – Star Wars references and all:

This is the story of a young admissions counselor who was doing such a great job recruiting students that someone decided he could be a Director of Financial Aid. This was a time (the mid-1990’s) when College Admissions and Financial Aid departments were being combined into these things known as “Enrollment Management” Departments.

To train this person in the ways of financial aid, they sent him off to Dagobah to learn from the wisest of financial aid professionals.

Well, not exactly Dagobah, but close.  Plattsburgh, NY consists of – or did, as of the mid 1990’s –  a closed military base, a college and…well, a closed military base and a college.  That was about it.  It was the perfect place to learn about Expected Family Contributions, professional judgment, independent status, cost of attendance and all of those really cool financial aid terms.  And eventually, I could lift star fighters out of swamps.  Or put together a financial aid package within the rules and regulations of the federal and state governments.  Whichever you find more believable.

When you calculate an EFC (Expected Family Contribution) manually – as I had the pleasure of doing those 3 days in Dagobah – it actually makes sense.  Yes, it assumes you live in the 1970’s and don’t own a 3rd flat screen TV and a 3rd car.  But the formula makes sense; it just assumes you have saved more than almost anybody in the U.S. really does.  It’s “equally unfair”, as it were.  But it is based on real numbers and real calculations.

Luke: What’s in there? Yoda: Only what you take with you.

Luke: I can’t believe it.  Yoda: That is why you fail.

Help you with this, I can. Over the course of the next few months, I will post several blogs to “talk you through” the process.  And you have an open invitation to ask ANY financial aid questions you have through the Facebook page, email or by phone.

What’s In Your Wallet?

December 8, 2010

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Adult and/or Graduate Admissions, Financial Aid, Traditional Admissions , , , 4 Comments

Pay me $200,000 and I will provide you with a flimsy gown/garment thing and a piece of thick paper with writing in two languages. Oh yeah, and a cool hat. Like thing.

And it will the best investment you will ever make.

Seriously.

This week, a big deal – rightfully so – was made in some circles that the unemployment rate for folks with a bachelor’s degree is now at its HIGHEST POINT EVER. The jobless rate, in November, for Americans with at least a bachelor’s degree is now at 5.1%, the highest rates since records were first kept in 1970.

That’s not good news, but if anyone wants to draw the conclusion that it’s not worth getting a bachelor’s degree, how about these statistics:

The jobless rate for those with a high school diploma was 10%.

For those without a high school diploma, it’s 15.7%.  How about this tag line:

Want to cut your chances of unemployment in half?  Get a bachelor’s degree.

Okay, but what about making money?  I just gave you $200,000 for a flimsy gown and a piece of paper – how do I get that back – with interest?

Glad you asked.  According to U. S. census data, the lifetime earnings of the average individual with only a high school diploma is 1.2M.  For an individual with a bachelor’s degree, it’s 2.1M.  For an individual with a Masters, it’s 2.5M. 

That’s an average lifetime gain of $900,000 on a $200,000 investment. (And I’m using a relatively high investment number here – if you attend any public institution or most private institutions, or receive financial assistance, your financial investment will be much less.)

But here’s the kicker – While actual results may vary. they’ll probably be better.  As I said, that $200,000 figure is probably on the high side.  Also, that $900,000 figure is based on current (actually, already outdated) data.  It would be an incredibly sound economic assumption that the person graduating college in 2015 or 2017 will earn even more.

I started this article with the thought that I would discuss financial aid. But I think that will become next Wednesday’s theme.  Because I need to stress this first: Financial Aid is meant to be just that – an aid; assistance in making the college degree a reality.  But be careful about how much influence it plays in making the final decision as to which college to attend.  I understand that sometimes it has to play a bigger role than you would like.  But always remember that – in the long-term – choosing a school that meets your needs will pay far, far more dividends in the long run.

And flimsy hats can look kind of cool.

Flimsy Hats Can Look Cool

As always, I welcome your comments, your ratings, your Facebook posts and your emails.  I can be reached at CCRMichael@gmail.com, on Facebook at “College Counseling for the Rest of Us”, on Twitter @MichaelCCR and by cell at 908-403-3819.

40 is the New 20: Who is the “typical” College Student?

November 3, 2010

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Adult and/or Graduate Admissions, Financial Aid , , Leave a comment

Quick quiz: Picture the typical college student.

Do you have the image in your mind? (Don’t close your eyes or you can’t read the rest of the blog!)

I’m guessing the person you’re looking at is about 20 years old, has 2-3 books in hand and is walking on a college quad with beautiful trees. In the background are brick buildings. He or she is probably smiling at the comment made by the person walking alongside.

Well, in the words of some of my college friends from back in the day, fuggedaboutit! That person still exists, but he or she is no more typical a college student in 2010 as…well, as me.  Here’s the skinny…

About half of all college students attend part-time. A similar percentage attend a community college. And about half are financially independent. 38% work full-time. 27% have a dependent of their own.  Only about 25% of college students fit the “traditional” mold. (Data is from the National Center for Educational Statistics, http://nces.ed.gov)

What does this mean for you, as the adult learner? It means that you are not alone.  It means that – particularly if you’re taking your classes at night, online or on weekends (or at your place of employment) – you are taking classes with other “non-traditional” learners.  It means your professors have a greater chance of understanding that you may miss class for a family wedding or a professional conference.  It means – to some extent – the administrative offices of the College (i.e. – Financial Aid, Bursar, Career Services) will have a better grasp of adult concerns, questions, rules and regulations.  (Note: This still varies greatly from school to school, however.)  In general, this is the best time in the history of higher education for a non-traditional student to go to school.

What does this mean for you, the parent of a traditional learner? It means that your child’s classmates could be sharing a range of knowledge and experience in the classroom that wasn’t generally available a generation ago.  But, it does also mean that there is a new group in town that is consuming resources, including financial aid and faculty time and energy.

Attached (I hope) are two wonderful videos regarding the typical student of today.  One is from the fantastic Take America to College video series http://www.takeamericatocollege.com/our-team/dennis-medina/ that tells the story of a Boston Police officer / Community College night student and the other is from the College of Saint Elizabeth that tells the story of a Wall Street professional transitioning to a career as a teacher.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvoJE_1ffns .

In some ways, higher education is in desperate shape. Costs are skyrocketing, government aid is often being frozen or cut, fund-raising is harder than ever and we are seeing more and more questions about “is college worth the price tag?”.  However, it is also a golden age for higher education. We have an incredibly diverse student population sharing an equally diverse set of experiences and knowledge.  We have educational tools available today that were inconceivable a few years ago.  We have more graduate programs and certifications than in the history of the world.

So, where are we?  At least in terms of college education – 40 is most definitely the new 20, the new “little black dress”, the new grey business suit that anchors the wardrobe.  But it is a wardrobe that is stuffed with multiple styles, shapes, colors and sizes.  It is probably best to simply start trying some things on and see what fits.

Getting In Vs. Staying In

October 28, 2010

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Adult and/or Graduate Admissions, Financial Aid, Traditional Admissions, Uncategorized , , 2 Comments

Have you ever heard of an independent retention counselor? I know I haven’t.

But guess which is of these two things is more likely to happen – a) getting an acceptance letter from a college or b) graduating from the college in which you enroll?

The answer is “a”.  More than two-thirds of applications to college are accepted.  But less than 56% of students beginning at a four-year college graduate within (not 4, not 5) 6 years.  If you add in data from 2 year colleges, the numbers are even more dramatic.

It is easier to get in than it is to stay. So, are we focusing too much on the wrong topic?  Are we making poor decisions?  Why is it that almost half of our college choices go astray?

I started in the college admission profession in 1988.  Since then, I’ve seen a dramatic growth in the amount and quality of materials designed and distributed by colleges, the amount of qualified independent college counselors and the amount of college visitations families make during the college search process.  I (and everyone else) have seen the internet make information readily available in ways never before imagined.

So, you’d think we’d be doing alright.  But the statistics say otherwise.

One of my pet peeves is the ever popular quest to get into a reach school.  My philosophy is that you should find the schools that best meet your criteria for success; which colleges are most qualified to get you where you want to go?  However, a common goal among College and Graduate school candidates seems to be to ensure that the students is admitted (and then, attends) the most competitive school to which they can, regardless of fit.

Remember, however, that the reach school is – statistically – the school in which you are the weakest candidate.  You can certainly argue that the statistics aren’t an accurate reflection in your particular situation.  But – in general – many of us are putting quite a bit of effort into being admitted to the school where we are most likely to fail.

In practice, I have seen countless talented students go from a high school experience in which they were in the top 10% or 25% of their senior class to a college experience in which they were in the bottom 25% or 10% of their freshman class.  And that’s when I met them, as they applied to my less-well-kn0wn institution, with a Freshman GPA of 1.9 or 1.4 or some such.

The entire philosophy reminds me of the grand wedding reception that costs a fortune but leaves the newlyweds with months of Ramen Soup dinners and major debt right from the get-go.

Often, we treat college as a very different type of “purchase” from others.  But, in many ways, I find it instructive to make comparisons to other choices in life.

Would you mortgage the house and go into five (or six) figure debt to own the fancy 2 seat sports car if you have a family of 5, with a toddler still in a car seat?

Would you buy the John Deere riding lawn mower with the most bells and whistles, if your property is 40X120?

There are literally 4,000 colleges in this country.  Some are family vans – reliable, comfortable, able to move large groups to their destination.  Some are sports cars – dangerously fast and challenging, but super cool (AND super expensive).  Some are more economical and some have more horse power.  But they all have a purpose and they all have qualities that make them a strong choice for a segment of the student consumer audience.

I would ask of you that you test drive the ones you find as possibilities, and think carefully about what type of educational vehicle will best serve you to reach your ultimate destination.

I welcome your comments – always – and please feel free to email me at CCRMichael@gmail.com, join me on Facebook on “College Counseling for the Rest of Us” and join me on Twitter at @MichaelCCR.

NOTES: Admission data is courtesy of the National Association of College Admission Counseling’s “State of College Admission 2010” Report, available at http://www.nacac.org. (http://www.nacacnet.org/PublicationsResources/Marketplace/research/Pages/StateofCollegeAdmission.aspx)
Persistence Data is courtesy of the College Board’s College Completion Agenda 2010 Progress Report.

The Rest of Us

October 20, 2010

College Counseling for the Rest of Us Adult and/or Graduate Admissions, Financial Aid, Traditional Admissions, Uncategorized , , 2 Comments

This is either the first blog in what will become a vastly successful college counseling business for “the rest of us” – the adults going back to school, the families who have never gone through the college admission process before, the parents whose child is not going to Harvard or Yale, the young professionals trying to pick a grad school – or if they should go to grad school, or…

Or it’s a brief footnote to an upstart that didn’t make it.

At this point, I don’t know which will prove true.  But I can tell you that if I don’t succeed, someone else will.

Listening to thousands of parents and adult students (with many wearing both hats), two things are obvious to me: a) people have more information about college available to them than ever before and b) they are getting less guidance on how to use that information.

This is not a knock on college counselors or guidance personnel, nor is it a comment on the families involved.  In the 23 years that I have worked in college admission, enrollment and financial aid, the amount of materials – both paper and electronic – that we produce has grown enormously.  “Many trees die”, you might say, in the quest to promote Colleges to potential students.  The tenor of these materials has also changed dramatically – the soft sell (dare we used that word – “sell” – 10-15 years ago!) of the 1980’s has given way to aggressive promotional techniques, often at the expense of providing meaningful information about the institutions we promote.  Paper catalogs were deemed too expensive, but pens, flash drives and Frisbees became commonplace.

As well, the entire process has become far more complex.  Standards for many public colleges have risen dramatically while the numbers for many private colleges have declined.  The College Visit has become its own pocket industry.  An economist should do a supply and demand study about College Admission in the past two decades (maybe one has and I’ve missed it; have to do some investigating).  It would be fascinating for its ebbs and flows, its contradictions, its own special pulse.

Well, anyway, I’m going to start my first blog under Joba rules, and keep this under 500 words.  I hope I can provide a valuable service in the years to come for the adults going back to school, the families who have never gone through the college admission process before, the parents whose child is not going to Harvard or Yale, the young professionals trying to pick a grad school – or if they should go to grad school.

I welcome your comments – always – and please feel free to email me at CCRMichael@gmail.com, join me on Facebook on “College Counseling for the Rest of Us” and join me on Twitter at @MichaelCCR.

“See” you next week!

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