The opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics revealed something dreadful:
Sameness.
There were so many characters on stage who not only appeared the same, but performed in the same way and at the same time.
Individuality was totally absent.
It was a visual metaphor that I warn students about: sameness will make more difficult your ability to get into college.
You have to stand apart. How do you do that?
My 2-minute video says it all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLRNC9K4A28
Friday, August 15, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
6 Survival Tips For College Freshmen
More college freshmen will drop out of college in the first 6 weeks than at any other time this year (over 30% will drop out after the first year). But the 6 tips below have proven to work, according to Dr. R. Gilbert of Montclair State University in New Jersey:
1. Treat your roommates like they’re your best friends...even if they aren’t.
2. Never assume anything...no matter what your question. Keep asking until 2 people give you the same exact answer.
3. No matter what your problem...there is an expert on campus to help you. First, check with your Head of Residence. Then, go to the Dean of Students office.
4. Don’t be intimidated. College looks much more difficult than it really is.
5. When you think everyone else is so much smarter than you, remember this quote:
“College is a fountain of knowledge. A few come to drink, a few come to sip, and, unfortunately, the rest come to gargle.”
6. When you feel like dropping out, repeat slowly this question several times:
This last one gets a few laughs, but it’s no joke. Like the condemned man about to be executed, it forces a student to focus on what’s really important.
1. Treat your roommates like they’re your best friends...even if they aren’t.
2. Never assume anything...no matter what your question. Keep asking until 2 people give you the same exact answer.
3. No matter what your problem...there is an expert on campus to help you. First, check with your Head of Residence. Then, go to the Dean of Students office.
4. Don’t be intimidated. College looks much more difficult than it really is.
5. When you think everyone else is so much smarter than you, remember this quote:
“College is a fountain of knowledge. A few come to drink, a few come to sip, and, unfortunately, the rest come to gargle.”
6. When you feel like dropping out, repeat slowly this question several times:
“Would you like fries with that?”
This last one gets a few laughs, but it’s no joke. Like the condemned man about to be executed, it forces a student to focus on what’s really important.
______________
To receive FREE weekly 2-minute videos on how to get into college and pay for it, go to this website: www.videocollegedad.com
Thursday, July 17, 2008
7 College Essay Writing Tips
1. Write your college application essay before your senior year begins. Senior year is very busy, and you don't need another distraction from concentrating on what's more important: your studies. Get it brainstormed, drafted, corrected and finally written before September 1.
2. Find a topic that you know better than anyone. For example, you're a dancer because you use dance as a way to express with your body what you cannot express with your vocal cords. Who knows the language of your body better than you do? Who knows more about what you say with your dance than you do? You're the expert, which is why it'll be a whole lot easier for you to communicate what you want to say. Read: your essay can be one easy task!
3. Keep it simple. By way of illustration, let's say you're standing on a street corner and you witness a car crash in front of you; you were the only one who witnessed the crash, and the police have asked you to write a description of what you saw. Why did the police ask you? Because they know you are the expert in what you experienced in that brief moment of the car crash. You could write about a brief moment in your life that had some positive impact on you because you are the expert on how that moment affected you. Keeping it simple also means using simple words, so throw away the thesaurus.
4. Make your first statement of the essay the most powerful. Readers in a college admissions office believe 80% of the essays they read are a waste of time. So make your first statement a "hook" - a pleasant surprise that catches their attention from the get-go. Here are some example first-sentences of what some of my students wrote last year:
"I was suddenly surrounded by rifles pointing at me." (theme: paintball)
"It was clear that I was completely cut off from civilization." (theme: wilderness hiking)
"I had nowhere to go but down." (theme: overachieving)
"Pain was a requirement for me to succeed." (theme: dancing/ballet)
5. Read your essay out loud. Besides your eyes use your ears to hear what you're saying. Reading out loud gives you another sense of how the essay is moving, and you'll be able to tell if it sounds right or needs improvement. Then get friends and family members to read and listen to what you're saying. Ask for comments and suggestions.
6. Essays should be no longer than 500 words. Give the admissions reader another reason to LOVE you - keep it shorter than 500 words. The 500-word limit has been a standard for years, and the Common App now allows you to write more than 500 words. With short attention spans in a college admissions office, do you think colleges are excited that the Common App allows you to write more than they want to read? Less is more, or quality beats quantity every time.
7. Keep your essay upbeat and positive. My favorite college essay requirement comes from the College of William & Mary in Virginia where they suggest: "Surprise us!" What they're asking you to do is write something that's positive. Why? Like most colleges they're so used to reading the seven topics they don't like. Not to write about these topics would be a huge surprise.
2. Find a topic that you know better than anyone. For example, you're a dancer because you use dance as a way to express with your body what you cannot express with your vocal cords. Who knows the language of your body better than you do? Who knows more about what you say with your dance than you do? You're the expert, which is why it'll be a whole lot easier for you to communicate what you want to say. Read: your essay can be one easy task!
3. Keep it simple. By way of illustration, let's say you're standing on a street corner and you witness a car crash in front of you; you were the only one who witnessed the crash, and the police have asked you to write a description of what you saw. Why did the police ask you? Because they know you are the expert in what you experienced in that brief moment of the car crash. You could write about a brief moment in your life that had some positive impact on you because you are the expert on how that moment affected you. Keeping it simple also means using simple words, so throw away the thesaurus.
4. Make your first statement of the essay the most powerful. Readers in a college admissions office believe 80% of the essays they read are a waste of time. So make your first statement a "hook" - a pleasant surprise that catches their attention from the get-go. Here are some example first-sentences of what some of my students wrote last year:
"I was suddenly surrounded by rifles pointing at me." (theme: paintball)
"It was clear that I was completely cut off from civilization." (theme: wilderness hiking)
"I had nowhere to go but down." (theme: overachieving)
"Pain was a requirement for me to succeed." (theme: dancing/ballet)
5. Read your essay out loud. Besides your eyes use your ears to hear what you're saying. Reading out loud gives you another sense of how the essay is moving, and you'll be able to tell if it sounds right or needs improvement. Then get friends and family members to read and listen to what you're saying. Ask for comments and suggestions.
6. Essays should be no longer than 500 words. Give the admissions reader another reason to LOVE you - keep it shorter than 500 words. The 500-word limit has been a standard for years, and the Common App now allows you to write more than 500 words. With short attention spans in a college admissions office, do you think colleges are excited that the Common App allows you to write more than they want to read? Less is more, or quality beats quantity every time.
7. Keep your essay upbeat and positive. My favorite college essay requirement comes from the College of William & Mary in Virginia where they suggest: "Surprise us!" What they're asking you to do is write something that's positive. Why? Like most colleges they're so used to reading the seven topics they don't like. Not to write about these topics would be a huge surprise.
To view free weekly videos such as the one you just watched, visit this website: http://www.videocollegedad.com/
Thursday, July 10, 2008
5 Benefits Of Going To College During The Summer
Just going to college in the summer doesn't automatically put your student on a "preferred" list at any college. You have to have a specific reason for going, such as taking a course because a scheduling conflict during your child's junior year prevented him or her from taking a needed AP or Honors course, or your student simply needs to find out if s/he really wants to go to college.
Here are 5 benefits for taking a college course during the summer between junior and senior years:
1. Colleges will be impressed that you took initiative to "make up" what you missed (translation: you didn't use the standard excuse of bad scheduling to NOT take an AP or Honors course, or that a 2nd AP course was never offered);
2. Colleges will see that you challenged yourself at a time when the beach was more appealing (translation: you demonstrated a high level of maturity and focus that are not always evident on a college application);
3. You were able to test-drive the college experience: you actually know what a college class room session is like, how professors act, and how challenging college can be. You now have a solid sense of whether you want to go to college, or you now now have a confidence level about going to college that was never known before, and the anxiety of "what's college really like?" - the fear of the unknown - is a lot less;
4. Your student earns college credit before senior year in high school, an advantage that 99.6% of competing seniors will not be able to claim; and
5. Your student's letters of recommendation will reinforce all of the above.
Here are 5 benefits for taking a college course during the summer between junior and senior years:
1. Colleges will be impressed that you took initiative to "make up" what you missed (translation: you didn't use the standard excuse of bad scheduling to NOT take an AP or Honors course, or that a 2nd AP course was never offered);
2. Colleges will see that you challenged yourself at a time when the beach was more appealing (translation: you demonstrated a high level of maturity and focus that are not always evident on a college application);
3. You were able to test-drive the college experience: you actually know what a college class room session is like, how professors act, and how challenging college can be. You now have a solid sense of whether you want to go to college, or you now now have a confidence level about going to college that was never known before, and the anxiety of "what's college really like?" - the fear of the unknown - is a lot less;
4. Your student earns college credit before senior year in high school, an advantage that 99.6% of competing seniors will not be able to claim; and
5. Your student's letters of recommendation will reinforce all of the above.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
How Crass Can A College Get?
A lot of press is being given to a college in South Carolina for the way they treat their students.
For approximately $36,000 a year, here's what you get for your money from High Point University if your student is looking to be treated like a rock star:
1. an ice cream truck roams the campus giving away free ice cream all day;
2. music is piped into the walkways between buildings;
3. snack kiosks are situated with an endless supply of free bananas, pretzels and drinks;
4. each student receives a birthday card signed by the president, with balloons and a Starbucks gift card inside;
5. gift baskets of snacks and drinks are dropped off at student rooms when they return from breaks;
6. to get exactly what students want, the university maintains a database of each student's preferences in movies, candy bars, and sodas; and my favorite...
7. upon request, wake-up calls in the morning and afternoon.
This is the Club Med of academia. Did I mention that there are people there who actually teach courses if your student wants to take some?
The press reports indicate that the university's passion for "customer service" is paying off. Enrollment has never been higher. Should the term "customer service" apply to an academic environment? If you don't think so, you and I are both clueless.
In May of 2006 Brown University's president told an incoming freshman class: "You are the smartest, the cutest, the savviest, most dynamic, extraordinary - I could go on and on."
As long as colleges continue to baby our kids, the less prepared they will be for the daily demands and tough expectations of real living.
This story is not an aberration. It highlights the college trend in pampering the next generation. The injustice such schools are doing to these students is incalculable.
The focus is not so much on academics, but on what can we do to make your student more self-absorbed and narcissistic. "It's all about me" in a lah-lah world that has no shame with indulging in crass commercialism while making you pay through the nose. Okay...so I'm totally clueless.
Once our students discover how the world works after graduation, they'll complain that it was a wake-up call they never requested.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Hot Chicks & Minorities
Over 75% of college catalogs are fraudulent. Evidence is found in the photos.
Look carefully at the catalogs you get in your mailbox. How many include photos of black and Asian students? Nearly all of them.
A recent study reveals some embarrassing information that has caught colleges with their pants, well, in the lower regions of fiction. A few examples...
1. Although 7.9% of college students are black, college catalogs convey a 12.4% impression.
2. Colleges are defining diversity - brace yourself - with photographs of students with a different skin color. And you thought diversity of thought was the standard. Always with colleges, appearances trump substance. Because colleges are superb marketing machines, they truly believe that your perceptions are more important than their reality. If photos make you conclude their college is "diverse," then it's true.
3. Colleges justify their misrepresentations as, "What we're really saying is that you're welcome here." Cynics would add, "...although you don't qualify to be here."
4. The old 80/20 rule probably applies: 80% of the truth-in-advertising lies with a little more than 20% of the college catalogs. Translation: to find the truth you have some real digging to do.
A student who helped put this study together concluded that the catalogs portray nothing more than "hot chicks and minorities." Colleges want you to believe they want more male students (who are more apt to drop out, thereby being an economic liability) and minorities (7.9% is a dismal representation of blacks, but it's a reality colleges accepted a long time ago).
Also, attorneys general in more than 40 states last year investigated colleges for their highly questionable relationships with private loan companies, where exotic trips and kick-backs to financial aid officers were commonplace. In effect students ended up paying higher interest rates on their loans.
The catalog photos are now the indicting visuals of college fraud.
Parents are rightfully being forced into this mindset: Buyer beware.
Look carefully at the catalogs you get in your mailbox. How many include photos of black and Asian students? Nearly all of them.
A recent study reveals some embarrassing information that has caught colleges with their pants, well, in the lower regions of fiction. A few examples...
1. Although 7.9% of college students are black, college catalogs convey a 12.4% impression.
2. Colleges are defining diversity - brace yourself - with photographs of students with a different skin color. And you thought diversity of thought was the standard. Always with colleges, appearances trump substance. Because colleges are superb marketing machines, they truly believe that your perceptions are more important than their reality. If photos make you conclude their college is "diverse," then it's true.
3. Colleges justify their misrepresentations as, "What we're really saying is that you're welcome here." Cynics would add, "...although you don't qualify to be here."
4. The old 80/20 rule probably applies: 80% of the truth-in-advertising lies with a little more than 20% of the college catalogs. Translation: to find the truth you have some real digging to do.
A student who helped put this study together concluded that the catalogs portray nothing more than "hot chicks and minorities." Colleges want you to believe they want more male students (who are more apt to drop out, thereby being an economic liability) and minorities (7.9% is a dismal representation of blacks, but it's a reality colleges accepted a long time ago).
Also, attorneys general in more than 40 states last year investigated colleges for their highly questionable relationships with private loan companies, where exotic trips and kick-backs to financial aid officers were commonplace. In effect students ended up paying higher interest rates on their loans.
The catalog photos are now the indicting visuals of college fraud.
Parents are rightfully being forced into this mindset: Buyer beware.
Sunday, June 29, 2008
What To Do On A College Visit
Here are 4 objectives of a first college visit. This will assume you will be impressed with the results of your visit, which will require a second visit with a different strategy. Parents should stay away from the admission office so the student can impress the admission people by your NOT being there.
1. The student - not the parent - should show up at the admissions office unannounced. You want to witness first-hand how flexible and accommodating admission people can be so that your gut instincts will help determine your first impressions. It'll also tell you how hard the college works on making good first impressions.
2. The student should ask for the name of the admissions person who handles your geographical area. This is your contact person for future phone conversations. Try to meet that person, introduce yourself, and get a business card. It would be wicked cool to trade business cards, so I would get one created with only your name, address, email address, and phone number. And no cutesy designs.
If the college doesn't assign admissions people on a geographical basis, ask for a business card from one of them and make that person your contact.
3. Either the parent or student should ask about the school’s retention rate: “What percentage of freshmen return after the freshman year?” When you get home, look on the school’s website to see if the figure matches what you heard. If the answer is a high retention rate, you want to ask a follow-up question: “Is it because of a proactive college policy to recruit a diverse student body that includes non-A students, or does the school focus on the A students who almost always account for a high retention rate?”
These 2 questions will give you a sense of the school’s orientation or philosophy of recruitment. If you’re not comfortable with the answer, move on to another campus.
4. Either the parent or student should ask a question that will be most difficult to answer, but as a parent you have a moral obligation to ask it. If the school is going to ask you to spend thousands of dollars, you absolutely want the answer to this question: “Because campus safety is in the news all the time, how and when can I get access to the campus police’s records of crime on this campus for the past 12 months?”
This could be a real curve ball question, and listen carefully to how your question is answered. If the answer sounds too practiced or too routine, such as, “Any incidents or crimes on campus are public record. You can call the local police to get that information.” If you hear this answer, you’re being lied to. The local police do not record all the campus’s incidents because the college wants to keep any real crimes quiet if they can. The most convenient reason to have a campus police force is to hide any potential public relations or image problems that could damage the school’s effort to recruit if disclosure of all crimes is made.
Unconfortable Fact: Colleges are a business, and image is everything.
Student tour directors are programmed to tell you what you want to hear. Which is why I detest planned tours. You get far better information from students sitting at a dining hall table. But if you take a tour with a young and enthusiastic robotic speaker, you need to ask questions they don’t hear; however, do not be surprised to hear other parents ask these 3 mind-boggling questions:
1. How’s the food here?
2. What are laundry facilities like?
3. Do students get enough sleep?
Colleges witness parents asking what they view as really dumb questions. These are the equivalent of asking, “Do you have running water?”
If you’re touring a college that requires $40,000 a year, you need to ask tough questions. If you don’t get the satisfactory answers WITH FOLLOW-UP research, perhaps another college will be glad to help you.
Comfortable Fact: There are over 4,000 colleges and universities out there, and you are in the driver’s seat to choose, not the colleges. They know it, but they won’t tell you that they know it.
It’s a game - a game you can win.
______________________
Get free videos on college admissions: http://www.freevideos4college.com/
1. The student - not the parent - should show up at the admissions office unannounced. You want to witness first-hand how flexible and accommodating admission people can be so that your gut instincts will help determine your first impressions. It'll also tell you how hard the college works on making good first impressions.
2. The student should ask for the name of the admissions person who handles your geographical area. This is your contact person for future phone conversations. Try to meet that person, introduce yourself, and get a business card. It would be wicked cool to trade business cards, so I would get one created with only your name, address, email address, and phone number. And no cutesy designs.
If the college doesn't assign admissions people on a geographical basis, ask for a business card from one of them and make that person your contact.
3. Either the parent or student should ask about the school’s retention rate: “What percentage of freshmen return after the freshman year?” When you get home, look on the school’s website to see if the figure matches what you heard. If the answer is a high retention rate, you want to ask a follow-up question: “Is it because of a proactive college policy to recruit a diverse student body that includes non-A students, or does the school focus on the A students who almost always account for a high retention rate?”
These 2 questions will give you a sense of the school’s orientation or philosophy of recruitment. If you’re not comfortable with the answer, move on to another campus.
4. Either the parent or student should ask a question that will be most difficult to answer, but as a parent you have a moral obligation to ask it. If the school is going to ask you to spend thousands of dollars, you absolutely want the answer to this question: “Because campus safety is in the news all the time, how and when can I get access to the campus police’s records of crime on this campus for the past 12 months?”
This could be a real curve ball question, and listen carefully to how your question is answered. If the answer sounds too practiced or too routine, such as, “Any incidents or crimes on campus are public record. You can call the local police to get that information.” If you hear this answer, you’re being lied to. The local police do not record all the campus’s incidents because the college wants to keep any real crimes quiet if they can. The most convenient reason to have a campus police force is to hide any potential public relations or image problems that could damage the school’s effort to recruit if disclosure of all crimes is made.
Unconfortable Fact: Colleges are a business, and image is everything.
Student tour directors are programmed to tell you what you want to hear. Which is why I detest planned tours. You get far better information from students sitting at a dining hall table. But if you take a tour with a young and enthusiastic robotic speaker, you need to ask questions they don’t hear; however, do not be surprised to hear other parents ask these 3 mind-boggling questions:
1. How’s the food here?
2. What are laundry facilities like?
3. Do students get enough sleep?
Colleges witness parents asking what they view as really dumb questions. These are the equivalent of asking, “Do you have running water?”
If you’re touring a college that requires $40,000 a year, you need to ask tough questions. If you don’t get the satisfactory answers WITH FOLLOW-UP research, perhaps another college will be glad to help you.
Comfortable Fact: There are over 4,000 colleges and universities out there, and you are in the driver’s seat to choose, not the colleges. They know it, but they won’t tell you that they know it.
It’s a game - a game you can win.
______________________
Get free videos on college admissions: http://www.freevideos4college.com/
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Why US News College Edition Is Useless
US News & World Report has just announced its forthcoming edition of America's Best Colleges, due out in August. Instead of running to the nearest newsstand to pick up your copy, I suggest you remain at the beach reading something that has a lot more credibility, like how cow flatulance is going to ruin the quality of the air we breathe unless we kill all the cows.
1. From the announcement: "College presidents, provosts, and admission deans were asked to nominate up to 10 colleges that are making improvements in academics, faculty, students, campus life, diversity, and facilities."
US News actually believes that these people have nothing else to do and all the objectivity worthy of a traffic court judge to offer objective assessments on their competition. Colleges are a business, and in business there is always pressure to beat the other guy. US News knows they have to beat Time and Newsweek, and they would NEVER answer a survey truthfully that asked them to judge fairly what Time and Newsweek are doing to get better readers, as in, "What are colleges doing to get better students?"
Dumb gets a better name when you see the next gem of incredulity.
2. "We believe strongly that the opinions that high schools counselors, who play a key role in the college admission process, have about the merits of the nation's leading colleges will provide a very valuable source of information for prospective students, their parents, and our readers."
The ratio of guidance counselors to students is at least 350-to-1, and this publication would have you believe what a great impact guidance counselors have with their unique ability to reach out and touch the hearts and minds of at least 350 students at one time. That's with teens who have no family problems at home, or no adolescent problems at school. That would mean the counselors are totally undistracted and totally focused on undistracted and hormornally-driven teens who all seek real guidance in getting into college.
I wonder how focused and undistracted the students and guidance counselors are at Gloucester High School....
It's no wonder that US News is totally irrelvant to high school students and parents who need real information on the college admission process. Enjoy your summer vacation without the distraction of something totally useless for choosing your college. You might start here.
1. From the announcement: "College presidents, provosts, and admission deans were asked to nominate up to 10 colleges that are making improvements in academics, faculty, students, campus life, diversity, and facilities."
US News actually believes that these people have nothing else to do and all the objectivity worthy of a traffic court judge to offer objective assessments on their competition. Colleges are a business, and in business there is always pressure to beat the other guy. US News knows they have to beat Time and Newsweek, and they would NEVER answer a survey truthfully that asked them to judge fairly what Time and Newsweek are doing to get better readers, as in, "What are colleges doing to get better students?"
Dumb gets a better name when you see the next gem of incredulity.
2. "We believe strongly that the opinions that high schools counselors, who play a key role in the college admission process, have about the merits of the nation's leading colleges will provide a very valuable source of information for prospective students, their parents, and our readers."
The ratio of guidance counselors to students is at least 350-to-1, and this publication would have you believe what a great impact guidance counselors have with their unique ability to reach out and touch the hearts and minds of at least 350 students at one time. That's with teens who have no family problems at home, or no adolescent problems at school. That would mean the counselors are totally undistracted and totally focused on undistracted and hormornally-driven teens who all seek real guidance in getting into college.
I wonder how focused and undistracted the students and guidance counselors are at Gloucester High School....
It's no wonder that US News is totally irrelvant to high school students and parents who need real information on the college admission process. Enjoy your summer vacation without the distraction of something totally useless for choosing your college. You might start here.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Fun Approach To The Most Common Student Loan
Monday, June 9, 2008
2 reasons to apply for college work-study
http://www.freevideos4college.com Jobs on-campus for students and their advantages. Two big tips on college work-study. Free college admissions advice from college marketer, Paul Lloyd Hemphill
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Tax Exempt Status For 9 MA Colleges With Billion Dollar Endowments
The dirty little secret is out: private foundations, which receive a tax exemption, are required to spend 5% of their endowment yearly, but 9 Massachusetts colleges with endowments that exceed one BILLION dollars face no such requirement. They are: Amherst, BC, BU, Harvard, MIT, Smith, Tufts, Wellesley, and Williams.
With these huge fortunes just sitting there earning vast amounts of interest daily, these are colleges which, on a student's appeal for more financial aid, will respond by saying that there are "not enough funds available." When it comes to discussing finances, these colleges have no credibility as their public remarks boggle the mind.
Here's an example:
Boston College justified raising its tuition last year on the basis that their employee health care costs and energy costs were rising. To add insult to the injury of increasing tuition costs, a BC official was quoted in a Boston Globe article: "Excellence is an expensive proposition." Not to be outdone in the elitism department, when the president of BC, Rev. William Leahy, was asked about the school's BILLION dollar endowment, and if it would mean rising tuitions would stop at BC, his response was: "A billion dollars is a great deal of money, but it by no means eliminates all the pressure."
Pressure? The Boston Globe reported that BC was able to outbid for a purchase of real estate near its campus for nearly 100 million dollars "with cash up front." That's how BC defines pressure - having to bid with 100 million dollars in cash up front. I'm probably naive for suggesting this, but maybe their tax exemption is helping to relieve some of that pressure. Do you think?
Derek Bok, former president of Harvard, said in a recent book: "Universities share one characteristic with compulsive gamblers and exiled royalty: there is never enough money to satisfy their desires."
Members of the Massachusetts legislature are now considering eliminating the tax exemption. They're looking to impose a paltry 2.5% tax, half of what private foundations are required to pay. But my guess is that these colleges are not worried. They won't even bother sending their lobbyists to protest the proposed tax. If it happens, the colleges will do what you can already predict: raise tutions and fees.
With good intentions mixed with lots of pandering, Massachusetts politicians will likely enact this tax and parents who send their kids to these schools will pay more.
Now you know why such colleges as these don't care what you think about what they charge. As long as the demand to get into these schools far exceeds the supply of seats, colleges will continue to corner the market on arrogance, or, biting the hands that feed them.
AfterThought: Harvard is attempting to be the exception: students whose parents make less than $60,000 a year get free tuition. But how many exceptionally bright students who meet Harvard's requirements come from homes earning less than $60,000 a year? Not surprisingly Harvard doesn't say. Could it be that Harvard's own press releases want us all to think that it doesn't want any child left behind? My cynicism must be showing....
With these huge fortunes just sitting there earning vast amounts of interest daily, these are colleges which, on a student's appeal for more financial aid, will respond by saying that there are "not enough funds available." When it comes to discussing finances, these colleges have no credibility as their public remarks boggle the mind.
Here's an example:
Boston College justified raising its tuition last year on the basis that their employee health care costs and energy costs were rising. To add insult to the injury of increasing tuition costs, a BC official was quoted in a Boston Globe article: "Excellence is an expensive proposition." Not to be outdone in the elitism department, when the president of BC, Rev. William Leahy, was asked about the school's BILLION dollar endowment, and if it would mean rising tuitions would stop at BC, his response was: "A billion dollars is a great deal of money, but it by no means eliminates all the pressure."
Pressure? The Boston Globe reported that BC was able to outbid for a purchase of real estate near its campus for nearly 100 million dollars "with cash up front." That's how BC defines pressure - having to bid with 100 million dollars in cash up front. I'm probably naive for suggesting this, but maybe their tax exemption is helping to relieve some of that pressure. Do you think?
Derek Bok, former president of Harvard, said in a recent book: "Universities share one characteristic with compulsive gamblers and exiled royalty: there is never enough money to satisfy their desires."
Members of the Massachusetts legislature are now considering eliminating the tax exemption. They're looking to impose a paltry 2.5% tax, half of what private foundations are required to pay. But my guess is that these colleges are not worried. They won't even bother sending their lobbyists to protest the proposed tax. If it happens, the colleges will do what you can already predict: raise tutions and fees.
With good intentions mixed with lots of pandering, Massachusetts politicians will likely enact this tax and parents who send their kids to these schools will pay more.
Now you know why such colleges as these don't care what you think about what they charge. As long as the demand to get into these schools far exceeds the supply of seats, colleges will continue to corner the market on arrogance, or, biting the hands that feed them.
AfterThought: Harvard is attempting to be the exception: students whose parents make less than $60,000 a year get free tuition. But how many exceptionally bright students who meet Harvard's requirements come from homes earning less than $60,000 a year? Not surprisingly Harvard doesn't say. Could it be that Harvard's own press releases want us all to think that it doesn't want any child left behind? My cynicism must be showing....
Monday, June 2, 2008
Financial Aid for College - A Mind-Blowing Video!
College financial aid is a headache. This no-nonsense video demonstrates that the college student can contribute at least $32,000 in cutting college costs for parents. Part of a weekly video series.
Save $32,000 In College Costs (Part 1 of 3)
Here's how a student can be a finacial aid "asset," thereby saving parents at least $32,000, in this 3-part series. Plus college admissions videos. Visit http://www.freevideos4college.com
Sunday, June 1, 2008
More Dishonesty From Colleges: Dropping The SAT Requirement
A college's ideal press release will suggest their compassion and understanding for the student, particularly for those who "don't test well."
Baloney. Pure. Extra Virgin.
It's part of the PC mentality that runs amok on colleges campuses everywhere. Two examples are illustrated in today's NY Times: Smith College & Wake Forest.
From Wake Forest University: “By making the SAT and ACT optional, we hope to broaden the applicant pool and increase access at Wake Forest for groups of students who are currently underrepresented (italics added) at selective universities,” Martha Allman, director of admissions at Wake Forest, told the Times.
Did you get the gobbledigook in this statement? "Underrepresented" what? Are they dummies whose test scores don't meet the school's "extraordinary" standards?
Here's the veiled truth in the Times article that gets missed: "Applicants to both schools will have the option to submit their test scores." Read: we colleges want to use these test scores as a tie-breaker with equally competiting students. Plus, if truth be told, we want to make our decisions easier, our jobs easier, not more difficult.
If colleges could be accused of trying to monopolize dishonesty, this is a validating example.
To demonstrate the success of such a press release, this one was issued 2 years ago by Holy Cross College (Worcester, MA), which asked this question: "Why would a student submit standardized test scores if they don't have to?" Their answer: "A student might decide that his or her test score gives a more competitive picture of academic achievements and potential."
Replace the word "student" with the word "college" in the above statement and you have Truth in Advertising. Like most elitist colleges, Holy Cross likes to engage in feel-good Oprah babble to make us all feel warm and fuzzy about what they represent, or more accurately, how they market their image. After all, these colleges are a business whose strategy is to design, package, market, and sell their image. They've attended expensive marketing seminars where they have learned that perception is reality, and reality is what they want parents and students to perceive, not actually what is.
So far roughly 70% of students who apply to colleges that require no standardized test scores submit their SAT and ACT scores anyway. Talk about being competitive.
If you were working in the admissions office, what would you be thinking of those applications that did NOT come with their SAT scores? "Hmmmm...does this student have something to hide?" How's that for reality?
Bottom Line: If these colleges were honest and forthright, they would require that their applicants not submit their standardized test scores. When the first college in the United States makes non-submittal of test scores a requirement in its application process, watch for this TV news headline: "Hell freezes over. Film at eleven."
The dishonesty of "non-SAT" colleges is astounding, proving once again that marketing their image trumps the truth we parents deserve.
Baloney. Pure. Extra Virgin.
It's part of the PC mentality that runs amok on colleges campuses everywhere. Two examples are illustrated in today's NY Times: Smith College & Wake Forest.
From Wake Forest University: “By making the SAT and ACT optional, we hope to broaden the applicant pool and increase access at Wake Forest for groups of students who are currently underrepresented (italics added) at selective universities,” Martha Allman, director of admissions at Wake Forest, told the Times.
Did you get the gobbledigook in this statement? "Underrepresented" what? Are they dummies whose test scores don't meet the school's "extraordinary" standards?
Here's the veiled truth in the Times article that gets missed: "Applicants to both schools will have the option to submit their test scores." Read: we colleges want to use these test scores as a tie-breaker with equally competiting students. Plus, if truth be told, we want to make our decisions easier, our jobs easier, not more difficult.
If colleges could be accused of trying to monopolize dishonesty, this is a validating example.
To demonstrate the success of such a press release, this one was issued 2 years ago by Holy Cross College (Worcester, MA), which asked this question: "Why would a student submit standardized test scores if they don't have to?" Their answer: "A student might decide that his or her test score gives a more competitive picture of academic achievements and potential."
Replace the word "student" with the word "college" in the above statement and you have Truth in Advertising. Like most elitist colleges, Holy Cross likes to engage in feel-good Oprah babble to make us all feel warm and fuzzy about what they represent, or more accurately, how they market their image. After all, these colleges are a business whose strategy is to design, package, market, and sell their image. They've attended expensive marketing seminars where they have learned that perception is reality, and reality is what they want parents and students to perceive, not actually what is.
So far roughly 70% of students who apply to colleges that require no standardized test scores submit their SAT and ACT scores anyway. Talk about being competitive.
If you were working in the admissions office, what would you be thinking of those applications that did NOT come with their SAT scores? "Hmmmm...does this student have something to hide?" How's that for reality?
Bottom Line: If these colleges were honest and forthright, they would require that their applicants not submit their standardized test scores. When the first college in the United States makes non-submittal of test scores a requirement in its application process, watch for this TV news headline: "Hell freezes over. Film at eleven."
The dishonesty of "non-SAT" colleges is astounding, proving once again that marketing their image trumps the truth we parents deserve.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Still Wait-Listed? Go For The Gold!
For years colleges have been saying that there's no money left to give out in student aid by the time a student is taken off a wait-list. You wouldn't know it this year. And a recent notice indicated that there are plenty of colleges who haven't filled all their seats because accepted students didn't send in their required deposits. This presents a huge headache for the colleges, and it's your opportunity to make their headache bigger.
One of my students was awarded $5,000 in grants from his # 1 college, but his # 2 college, which wait-listed him, called him after the dreaded May 1 deposit deadline to say they had awarded him $20,000 in grants if he would come. That represented a total difference of $60,000 over 4 years. Read: $60,000 of less debt for the student after graduation.
If you have a college that still has your student on a wait-list, I suggest you rethink your financial aid strategy in the following steps:
(1) Have your student call the wait-list school and express how much s/he still wants to attend that college. Colleges like to hear the "love" over the phone to help them decide who's getting off the wait-list first. For the student to call is a big plus (okay...if you don't like the wait-listed school, you're engaged in a lie; if you do like it, you're engaged in a strategy).
(2) If the college notifies you that your student's been taken off the wait-list, be sure to ask for their financial aid package. If it doesn't exceed the amount of your # 1 college, notify them in writing that "another college" offered a larger package, as if to suggest that your student would still like to attend, but reality's face looks like 20 miles of bad road. If they ask for a copy of the other school's offer, send it happily. If they come back with an offer that now exceeds the # 1 college's offer, do this:
(3) use the wait-listed college's new offer to ask for more money from your # 1 choice. Tell # 1 that you may have to break their heart because you received a larger offer elsewhere and that, after all, a larger debt is not something you regard as part of your "award" for working hard, being committed, and achieving all through high school.
(4) You can keep this ping-pong game going until September. How long you want to keep it going is up to you. It's your money that's at stake, and the colleges will take every dime if you let them. Don't give in, and don't give up until your gut tells you that you've gone as far as you're going to go.
Huge Tip: No college will ever rescind an offer due to a student's persistent requests for more money. It would be a catastrophic public relations nightmare for the college to do so, and I have a $1,000 cash reward offer for any student who can produce any letter that says such a thing.
Go ahead...call the college that wait-listed your student. There could be a pile of money waiting for you from 2 schools.
One of my students was awarded $5,000 in grants from his # 1 college, but his # 2 college, which wait-listed him, called him after the dreaded May 1 deposit deadline to say they had awarded him $20,000 in grants if he would come. That represented a total difference of $60,000 over 4 years. Read: $60,000 of less debt for the student after graduation.
If you have a college that still has your student on a wait-list, I suggest you rethink your financial aid strategy in the following steps:
(1) Have your student call the wait-list school and express how much s/he still wants to attend that college. Colleges like to hear the "love" over the phone to help them decide who's getting off the wait-list first. For the student to call is a big plus (okay...if you don't like the wait-listed school, you're engaged in a lie; if you do like it, you're engaged in a strategy).
(2) If the college notifies you that your student's been taken off the wait-list, be sure to ask for their financial aid package. If it doesn't exceed the amount of your # 1 college, notify them in writing that "another college" offered a larger package, as if to suggest that your student would still like to attend, but reality's face looks like 20 miles of bad road. If they ask for a copy of the other school's offer, send it happily. If they come back with an offer that now exceeds the # 1 college's offer, do this:
(3) use the wait-listed college's new offer to ask for more money from your # 1 choice. Tell # 1 that you may have to break their heart because you received a larger offer elsewhere and that, after all, a larger debt is not something you regard as part of your "award" for working hard, being committed, and achieving all through high school.
(4) You can keep this ping-pong game going until September. How long you want to keep it going is up to you. It's your money that's at stake, and the colleges will take every dime if you let them. Don't give in, and don't give up until your gut tells you that you've gone as far as you're going to go.
Huge Tip: No college will ever rescind an offer due to a student's persistent requests for more money. It would be a catastrophic public relations nightmare for the college to do so, and I have a $1,000 cash reward offer for any student who can produce any letter that says such a thing.
Go ahead...call the college that wait-listed your student. There could be a pile of money waiting for you from 2 schools.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Is This The Dumbest Generation?
In a fascinating article on Boston.com this past Sunday, there was an 8-point article to demonstrate a theme in a new book, The Dumbest Generation, by Mark Bauerlein, a teacher at Emory University. Instead of writing about it, I thought you ought to read the article verbatim.
1. They make excellent "Jaywalking'' targets
Bauerlein writes: "The ignorance is hard to believe ... It isn't enough to say that these young people are uninterested in world realities. They are actively cut off from them. ... They are encased in more immediate realities that shut out conditions beyond -- friends, work, clothes, cars, pop music, sitcoms, Facebook.''
2. They don't read books -- and don't want to, either
"It's a new attitude, this brazen disregard of books and reading. Earlier generations resented homework assignments, of course, and only a small segment of each dove into the intellectual currents of the time, but no generation trumpeted aliteracy ... as a valid behavior of their peers.''
3. They can't spell
Lack of capitalization and IM codes dominate online writing. Without spellcheck, folks are toast.
4. They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing
"On MySpace, if you write clearly and compose coherent paragraphs with informed observations on history and current events, 'buddies' will make fun of you,'' Bauerlein says. Wikipedia writing is clean and factual, but colorless and judgment-free. Often the most clever students, with flashes of disorganized brilliance on MySpace, switch to dull Wiki-writing formats for school papers, he says. "If we could combine the style and imagination of MySpace with the content of Wikipedia, we might get good stuff."
5. Grand Theft Auto IV, etc.
The stats tell the story here. First week's sales: $500 million. The sales of GTA dwarf movie premieres, CD sales, or, Bauerlein notes, book sales. All that video use, Bauerlein says, has hurt in the classroom, too. Thousands of Massachusetts public school graduates are ending up in remedial reading and writing classes in college, according to a Globe story.
6. They don't store the information
"For digital immigrants, people who are 40 years old who spent their college time in the library acquiring information, the Internet is really a miraculous source of knowledge,'' Bauerlein says. "Digital natives, however, go to the Internet not to store knowledge in their minds, but to retrieve material and pass it along. The Internet is just a delivery system.''
7. Because their teachers don't tell them so
Or because their parents don't check their bedrooms at midnight to halt the instant messaging..."Kids are drowning in teen stuff delivered 24/7 by the tools, and adult realities can't penetrate," Bauerlein says. Another factor: "It's the era of child-centered classrooms and self-esteem grading.''
8. Because they're young
Do you remember how stupid you were when you were a teen-ager? Or all that you didn't know -- and thought you did? And the skills you gained by holding back on foolish comments? Oh, the now-old guy [now an old rock star] in this picture? He once wrote: "I was so much older then/I'm younger than that now.''
____________
With contempt for matters academic in general, and a total lack of interest in American history in particular, this generation presents us with a disturbing national security problem: we cannot depend on them to defend what they don't know.
Give me a dedicated American history teacher and I'll give you an army division.
1. They make excellent "Jaywalking'' targets
Bauerlein writes: "The ignorance is hard to believe ... It isn't enough to say that these young people are uninterested in world realities. They are actively cut off from them. ... They are encased in more immediate realities that shut out conditions beyond -- friends, work, clothes, cars, pop music, sitcoms, Facebook.''
2. They don't read books -- and don't want to, either
"It's a new attitude, this brazen disregard of books and reading. Earlier generations resented homework assignments, of course, and only a small segment of each dove into the intellectual currents of the time, but no generation trumpeted aliteracy ... as a valid behavior of their peers.''
3. They can't spell
Lack of capitalization and IM codes dominate online writing. Without spellcheck, folks are toast.
4. They get ridiculed for original thought, good writing
"On MySpace, if you write clearly and compose coherent paragraphs with informed observations on history and current events, 'buddies' will make fun of you,'' Bauerlein says. Wikipedia writing is clean and factual, but colorless and judgment-free. Often the most clever students, with flashes of disorganized brilliance on MySpace, switch to dull Wiki-writing formats for school papers, he says. "If we could combine the style and imagination of MySpace with the content of Wikipedia, we might get good stuff."
5. Grand Theft Auto IV, etc.
The stats tell the story here. First week's sales: $500 million. The sales of GTA dwarf movie premieres, CD sales, or, Bauerlein notes, book sales. All that video use, Bauerlein says, has hurt in the classroom, too. Thousands of Massachusetts public school graduates are ending up in remedial reading and writing classes in college, according to a Globe story.
6. They don't store the information
"For digital immigrants, people who are 40 years old who spent their college time in the library acquiring information, the Internet is really a miraculous source of knowledge,'' Bauerlein says. "Digital natives, however, go to the Internet not to store knowledge in their minds, but to retrieve material and pass it along. The Internet is just a delivery system.''
7. Because their teachers don't tell them so
Or because their parents don't check their bedrooms at midnight to halt the instant messaging..."Kids are drowning in teen stuff delivered 24/7 by the tools, and adult realities can't penetrate," Bauerlein says. Another factor: "It's the era of child-centered classrooms and self-esteem grading.''
8. Because they're young
Do you remember how stupid you were when you were a teen-ager? Or all that you didn't know -- and thought you did? And the skills you gained by holding back on foolish comments? Oh, the now-old guy [now an old rock star] in this picture? He once wrote: "I was so much older then/I'm younger than that now.''
____________
With contempt for matters academic in general, and a total lack of interest in American history in particular, this generation presents us with a disturbing national security problem: we cannot depend on them to defend what they don't know.
Give me a dedicated American history teacher and I'll give you an army division.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Helpful Information On Student Loans
In spite of all the confusing information about student loans, I've found nothing better than this source: basic recommendations for shopping for a loan
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Buyer Beware: The College Environment
Parents are paying through the nose to send their children into this kind of environment, as described by this paragraph in the news today:
"Individuals were arrested on charges ranging from possessing marijuana to selling cocaine. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reported that evidence seized includes four pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana, 48 hydroponic marijuana plants, 350 ecstasy pills, psilocybin (mushrooms), 30 vials of hash oil, methamphetamine, a variety of illicit prescription drugs, one shotgun, three semiautomatic pistols, three brass knuckles and $60,000 in cash."
The "individuals" described are 75 San Diego State University students. But they could have been on any campus.
In March of 2007, Columbia University released a study indicating that 49% (read: HALF) of ALL college students are either drug abusers or bindge drinkers. "Bindge drinkers" is defined as 5 drinks in a row for guys and 4 drinks in a row for girls. And the girls abuse more than the guys.
Gutless college presidents and their administrators repel at the thought that they should police the behavior of its students, since drug abuse and drinking represents a perverted version of free speech rights in a so-called adolscent's "right of passage." It's a blind toleration of unacceptable behavior that good behaving students are forced to endure.
And if you as a parent don't like it, college officials believe, send your student somewhere else. The signature arrogance of these colleges knows no bounds.
The problem of drug abuse and wanton drunkenness will continue on campuses across the land as long as college officials continue to look the other way as they remain dedicated to increasing your cost for this environment on an average of 6 percent a year.
The old standard of "party school" as a way of selecting a college is naive. They're ALL party schools. With a full resevoir of hope, maybe your student doesn't show up to the parties, and then the school isn't a party school.
The awful reality is this: when we send our kids off to college, we have to worry about them getting shot, getting mugged, getting drugs, and getting drunk. And to top it off, we parents are getting gouged to pay for it.
What we have in today's news story is just more evidence that higher education is getting lower.
"Individuals were arrested on charges ranging from possessing marijuana to selling cocaine. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reported that evidence seized includes four pounds of cocaine, 50 pounds of marijuana, 48 hydroponic marijuana plants, 350 ecstasy pills, psilocybin (mushrooms), 30 vials of hash oil, methamphetamine, a variety of illicit prescription drugs, one shotgun, three semiautomatic pistols, three brass knuckles and $60,000 in cash."
The "individuals" described are 75 San Diego State University students. But they could have been on any campus.
In March of 2007, Columbia University released a study indicating that 49% (read: HALF) of ALL college students are either drug abusers or bindge drinkers. "Bindge drinkers" is defined as 5 drinks in a row for guys and 4 drinks in a row for girls. And the girls abuse more than the guys.
Gutless college presidents and their administrators repel at the thought that they should police the behavior of its students, since drug abuse and drinking represents a perverted version of free speech rights in a so-called adolscent's "right of passage." It's a blind toleration of unacceptable behavior that good behaving students are forced to endure.
And if you as a parent don't like it, college officials believe, send your student somewhere else. The signature arrogance of these colleges knows no bounds.
The problem of drug abuse and wanton drunkenness will continue on campuses across the land as long as college officials continue to look the other way as they remain dedicated to increasing your cost for this environment on an average of 6 percent a year.
The old standard of "party school" as a way of selecting a college is naive. They're ALL party schools. With a full resevoir of hope, maybe your student doesn't show up to the parties, and then the school isn't a party school.
The awful reality is this: when we send our kids off to college, we have to worry about them getting shot, getting mugged, getting drugs, and getting drunk. And to top it off, we parents are getting gouged to pay for it.
What we have in today's news story is just more evidence that higher education is getting lower.
Monday, May 5, 2008
A College's Bait & Switch
Your child was accepted to a college which offered a financial aid package. And chances are good that the last paragraph of the award notice stated that the offer was good for all 4 years if a certain minimum GPA is maintained.
So far, so good. Everyone is clear on what is expected.
CAUTION: Some colleges do NOT write in this last paragraph for a reason: money. Their money. Money they don't want to give away next year.
If your student's award letter has no mention of maintaining a minimum GPA all four years of college, call the college and ask for the Director of Financial Aid. Ask if the award amount you received is guaranteed all 4 years. If the answer is "Yes," but you don't see it in the letter, it's possible that it's stated in the school's financial aid policy statement. "Possible" means you'd better find out soon.
If you have access to the college's policy statement on financial aid, but you see no mention of a guarantee for all 4 years based on a minimum GPA, ask for an email confirmation of the director's "Yes" to be sent as soon as you conclude the conversation. If you don't receive the confirmation within 5 days, call back the same person and discretely and gently ask for the email confirmation again. The email acts as a legal document in case you need it later.
I bet you see where this is going. Protect yourself against the possibility that the school is pulling a fast one. Most colleges don't use this tactic, but if you don't notice it, what will be your explanation to your child next year if there's not enough financial aid coming from the school in the second year? What will be your recourse if the school says that they have a policy of not guaranteeing a similar aid package based on a minimum GPA, and that it isn't their fault if you didn't notice?
The devil is in the details.
So far, so good. Everyone is clear on what is expected.
CAUTION: Some colleges do NOT write in this last paragraph for a reason: money. Their money. Money they don't want to give away next year.
If your student's award letter has no mention of maintaining a minimum GPA all four years of college, call the college and ask for the Director of Financial Aid. Ask if the award amount you received is guaranteed all 4 years. If the answer is "Yes," but you don't see it in the letter, it's possible that it's stated in the school's financial aid policy statement. "Possible" means you'd better find out soon.
If you have access to the college's policy statement on financial aid, but you see no mention of a guarantee for all 4 years based on a minimum GPA, ask for an email confirmation of the director's "Yes" to be sent as soon as you conclude the conversation. If you don't receive the confirmation within 5 days, call back the same person and discretely and gently ask for the email confirmation again. The email acts as a legal document in case you need it later.
I bet you see where this is going. Protect yourself against the possibility that the school is pulling a fast one. Most colleges don't use this tactic, but if you don't notice it, what will be your explanation to your child next year if there's not enough financial aid coming from the school in the second year? What will be your recourse if the school says that they have a policy of not guaranteeing a similar aid package based on a minimum GPA, and that it isn't their fault if you didn't notice?
The devil is in the details.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Scholarships Forfeited. Is There An Opportunity?
The May 1 deposit deadline has come and gone. Without the required deposits, colleges no longer guarantee a slot or a scholarship they awarded to an accepted applicant. The lack of a deposit usually signals to the college that the student isn't coming.
Let's do a scenario. Student X is awarded $12,000 in grants from College Y. Student Z didn't get the aid he wanted from College Y. Student X doesn't send in a deposit thereby forfeiting his $12,000. Student Z is now thinking, "Hmmm...that's left-over money that's up for grabs!"
Maybe.
What really happens to so-called "left-over" money?
Let's do another scenario. College Y allocated X amount of dollars for scholarships in 2008. From years of past no-shows, they have already calculated what percentage of scholarships will be forfeited. Because such a calculation is not an exact science, the college still acted like an airline: they overbooked. For example, Boston College sent out over 7,000 acceptances to fill 2,250 slots. But BC has already calculated from past years that nearly 70% of the accepted students will not show up (yes...18-year-olds reject colleges).
What this means is that the college already calculated what scholarships would NOT be taken, a real gamble that every college takes this time of year: the college has no extra money because more students sent in their deposits than the college anticipated.
Or, it's possible that not enough students sent in their deposits. This could be interpreted as the school having "left-over" money.
Don't count on it. The colleges have no obligation to redistribute that money. Colleges are a business, and like any business, they watch their bottom line; however, to reallocate money could make good business sense to a college in this example: an affluent family is asking for some money. The college easily decides to award this family a little "feel good" grant because they'll make more money than they would from awarding a talented but destitute student a lot of money (a wealthy family is looked upon as a potential donor later - one of the many dark secrets colleges don't publicize. To the contrary, the Ivies do the opposite for better press releases).
Is it worth your time and effort to ask for more money now, especially if your EFC (Expected Family Contribution - what you're expected to spend) exceeds what it cost to attend College Y?
Wealth is power. If you've got it, use it.
Let's do a scenario. Student X is awarded $12,000 in grants from College Y. Student Z didn't get the aid he wanted from College Y. Student X doesn't send in a deposit thereby forfeiting his $12,000. Student Z is now thinking, "Hmmm...that's left-over money that's up for grabs!"
Maybe.
What really happens to so-called "left-over" money?
Let's do another scenario. College Y allocated X amount of dollars for scholarships in 2008. From years of past no-shows, they have already calculated what percentage of scholarships will be forfeited. Because such a calculation is not an exact science, the college still acted like an airline: they overbooked. For example, Boston College sent out over 7,000 acceptances to fill 2,250 slots. But BC has already calculated from past years that nearly 70% of the accepted students will not show up (yes...18-year-olds reject colleges).
What this means is that the college already calculated what scholarships would NOT be taken, a real gamble that every college takes this time of year: the college has no extra money because more students sent in their deposits than the college anticipated.
Or, it's possible that not enough students sent in their deposits. This could be interpreted as the school having "left-over" money.
Don't count on it. The colleges have no obligation to redistribute that money. Colleges are a business, and like any business, they watch their bottom line; however, to reallocate money could make good business sense to a college in this example: an affluent family is asking for some money. The college easily decides to award this family a little "feel good" grant because they'll make more money than they would from awarding a talented but destitute student a lot of money (a wealthy family is looked upon as a potential donor later - one of the many dark secrets colleges don't publicize. To the contrary, the Ivies do the opposite for better press releases).
Is it worth your time and effort to ask for more money now, especially if your EFC (Expected Family Contribution - what you're expected to spend) exceeds what it cost to attend College Y?
Wealth is power. If you've got it, use it.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
College Rejected You? You May Still Get In!
Your student didn't apply to a certain college because it was "unreachable" to get in. Well, surprise, surprise! There's an opening. Maybe there are 2 openings, maybe five. Last year, over 200 colleges had openings for qualified students for the Fall semester.
How could this happen?
It's because a whole lot of deposits didn't show up by the May 1st deadline from students who were accepted, and the school miscalculated how many deposits were coming in.
If you didn't send in your deposit, you may have left a vacancy at that college, and the college needs to fill all vacancies. It's a hotel vacancy mentality at the height of the tourist season that's driving the college bean counters to work a little overtime.
Many colleges will call local high schools to see if there's a student who wants to come. It's all very quiet, and they don't make public this little deficiency in their accounting. So they go to the web sanctuary of their mistakes that is commonly referred to as the National Association of College Admissions Counselors.
On this website, you can look up to see which colleges have vacancies in each State. You may be surprised at the familiar names on the list.
Before you go to: NACAC's Space Availability Survey Results, you may have to wait a few more days before the list is complete since not all schools will post their vacancies at the same time.
Be the first to know that the "first" list is posted now: NACAC's Space Availability Survey Results
How could this happen?
It's because a whole lot of deposits didn't show up by the May 1st deadline from students who were accepted, and the school miscalculated how many deposits were coming in.
If you didn't send in your deposit, you may have left a vacancy at that college, and the college needs to fill all vacancies. It's a hotel vacancy mentality at the height of the tourist season that's driving the college bean counters to work a little overtime.
Many colleges will call local high schools to see if there's a student who wants to come. It's all very quiet, and they don't make public this little deficiency in their accounting. So they go to the web sanctuary of their mistakes that is commonly referred to as the National Association of College Admissions Counselors.
On this website, you can look up to see which colleges have vacancies in each State. You may be surprised at the familiar names on the list.
Before you go to: NACAC's Space Availability Survey Results, you may have to wait a few more days before the list is complete since not all schools will post their vacancies at the same time.
Be the first to know that the "first" list is posted now: NACAC's Space Availability Survey Results
Sunday, April 27, 2008
College-Bound Teens Are Getting The Wrong Signal
The Boston Globe had an article in their recent Sunday edition on the new dorms that are going up at Boston University at the cost of 125 million dollars. Read: Plush, plush, and more plush.
To what end and what's the real cost?
To read what BU officials say, you'd think that their students are coming from overly pampered homes that require a smooth transition to an equally pampered environment. Apparently the function of our elitist schools is to plant early the seeds of narcissism, self-absorption, and entitlement.
What's the $50,000-a-year signal that's being sent to these kids?
Life isn't hard.
To what end and what's the real cost?
To read what BU officials say, you'd think that their students are coming from overly pampered homes that require a smooth transition to an equally pampered environment. Apparently the function of our elitist schools is to plant early the seeds of narcissism, self-absorption, and entitlement.
What's the $50,000-a-year signal that's being sent to these kids?
Life isn't hard.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
What My Favorite College Student Proved
I am honored to know a young man, whose first name is Mark, who was once a student of mine. He succeeded in reinforcing one of those valuable but not-so-self-evident truths: understand and appreciate who and what you are, and live it even if it means going against the best expectations of others.
Mark's story is one of gentle defiance. Without detailing a history, let's fast-forward to the summer between his sophomore and junior year of college 2 years ago.
Never one to wait for opportunity to knock, Mark would take opportunities where the most talented among us would shrink in self-doubt or in fear of failure. He accepted an internship in what is regarded as one of the highest profile institutions in the world, headquartered in Washington, DC. In his first week, he impressed his superiors enough to realize that they wanted him to stay awhile. But he was Joe College, and Mark was going to do things on his own time.
After he returned to the same job last summer, Mark was approached with the carrot of coming back after graduation. True to form and defying all conventional logic, he declined their offer. It's one that any Ivy League grad would take in a heart-beat. Even I was stunned. When I pressed him for an explanation, his defiance was registered in words I paraphrase: "I need to see the world through my eyes, not through anyone's else's."
With his parents having to endure the occasional adolescent spasms of protest and resistence, they came to accept and admire a son who, like his talented brother before him, were taught that self-reliance is regarded as a necessary ingredient for success. But his defiance this time seemed to be going a bit too far: his current resume is more substantial than any of his college classmates and is perhaps more appealing than that of any recent Harvard grad. But unexpectedly he's not turning his back completely on what he earlier regarded as just another element of life's journey he didn't have to take seriously.
That's because Mark will be heading to a new college where there's no tuiton, no books, no classes, and no parents to question him about anything. It's actually a college that will come to him instead of him going to it. Pretty extraordinary place filled with all kinds of surprises. It's a place most of us are familiar with, it's called the University of Reality, and it's in his face big time.
For the very first time he told me, "I've got bills to pay." You know, the kind that comes from the demands of his new universe-ity. Recognition of this reality deserves a PhD in Duh. His parents are thrilled that he finally "gets it."
Defiance for defiance sake is not this young man's style. He defies with respect for who he is and has always been: someone with a strong and positive attitude who doesn't quit in the face of all odds because of a simple belief - you can have what you want when you want it if you simply recognize and accept the value of your own talents.
And he's proved to his summer employer, but more importantly to himself, that success doesn't depend on where you went to college or what your pedigree is.
And he did it, not as a graduate of Harvard, Princeton, or Yale, but as a student at UMass Dartmouth, where he will graduate from today.
What he does from this point on, his mother has assured me, will be of some concern for her. But his admiring father waits with a child-like excitement and anticipation on what he does next.
Mark has chosen his life, not to be a period, but an exclamation point! Which is why I am so proud to call him...my son.
Mark's story is one of gentle defiance. Without detailing a history, let's fast-forward to the summer between his sophomore and junior year of college 2 years ago.
Never one to wait for opportunity to knock, Mark would take opportunities where the most talented among us would shrink in self-doubt or in fear of failure. He accepted an internship in what is regarded as one of the highest profile institutions in the world, headquartered in Washington, DC. In his first week, he impressed his superiors enough to realize that they wanted him to stay awhile. But he was Joe College, and Mark was going to do things on his own time.
After he returned to the same job last summer, Mark was approached with the carrot of coming back after graduation. True to form and defying all conventional logic, he declined their offer. It's one that any Ivy League grad would take in a heart-beat. Even I was stunned. When I pressed him for an explanation, his defiance was registered in words I paraphrase: "I need to see the world through my eyes, not through anyone's else's."
With his parents having to endure the occasional adolescent spasms of protest and resistence, they came to accept and admire a son who, like his talented brother before him, were taught that self-reliance is regarded as a necessary ingredient for success. But his defiance this time seemed to be going a bit too far: his current resume is more substantial than any of his college classmates and is perhaps more appealing than that of any recent Harvard grad. But unexpectedly he's not turning his back completely on what he earlier regarded as just another element of life's journey he didn't have to take seriously.
That's because Mark will be heading to a new college where there's no tuiton, no books, no classes, and no parents to question him about anything. It's actually a college that will come to him instead of him going to it. Pretty extraordinary place filled with all kinds of surprises. It's a place most of us are familiar with, it's called the University of Reality, and it's in his face big time.
For the very first time he told me, "I've got bills to pay." You know, the kind that comes from the demands of his new universe-ity. Recognition of this reality deserves a PhD in Duh. His parents are thrilled that he finally "gets it."
Defiance for defiance sake is not this young man's style. He defies with respect for who he is and has always been: someone with a strong and positive attitude who doesn't quit in the face of all odds because of a simple belief - you can have what you want when you want it if you simply recognize and accept the value of your own talents.
And he's proved to his summer employer, but more importantly to himself, that success doesn't depend on where you went to college or what your pedigree is.
And he did it, not as a graduate of Harvard, Princeton, or Yale, but as a student at UMass Dartmouth, where he will graduate from today.
What he does from this point on, his mother has assured me, will be of some concern for her. But his admiring father waits with a child-like excitement and anticipation on what he does next.
Mark has chosen his life, not to be a period, but an exclamation point! Which is why I am so proud to call him...my son.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Why Do Parents Break Their Children's Hearts?
I witness this sad story every year at this time.
An 18-year-old received a $25,000 scholarship from his dream school. The dream has been in his blood ever since he first heard his parents tell him he can go to any college if he applies himself. The mother points to the hard-working father as the boy's example, what the father has achieved to buy the American Dream for his family, and the son is firmly convinced. With focus and hard work, you can do it too.
Unintentionally the well-meaning parents left out a truth that is now destroying their child's long-nurtured dream: they never told their son that they cannot afford to pay the difference between the scholarship amount and the school's obscene $48,000-a-year pricetag.
But the scholarship, so thinks the student, confirms everything he was told. So why is he learning that he cannot attend? The disconnect is unbearable. The student feels cheated. And sadly his heart is broken. Right there to help pick up the pieces are his parents who may not have been honest enough from the start, or their egos chose to ignore the truth that they couldn't pay, or they simply didn't understand that the springboard to success NEVER NEVER NEVER depends on going to a typically over-priced brand-name college.
This brand name nonsense is nothing more than an insidious trap that's being set for the achiever by well-meaning parents, encouraging teachers, and admiring friends. Ironically, most of these same people, who are doing well with their own lives, never graduated from a "name" school. Duh. Another disconnect.
Now this achiever learns the hard meaning of "bait and switch": achieve this to get that, and when you achieve it, you can't have it. Life isn't fair - yeah, that too.
Is there a solution, and where does it come from? The solution is a simple honesty from the parents. "The chances are good," a parent should say, "that we won't be able to afford the college you think you want to attend. With over 4,000 colleges in America, there's certainly one we can afford, and one where you'll get the tools and training you need if you take full advantage of what that school has to offer."
Warning: Because students are highly influenced by their friends, their parents will continue to send all the wrong messages to their kids, and you'll have to contend - as parents are burdened to do - with constantly having to prove your point to counter what your child is hearing. But will they listen?...
Start early. As soon as the subject of college comes up. Always have the cost as a component in any conversation and decision that will be made later so no surprises are experienced in early April of the senior year.
One parent told me, "Having a broken heart at this age is crazy!"
What's also crazy is ignoring - or pretending not to notice - the real costs of college. Acknowledging this truth, while also acknowledging that a brand name school is NEVER NEVER NEVER necessary for success, will make decision time a whole lot easier.
Lesson: When it comes to choosing colleges, it's okay to say, "NEVER!"
An 18-year-old received a $25,000 scholarship from his dream school. The dream has been in his blood ever since he first heard his parents tell him he can go to any college if he applies himself. The mother points to the hard-working father as the boy's example, what the father has achieved to buy the American Dream for his family, and the son is firmly convinced. With focus and hard work, you can do it too.
Unintentionally the well-meaning parents left out a truth that is now destroying their child's long-nurtured dream: they never told their son that they cannot afford to pay the difference between the scholarship amount and the school's obscene $48,000-a-year pricetag.
But the scholarship, so thinks the student, confirms everything he was told. So why is he learning that he cannot attend? The disconnect is unbearable. The student feels cheated. And sadly his heart is broken. Right there to help pick up the pieces are his parents who may not have been honest enough from the start, or their egos chose to ignore the truth that they couldn't pay, or they simply didn't understand that the springboard to success NEVER NEVER NEVER depends on going to a typically over-priced brand-name college.
This brand name nonsense is nothing more than an insidious trap that's being set for the achiever by well-meaning parents, encouraging teachers, and admiring friends. Ironically, most of these same people, who are doing well with their own lives, never graduated from a "name" school. Duh. Another disconnect.
Now this achiever learns the hard meaning of "bait and switch": achieve this to get that, and when you achieve it, you can't have it. Life isn't fair - yeah, that too.
Is there a solution, and where does it come from? The solution is a simple honesty from the parents. "The chances are good," a parent should say, "that we won't be able to afford the college you think you want to attend. With over 4,000 colleges in America, there's certainly one we can afford, and one where you'll get the tools and training you need if you take full advantage of what that school has to offer."
Warning: Because students are highly influenced by their friends, their parents will continue to send all the wrong messages to their kids, and you'll have to contend - as parents are burdened to do - with constantly having to prove your point to counter what your child is hearing. But will they listen?...
Start early. As soon as the subject of college comes up. Always have the cost as a component in any conversation and decision that will be made later so no surprises are experienced in early April of the senior year.
One parent told me, "Having a broken heart at this age is crazy!"
What's also crazy is ignoring - or pretending not to notice - the real costs of college. Acknowledging this truth, while also acknowledging that a brand name school is NEVER NEVER NEVER necessary for success, will make decision time a whole lot easier.
Lesson: When it comes to choosing colleges, it's okay to say, "NEVER!"
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
The New Definition of REACH schools
In almost knee-jerk fashion high school guidance counselors and professional admission counselors advise students to apply to "reach" schools where there's a 0%-20% chance of being admitted.
Really dumb advice.
If you think otherwise, ask any high school freshman this question: "If you could buy a car for $500, and the salesman told you that there was an 80%-to-100% chance that in 200 more travel miles the car would die, would you buy it anyway?" The answer will reveal how smart this teen really is!
But advice pedlars aren't so wise. It's a standard mantra to tell teens to apply to "reach" schools as part of their application mix. And they haven't thought about the consequences of this advice. Using my car metaphor, the teen is told that the car may blow up in 200 miles, but you should buy it anyway. Where's the logic here?
Here's what I tell students: don't apply to "reach" schools. Why? Because it's a waste of valuable time and energy. With the odds so stacked against the student, the reach school is now redefined as...
the UNREACHABLE school.
What's the point is setting up a student to witness his or her own rejection from an impersonal admissions office where the student was warned in advance of the possibility? Is this a form of parental or even professional sadism? Do we revel in seeing our kids get rejected? Of course not, but we tell our kids to do it anyway with the flippant "Who knows? You could get in." Would we dare say, "Who knows? The car could last another 100,000 miles?"
I tell my brightest students who want to apply to the Ivys that their rejection possibilities are up in the 80% to 100% range. The student is surrounded by well-meaning parents, impressed school teachers, and friends who are constant in their advice that they ought to apply to the "best" schools. Unknowingly or unintentionally everyone is involved in an unintended conspiracy to see the student get rejected.
When the rejection comes in a thin envelope, what explanations do these same people give now? It's like attending a wake for the living, where the flow of advice continues. And no one's thinking that the student isn't receptive because all along, when the push was on to apply to those "reach" schools, the student had a little expectation that s/he would be accepted. Because, after all, who knows?
Lesson here: Never lower your standards, but be honest with yourself. If you know the car won't last, don't buy it.
Really dumb advice.
If you think otherwise, ask any high school freshman this question: "If you could buy a car for $500, and the salesman told you that there was an 80%-to-100% chance that in 200 more travel miles the car would die, would you buy it anyway?" The answer will reveal how smart this teen really is!
But advice pedlars aren't so wise. It's a standard mantra to tell teens to apply to "reach" schools as part of their application mix. And they haven't thought about the consequences of this advice. Using my car metaphor, the teen is told that the car may blow up in 200 miles, but you should buy it anyway. Where's the logic here?
Here's what I tell students: don't apply to "reach" schools. Why? Because it's a waste of valuable time and energy. With the odds so stacked against the student, the reach school is now redefined as...
the UNREACHABLE school.
What's the point is setting up a student to witness his or her own rejection from an impersonal admissions office where the student was warned in advance of the possibility? Is this a form of parental or even professional sadism? Do we revel in seeing our kids get rejected? Of course not, but we tell our kids to do it anyway with the flippant "Who knows? You could get in." Would we dare say, "Who knows? The car could last another 100,000 miles?"
I tell my brightest students who want to apply to the Ivys that their rejection possibilities are up in the 80% to 100% range. The student is surrounded by well-meaning parents, impressed school teachers, and friends who are constant in their advice that they ought to apply to the "best" schools. Unknowingly or unintentionally everyone is involved in an unintended conspiracy to see the student get rejected.
When the rejection comes in a thin envelope, what explanations do these same people give now? It's like attending a wake for the living, where the flow of advice continues. And no one's thinking that the student isn't receptive because all along, when the push was on to apply to those "reach" schools, the student had a little expectation that s/he would be accepted. Because, after all, who knows?
Lesson here: Never lower your standards, but be honest with yourself. If you know the car won't last, don't buy it.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
How To Graduate From College In 4 Years
What a rediculous headline I just wrote! Unless your student is in a 5-year co-op program or studying in some specialty that requires 5 years, there's roughly a 60% chance your child will take 5 years to graduate.
Five years. Read: MORE MONEY.
Have you saved enough money to cover that 5th year? Like maybe $10,000 or $35,000 if it's a private school? This is pure economic insanity. It's bad enough that the major colleges and universities are gouging parents with no controls on what they charge. That's for another post....
Here's what I recommend you do: as a requirement before I even talk to my students about college, I have them take a personality assessment called the About U. It's powered by the same method that major corporations have been using for years. It determines whether an applicant for a job has the temperament and the personality to meet the demands and requirements of the position. If so, the employee is efficient, happy, and productive - what every employer wants from an employee.
This assessment has been reformatted for the youth market so that similar positive results can be achieved. Let me translate...
Once your child has his/her assessment completed after 45 minutes in front of a computer, a report will indicate what the student's real needs are, what genuinely motivates them, and what kind of environment is best suited for them to be most productive.
As recently as yesterday, a parent was going over her daughter's report and noticed that her teen needed a lot of time alone, that she needed a quiet environment in which to function. It took the mother no time to figure out that maybe a small college was going to be a "right-fit" for her student. In terms of college searching, can you guess how much time and money will be saved because of the discovery of this one seemingly small but significant fact? The report is loaded with significant facts.
This is no free persoanlity test that high schools like to suggest. Get out your credit card and have your student take the test as early as the sophomore year of high school. The results will be life-long because our basic personality DNA is determined by the age of two. The website: www.about-u.com.
Once the assessment is understood, you ought to take it yourself. Most of my clients end up taking the assessment so that spouses understand each other's needs, what motivates them - really cool stuff!
College doesn't have to last 5 years if you have a solid idea of what direction your life should take. And a student can do it before s/he graduates from high school. Don't hold back for this assessment because a young person's future is a stake, and so is your retirement.
Five years. Read: MORE MONEY.
Have you saved enough money to cover that 5th year? Like maybe $10,000 or $35,000 if it's a private school? This is pure economic insanity. It's bad enough that the major colleges and universities are gouging parents with no controls on what they charge. That's for another post....
Here's what I recommend you do: as a requirement before I even talk to my students about college, I have them take a personality assessment called the About U. It's powered by the same method that major corporations have been using for years. It determines whether an applicant for a job has the temperament and the personality to meet the demands and requirements of the position. If so, the employee is efficient, happy, and productive - what every employer wants from an employee.
This assessment has been reformatted for the youth market so that similar positive results can be achieved. Let me translate...
Once your child has his/her assessment completed after 45 minutes in front of a computer, a report will indicate what the student's real needs are, what genuinely motivates them, and what kind of environment is best suited for them to be most productive.
As recently as yesterday, a parent was going over her daughter's report and noticed that her teen needed a lot of time alone, that she needed a quiet environment in which to function. It took the mother no time to figure out that maybe a small college was going to be a "right-fit" for her student. In terms of college searching, can you guess how much time and money will be saved because of the discovery of this one seemingly small but significant fact? The report is loaded with significant facts.
This is no free persoanlity test that high schools like to suggest. Get out your credit card and have your student take the test as early as the sophomore year of high school. The results will be life-long because our basic personality DNA is determined by the age of two. The website: www.about-u.com.
Once the assessment is understood, you ought to take it yourself. Most of my clients end up taking the assessment so that spouses understand each other's needs, what motivates them - really cool stuff!
College doesn't have to last 5 years if you have a solid idea of what direction your life should take. And a student can do it before s/he graduates from high school. Don't hold back for this assessment because a young person's future is a stake, and so is your retirement.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
College Fairs: Show & Tell
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I attended another college fair last night at Westwood High School (MA), where nearly 100 colleges were in attendance. These fairs are one-stop opportunities to see what a college has to offer, but it's really a time to pick up the school's literature and meet an admissions person. That's all.
Unfortunately, many of these colleges didn't send their own admissions people, but instead sent people with dated perspectives: alumni with sweet but irrelevant memories to a 16-year-old who shows up to the booth. Perhaps guilty of such bad marketing were colleges like Villanova, Hamilton, Hobart & Williams, Wake Forest, and UMaine. Maybe they knew something about college fairs that made it worthwhile NOT to send their admissions people. For this post, I submit the following observation.
According to my own subjective categories, here are the colleges that impressed me the most:
Most creative and practical presentation catalog: Bridgewater State
Most influenced by a student's interest in their college (HINT: send emails, make lots of phone calls, show your face frequently to admission people): Holy Cross
Most informative catalog so you don't have to visit campus: UMaine, Orono
Most bang-for-your-buck (3 required internships): Endicott
Most worth-looking-into engineering college: Illinois Institute of Technology
Most noticeable college for creative writing: Eckerd (sunny Florida)
Most attractive for accounting and math majors: Eastern Connecticut Univ
Best packaging for college fairs: St Michael's
Most frequented booth: Northeastern
College fairs should be attended only by students (read: parents should stay home) so they can meet the admissions people. It's a way of getting a first sense of the school, but hardly enough of a sense to establish an objective opinion (read: students should stay home).
College fairs are classic Show & Tell: Here's our fantastic catalog, you should love us because of these three hundred and sixty-seven reasons, which means you should feel soothing goosebumps about spending your life-savings with us.
If you must, collect literature and free pens because that's about all you or your student are going to get out of it. I suspect 16- and 17-year-olds are more savvy than the colleges: they discovered the internet a long time ago, and they can order all the college's marketing stuff online. Plus, a student makes an impression by visiting the campus, not the fair. That was the "inside" info I got from these admissions people who showed up.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Student Debt: What Are We Thinking?
I had a gut-wrenching talk with one of my students about the debt he will incur when he graduates from college. He was accepted recently to a college whose cost of attendance is $45,000 a year. The college gave him $7,000 a year in grants. To put it in a way we all understand, his $7,000 was a 15% discount off the going rate.
Not counting the yearly 6% increases he'll receive from the college, and because his parents are strapped for funds to help him pay, his debt upon graduation - at age 22 - will exceed $140,000.
As a real consequence, imagine the following scenario. Three or four years after graduation, he meets the girl of his dreams, and before long the discussion of marriage comes up. But before they both decide to make the Big Decision, the conversation goes like this, starting with the young man:
"I can't tell you how lucky I am to be with you."
"I feel the same way."
Then she asks: "Before we go any further with talk of marriage, I need to ask you one question."
"What's that, sweetheart?"
"How much college debt do you have?"
"Oh...about $140,000. My payments are about $1,500 a month."
"Really? Well, how are we going to buy a house and raise a family over the next ten years with your debt? Plus, I have about $40,000 of my own."
You can see where this is going. How 'bout nowhere? That is, the couple look at each other in exasperation, and for very practical reasons, maybe she opts outs of the relationship and two good hearts are broken.
I asked my student if he could process what a $140,000 debt means. He confessed that he couldn't. Maybe it's some sort of fictional phenomenon that other people worry about, similar to a tornado disaster we New Englanders only see on TV. We know tornadoes happen in Oklahoma and Texas, but not here.
Very slowly this tornado of debt is heading toward this young high school senior, and he doesn't even see it.
Any thoughts? Please post your comments here.
Not counting the yearly 6% increases he'll receive from the college, and because his parents are strapped for funds to help him pay, his debt upon graduation - at age 22 - will exceed $140,000.
As a real consequence, imagine the following scenario. Three or four years after graduation, he meets the girl of his dreams, and before long the discussion of marriage comes up. But before they both decide to make the Big Decision, the conversation goes like this, starting with the young man:
"I can't tell you how lucky I am to be with you."
"I feel the same way."
Then she asks: "Before we go any further with talk of marriage, I need to ask you one question."
"What's that, sweetheart?"
"How much college debt do you have?"
"Oh...about $140,000. My payments are about $1,500 a month."
"Really? Well, how are we going to buy a house and raise a family over the next ten years with your debt? Plus, I have about $40,000 of my own."
You can see where this is going. How 'bout nowhere? That is, the couple look at each other in exasperation, and for very practical reasons, maybe she opts outs of the relationship and two good hearts are broken.
I asked my student if he could process what a $140,000 debt means. He confessed that he couldn't. Maybe it's some sort of fictional phenomenon that other people worry about, similar to a tornado disaster we New Englanders only see on TV. We know tornadoes happen in Oklahoma and Texas, but not here.
Very slowly this tornado of debt is heading toward this young high school senior, and he doesn't even see it.
Any thoughts? Please post your comments here.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
How To Get Off A College's Wait-List: A Solution
Your child has been placed "on hold" by his or her # 1 choice until the college reviews their entire line of applicants, but you're not feeling comfortable. Yet your student still has a shot at getting in. But how? What do you do now? Wait? Waiting is the mistake all wait-listed students make. They're not pro-active in getting off the wait-list. Guess who notices?
Here's a solution (I'm not guaranteeing this will work, but some of my students have made it work).
First determine how badly you really want to go to this college. Let's assume you'd crawl on broken glass for a mile to attend. Great!...you've got your enthusiasm engine fired up, which is exactly the energy you need to make things happen. It's enthusiasm that's going to get someone's attention in the admissions office. It's what I like to call the Gentle Sledgehammer Approach.
The next thing you do is write down on one sheet of paper the 2 or 3 reasons why you absolutely must attend your #1 choice (example = Professor Pin Head is THE expert in the field I want to study, and I have to study under him!), but more importantly, give 3 reasons how the college will benefit from you being one of their students.
Then call the admissions office to find out when the admissions people are in. Go to the school unannounced (asking for an appointment on the phone will get you nowhere) and ask the receptionist if you can have a 2-minute meeting with an admissions counselor. You'll be asked, "What's this regarding?" Simply respond, "I've been wait-listed and all I need is 2 minutes to see an admissions counselor."
Chances are very good you'll get your meeting. Once you're in the admissions counselor's office, have your sheet of paper ready and start by thanking the person for their time. Introduce yourself and state that you appreciate having 2 minutes of their time to discuss what you wrote down. Chances are good that you'll get more time because admissions people never see a line of wait-listed students outsides their office.
Be prepared to hear the counselor say that you can simply hand over your sheet of paper, that it will be reviewed later, and that you can leave. Respond that you'd be happy to, but then state your case with enthusiasm, which is what the admissions person wants to see and hear! After all, how many opportunities do you think this admissions person gets to see and hear someone like you? Hardly ever!
After you leave, you will leave behind not only a piece of paper, but a powerful and positive impression of YOU. When the admission committee finalizes their applicants from the wait-list, guess who they're going to think of first?
Good luck to you!
Here's a solution (I'm not guaranteeing this will work, but some of my students have made it work).
First determine how badly you really want to go to this college. Let's assume you'd crawl on broken glass for a mile to attend. Great!...you've got your enthusiasm engine fired up, which is exactly the energy you need to make things happen. It's enthusiasm that's going to get someone's attention in the admissions office. It's what I like to call the Gentle Sledgehammer Approach.
The next thing you do is write down on one sheet of paper the 2 or 3 reasons why you absolutely must attend your #1 choice (example = Professor Pin Head is THE expert in the field I want to study, and I have to study under him!), but more importantly, give 3 reasons how the college will benefit from you being one of their students.
Then call the admissions office to find out when the admissions people are in. Go to the school unannounced (asking for an appointment on the phone will get you nowhere) and ask the receptionist if you can have a 2-minute meeting with an admissions counselor. You'll be asked, "What's this regarding?" Simply respond, "I've been wait-listed and all I need is 2 minutes to see an admissions counselor."
Chances are very good you'll get your meeting. Once you're in the admissions counselor's office, have your sheet of paper ready and start by thanking the person for their time. Introduce yourself and state that you appreciate having 2 minutes of their time to discuss what you wrote down. Chances are good that you'll get more time because admissions people never see a line of wait-listed students outsides their office.
Be prepared to hear the counselor say that you can simply hand over your sheet of paper, that it will be reviewed later, and that you can leave. Respond that you'd be happy to, but then state your case with enthusiasm, which is what the admissions person wants to see and hear! After all, how many opportunities do you think this admissions person gets to see and hear someone like you? Hardly ever!
After you leave, you will leave behind not only a piece of paper, but a powerful and positive impression of YOU. When the admission committee finalizes their applicants from the wait-list, guess who they're going to think of first?
Good luck to you!
Friday, March 28, 2008
Be A Wait-List Hero
Your student was accepted to a college s/he has no intention of attending. That college is the dream school of someone who has been wait-listed. The wait-list waiting is stressful and worrisome.
In all the excitement of being accepted to YOUR dream school, it's easy to forget someone else's agony who's waiting to get off that school's wait-list. You can contact the school and tell them you're not coming, and just maybe your slot will be awarded to someone whose hopes will be realized.
Isn't it the right thing to do?
In all the excitement of being accepted to YOUR dream school, it's easy to forget someone else's agony who's waiting to get off that school's wait-list. You can contact the school and tell them you're not coming, and just maybe your slot will be awarded to someone whose hopes will be realized.
Isn't it the right thing to do?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Heartbreak Of Achievement
One of my more talented students was denied admission to 2 of his favored colleges. You can imagine how he felt: rejected and dejected.
I see this scenario every year at this time, and my heart aches for these kids, but only because their dream school said, "No." I never really addressed this issue as much as I did today when I sent this note to, well, let's call him Chris.
My Dear Chris,
As much as I try to understand why talented students like you do not get accepted, you must recognize that you were not rejected. There is a HUGE difference. The awful reality is NOT knowing why you were not accepted, and if you called the schools to ask why, they would likely compliment you and add why they agonized immeasurably over your great application.
Your application wasn’t accepted because of factors you could not have known in advance, or more troubling, had no control over, such as…
I see this scenario every year at this time, and my heart aches for these kids, but only because their dream school said, "No." I never really addressed this issue as much as I did today when I sent this note to, well, let's call him Chris.
My Dear Chris,
As much as I try to understand why talented students like you do not get accepted, you must recognize that you were not rejected. There is a HUGE difference. The awful reality is NOT knowing why you were not accepted, and if you called the schools to ask why, they would likely compliment you and add why they agonized immeasurably over your great application.
Your application wasn’t accepted because of factors you could not have known in advance, or more troubling, had no control over, such as…
- they already filled their quota of students from Massachusetts by the time your application was reviewed;
- they wanted more students this year whose parents never went to college;
- they slightly exceeded the amount of males they wanted;
- your interest level in the college wasn’t demonstrable enough; or
- they were looking for more “local” students because their own stats indicate that more money comes from alumni who are closer to their geographical location.
And you’re thinking, “This is just too odd! What’s all this got to do with my great grades and SAT scores? I met all their requirements!” I'll bet my house that you did, except for all the stuff you didn’t even imagine could be factored into why you were denied admission. With colleges that accepted you, you met and most likely exceeded their academic requirements, and you met all of their odd criteria too.
You're living your first college lesson in Irony 101.
So rejection was not the end result for you, and I hope you’re clear on this.
These criteria have nothing to do with your long hard efforts and achievements in these past 4 years, which were well recognized by those colleges that hope you show up in September. If you’re not sure by May 1 where to go, see my blog on how to avoid the pressure of May 1: http://www.precollegeprep.blogspot.com/ (See below.)
This is going to be easy for me to say, but I won’t assume you’ll easily accept the implications. Here it is: you’re talented, good colleges have accepted you, and you can move on with your life. Yeah…I know, thanks but no thanks.
But just in case you’re okay with what I’ve said so far, I found something on the net this morning that I thought you could use http://www.theadmissiongame.com/blog/archives/54
By the way, I’ll always be proud of the fact that I had you as one of my better students, which should signal to you that I have full confidence that the decisions you make and where you go will reflect commendably on who you are.
Paul
Monday, March 24, 2008
Welcome To Our New Service
This is how you'll be able to get DAILY news and comments about college admissions and financial aid.
And your comments and questions are part of how this works. If you never add a word or ask a question, you will see what our clients are asking and saying. It should be fun, but more importantly, we promise this service to be informative and VERY up-to-date.
As a bonus feature, only our clients will be allowed to annouce where their kids have been accepted. It's a time for celebration, and we want our clients to tell the world the good news!
BUT...you won't receive this daily blog unless you put in your email address below in the blue rectangle.
And your comments and questions are part of how this works. If you never add a word or ask a question, you will see what our clients are asking and saying. It should be fun, but more importantly, we promise this service to be informative and VERY up-to-date.
As a bonus feature, only our clients will be allowed to annouce where their kids have been accepted. It's a time for celebration, and we want our clients to tell the world the good news!
BUT...you won't receive this daily blog unless you put in your email address below in the blue rectangle.
Best Loans For College
Here's the entire article from yesterday's Wall Street Journal.
By EMILY GREEN, March 23, 2008
The best place to begin looking for good deals on private loans for college is still your college's list of preferred lenders.
To be sure, preferred-lender programs got a black eye last year: Financial-aid counselors at many colleges were found to have received financial incentives to direct students to particular lenders, regardless of their loan terms.
But that 2007 debacle caused many colleges to toughen their conflict-of-interest policies and review criteria for selecting lenders. "I don't deny that it was a nice wake-up call for the whole industry," says Dan Small, director of student financial assistance at George Washington University, which wasn't implicated in the scandal.
To win a spot on a college's list, a lender may offer students there lower-than-usual interest rates or fees. This happens particularly if the lender has had a good repayment experience with other students at that school.
Many colleges also weigh the quality of lenders' customer service to students when selecting lenders.
Finally, Mark Kantrowitz, creator of the student-aid Web site finaid.org, notes that there isn't a simple way to compare what you'd pay with various lenders. Many Web sites list lenders' best and worst rates. Those numbers "are completely irrelevant," Mr. Kantrowitz says, since borrowers' actual rates will depend on their credit ratings.
By EMILY GREEN, March 23, 2008
The best place to begin looking for good deals on private loans for college is still your college's list of preferred lenders.
To be sure, preferred-lender programs got a black eye last year: Financial-aid counselors at many colleges were found to have received financial incentives to direct students to particular lenders, regardless of their loan terms.
But that 2007 debacle caused many colleges to toughen their conflict-of-interest policies and review criteria for selecting lenders. "I don't deny that it was a nice wake-up call for the whole industry," says Dan Small, director of student financial assistance at George Washington University, which wasn't implicated in the scandal.
To win a spot on a college's list, a lender may offer students there lower-than-usual interest rates or fees. This happens particularly if the lender has had a good repayment experience with other students at that school.
Many colleges also weigh the quality of lenders' customer service to students when selecting lenders.
Finally, Mark Kantrowitz, creator of the student-aid Web site finaid.org, notes that there isn't a simple way to compare what you'd pay with various lenders. Many Web sites list lenders' best and worst rates. Those numbers "are completely irrelevant," Mr. Kantrowitz says, since borrowers' actual rates will depend on their credit ratings.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
College Is An Expense, Not An Investment
When Ohio State spends 140 million on a athletic center so your son can climb a mountain indoors, when BU can issue a press release about adding a wave machine to their million-dollar Olympic pool, or when the Univ of Wisconsin at Madison can announce that they have a massage parlor on campus to relieve stress (I can't make up this stuff!), what kind of an investment is a parent making? An investment in stuff? In creature comforts? All the things that have nothing to do with academic rigor and excellence? All the stuff that will pamper and distract our kids in ways you might find counterproductive to preparing for the world after college?
Marketing to your kids by using such press releases says only one thing about the colleges: to get your student to their campus, they must appeal to their instincts. What happend to appealing to their minds?
By contrast, as if not to engage in such superficial behavior, new freshman students at Brown were greeted with these words from the president: "You are the smartest, the cutest, the savviest, extraordinary -- I could go on and on." The seeds were already planted by the school's president that students were going to enjoy a spoiling self-centeredness in an atmosphere of entitlement.
The arrogance of both these approaches from our colleges and universities - pandering to a child's instincts or fostering a sense of entitlement on super talented students - is what we're all forced to pay for.
Message to the parents: your student is going to do well if s/he has a work ethic, proof of his or her own achievement, and a desire to succeed. With over 4,000 colleges in America (read: choices!) you deserve the right to think for yourself without the college marketing machine giving you the impression that you can't survive without their brand of education.
The kind of education a student receives is ultimately up to the student, not up to the environment in which he has chosen for 4-5 years. Only then does college become an investment of time for the student, but parents still have an expense to cover.
Marketing to your kids by using such press releases says only one thing about the colleges: to get your student to their campus, they must appeal to their instincts. What happend to appealing to their minds?
By contrast, as if not to engage in such superficial behavior, new freshman students at Brown were greeted with these words from the president: "You are the smartest, the cutest, the savviest, extraordinary -- I could go on and on." The seeds were already planted by the school's president that students were going to enjoy a spoiling self-centeredness in an atmosphere of entitlement.
The arrogance of both these approaches from our colleges and universities - pandering to a child's instincts or fostering a sense of entitlement on super talented students - is what we're all forced to pay for.
Message to the parents: your student is going to do well if s/he has a work ethic, proof of his or her own achievement, and a desire to succeed. With over 4,000 colleges in America (read: choices!) you deserve the right to think for yourself without the college marketing machine giving you the impression that you can't survive without their brand of education.
The kind of education a student receives is ultimately up to the student, not up to the environment in which he has chosen for 4-5 years. Only then does college become an investment of time for the student, but parents still have an expense to cover.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
How To Avoid The Pressure of May 1
Colleges want you to send in your deposit by May 1 as proof that you are going to attend. In other words, if you don’t send in your deposit, you will lose your bed and maybe a prized parking spot. The college's push for this deadline is to stop biting their own nails because April makes them nervous. Why? Because their fates are being determined by a bunch of talented 17- and 18-year-olds. And you thought colleges NEVER get nervous about anything.
What if you can’t make up your mind before May 1 which school you want to attend? That’s a lot of pressure that's being put on you by the colleges to meet their sacred deadline.
Here’s how you avoid the pressure of the May 1 deadline: make two or three non-refundable deposits by May 1 with your top 2 or 3 schools. It won't be cheap, but nothing as important as your future is.
Take the entire summer to decide which school you want to attend. Choosing the right college is a HUGE decision, and putting our kids under a deadline before their own high school graduation can be harmful to your student's future and your wallet. The "non-refundable" aspect of the deposit has a sting to it, but the sting will be greater if the school selected before the deadline turns out to be the wrong one. Ouch! Big Sting.
Colleges get a huge case of heart-burn by my telling you this; more accurately they're outraged at my suggestion here. They think that what I’m saying will deny some other deserving student a place at a college as if to suggest that no one else will place multiple deposits but you. Multiple depositing, colleges would suggest, makes you a bad person.
If this looks like a distasteful and loathsome way to maneuver to your advantage, so what? Distasteful and loathsome to whom? The colleges! They detest multiple depositing, but you shouldn't care a twit what the colleges think. They're coming after your money and your future's at stake.
Your purpose is to benefit your student, not the colleges. They have near exclusive rights on a vice called greed, and you’ve got to think of yourself first because you’re the customer, something the colleges forgot in Public Relations 101.
Here's a dirty little secret: colleges get oodles of cash from these deposits. In other words, if 2,000 students send in their non-refundable deposit of $500 but don’t show up, a college’s take on 2,000 students is - ready for this? - one million dollars, that's $1,000,000.00. Count the zeros.
Bottom Line: Weaponize your money! Make those multiple deposits and take off the pressure.
What if you can’t make up your mind before May 1 which school you want to attend? That’s a lot of pressure that's being put on you by the colleges to meet their sacred deadline.
Here’s how you avoid the pressure of the May 1 deadline: make two or three non-refundable deposits by May 1 with your top 2 or 3 schools. It won't be cheap, but nothing as important as your future is.
Take the entire summer to decide which school you want to attend. Choosing the right college is a HUGE decision, and putting our kids under a deadline before their own high school graduation can be harmful to your student's future and your wallet. The "non-refundable" aspect of the deposit has a sting to it, but the sting will be greater if the school selected before the deadline turns out to be the wrong one. Ouch! Big Sting.
Colleges get a huge case of heart-burn by my telling you this; more accurately they're outraged at my suggestion here. They think that what I’m saying will deny some other deserving student a place at a college as if to suggest that no one else will place multiple deposits but you. Multiple depositing, colleges would suggest, makes you a bad person.
If this looks like a distasteful and loathsome way to maneuver to your advantage, so what? Distasteful and loathsome to whom? The colleges! They detest multiple depositing, but you shouldn't care a twit what the colleges think. They're coming after your money and your future's at stake.
Your purpose is to benefit your student, not the colleges. They have near exclusive rights on a vice called greed, and you’ve got to think of yourself first because you’re the customer, something the colleges forgot in Public Relations 101.
Here's a dirty little secret: colleges get oodles of cash from these deposits. In other words, if 2,000 students send in their non-refundable deposit of $500 but don’t show up, a college’s take on 2,000 students is - ready for this? - one million dollars, that's $1,000,000.00. Count the zeros.
Bottom Line: Weaponize your money! Make those multiple deposits and take off the pressure.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Announcing Our New Blog
This blog will allow you and all of our clients to share insights with each other about the college process. Feel free to ask questions, and on a daily basis I'll respond. No more newsletters every 2-4 weeks. Questions and answers are here daily. Or write something you'd like to share that you think will benefit this audience. Or ask a question to which I can answer that will help everyone else.
I'd like to get your feedback on whether you think your student ought to have their own blog that I can create just for them. You know...to vent, to observe, and to ask their own questions. After all we consider them adults who just so happen to be younger!
Because a blog is created daily by its participants, I just summarized below the article that Amy sent out regarding perfectionism. We hope that you will post your own comments to what you see below.
So let's get started. Tell us what's on your mind!
I'd like to get your feedback on whether you think your student ought to have their own blog that I can create just for them. You know...to vent, to observe, and to ask their own questions. After all we consider them adults who just so happen to be younger!
Because a blog is created daily by its participants, I just summarized below the article that Amy sent out regarding perfectionism. We hope that you will post your own comments to what you see below.
So let's get started. Tell us what's on your mind!
Perfectionism: The Damage We Can Do To Our Kids
"My parents were perfectly happy with getting Bs and Cs in college, but they expect me to get As." This from a college student whose parents demand more of their children than they did of themselves. In a recent article in Psychology Today, mostly inspired by a new book, A Nation Of Wimps, are quotable highlights:
- Perfectionism lowers the ability to take risks: it reduces creativity and innovation. Is this what we want from our kids?
- Perfectionism is an endless report card, an endless self-evaluation: you are absorbed in what you want to avoid. This undermines performance because the child is oriented toward failure. What do we reap from our kids? Endless frustration, anxiety and, yes, even depression.
- Perfectionist children feel that approval depends on performance, which leads them to believe they are only as good as they achieve.
- Perfectionist students do poorly on writng tests because they know it'll be critiqued, which is why they avoid courses in writing.
- Perfectionism comes from a parent's psychological control of the child's world, due to either the parent's exceesive concern for making their own mistakes, or from a parents' fear of separating from the child when going away to college is looming on the horizon.
The article makes some suggestions on what to do.
- Recognize the effort, not the end result. If your student went from an F grade to a C, that's a huge improvement. Shifting the focus to effort energizes a child to reach for a goal that's meaningful, not one that the parent expects or demands. When a good grade is achieved, resist the urge to say, "You're brilliant." Instead, you could say, "You're a good thinker," or, "It's terrific that you did X to achieve Y."
- Praise for effort produces positive moods states in what is now a positive environment for meaningful things to be done.
- Congratulate your kids. Ask why things worked out well and what they attribute their success to. Kids need to know what actions pay off in which situations. Material rewards don't work - not achieving signals a taking away of something to which you attributed value.
The most revealing moment in the article was from an executive of a major investment group. She hires only young people with the following profile: they must be first-generation immigrants because they are:
- resourceful
- hardworking, and
- good at problem-solving.
Why?
These kids have parents who don't speak English well and have to learn to figure things out for themselves; they can't rely on their parents. Their "disadvantage" made them stronger.
This article reminds me of one of my clients who's an executive at a major corporation in Massachusetts. He told me that his company's hiring criteria once included what college you went to. The company has since abandoned that criteria (HINT to Perfectionist Parents) and instead use an applicant's GPA as the most valuable criteria. Why? The company wants to see how you used your time in the last four years, not where you went to college (HINT to students).
To reinforce this point of view, the investment group executive made this remarkable statement:
"The 'fancy kids' are not perservering, not willing to work hard, not clever at problem-solving, not resourceful."
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
College Award Letters - They're In The Mail
At this time of year colleges are beginning to mail out their financial aid offers to next year's freshman class.
Be very careful what you read.
You did NOT receive a stone tablet where everything is carved in stone.
Here's what you're not seeing at the bottom of the letter because it's invisible:
"This is our first offer."
This is not at the bottom of the letter if your EFC (Expected Family Contibution = what you're expected to pay) exceeds the college's cost this year. But it's there if your EFC is below the college's cost of attendance.
This all means one thing: you can appeal the award letter. Yes!
Colleges think you're dumb enough NOT to notice that you can appeal their "award," which is really the bill made to look like a huge favor thrown in for good PR.
Don't be deceived. Colleges have appeal budgets that are not disclosed on their websites. Not for a moment are they going to signal to you that if you don't like their offer, you can always ask for more.
Bottom Line: You can ask for more. It doesn't mean you'll get more, but many colleges will offer a little bit more to make you feel good. It's a "touchee-feelee" thing with those people.*
What do you stand to lose if you don't ask?
______________
*"those people" is a term that Robert E. Lee used when he referred to his enemy during the Civil War. It's a term we use here in the same manner. In other words, the colleges are not your friends as much as they would like to portray themselves with all that glossy mailbox literature you receive.
Be very careful what you read.
You did NOT receive a stone tablet where everything is carved in stone.
Here's what you're not seeing at the bottom of the letter because it's invisible:
"This is our first offer."
This is not at the bottom of the letter if your EFC (Expected Family Contibution = what you're expected to pay) exceeds the college's cost this year. But it's there if your EFC is below the college's cost of attendance.
This all means one thing: you can appeal the award letter. Yes!
Colleges think you're dumb enough NOT to notice that you can appeal their "award," which is really the bill made to look like a huge favor thrown in for good PR.
Don't be deceived. Colleges have appeal budgets that are not disclosed on their websites. Not for a moment are they going to signal to you that if you don't like their offer, you can always ask for more.
Bottom Line: You can ask for more. It doesn't mean you'll get more, but many colleges will offer a little bit more to make you feel good. It's a "touchee-feelee" thing with those people.*
What do you stand to lose if you don't ask?
______________
*"those people" is a term that Robert E. Lee used when he referred to his enemy during the Civil War. It's a term we use here in the same manner. In other words, the colleges are not your friends as much as they would like to portray themselves with all that glossy mailbox literature you receive.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
College Blog for Parents
This is a great blog for parents to share their thoughts and experiences on the college process.
When they talk to other parents going through the same difficult process, they may feel brighter and not alone.
When they talk to other parents going through the same difficult process, they may feel brighter and not alone.
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