College Ready is live!

Um, for those of you who are here, I just want to thank you again for being here. For those of you who are joining online, my name is Shellee Howard and I'm the founder and CEO of College Ready, and I'm an alumni for where I'm speaking tonight. So, so happy that you are here. Um, Carrie, everything sound okay? Are you in? Okay, just want to make sure everything sound okay back to you guys. Okay, excellent. We're gonna go ahead and get started. Tonight is a special treat. Not only am I back at the place where it all got started, and I'll dive into that in a little bit, uh, we're going to talk about how to get into college without losing your mind or your money, and I'll tell you about the bet I lost to my son if you stay till the end. Because that is worth the price of admission. So let's go ahead and get started. We'll go back a few slides. All right. And off we go. Okay, so as you can see on the screen, I, I really want you to take a moment and be present. For those of you who are here, you have paper and pen, I'd like you to write down which of these are weighing heavy on you because it's important that you start to put yourself in prioritizing with your family. When you look at college, it's really easy to get caught up in, "That's a great school," or, "They're the best at this major." What I want you to do tonight is I want you to think about this a little differently. I want you to think of it as a family first, and what does that look like? Are you looking for the best academic fit, the best social fit, the best athletic fit, or the best financial fit? I know we all want it all, I get it, but just take a moment and think really for your family. You may be in a position that if they get in, you're happy to write a check. You may be, I can't afford college, period, and I can tell you 10 schools that are tuition-free. So I want you to know, regardless of what you make or don't make, college is completely possible. I just want you to sit in that for a moment. The other thing is there's lots of different ways to pay for college, right? Right? There's buckets of money, and I'm going to talk about that. But I want you to think about what is important to you— getting in, paying for it, having them find the perfect friends, the perfect future husband, wife, whatever that looks like. So once you're in that mindset, I think you'll find it a lot easier to process what I'm going to share. So hopefully those at home have gone through this. This is to get your mind ready, and we're going to go ahead and jump on in. So I believe this is about parents being a hero, because getting into college is not the hardest part. Getting your child to prepare to be planning, strategizing, prioritizing, to holding them accountable, to helping them think. Yes, UC Santa Barbara has an incredible view, right? Don't get me wrong, but they don't have your major. Like, we have to have some of those discussions. We have to have the hard discussion of, yes, NYU is now $100,000 a year, and if you want to go in as a theater person, which has an incredible program, is that a good fit for your family as an undergrad or maybe a grad? So we're going to look at college differently from the scope of return on investment, because that is a thing that not a lot of people talk about. And I want you to know it is completely possible with whatever you want to spend or don't want to spend. It's all about being their hero. Just briefly about me, I am a mom of 4. People always ask me, "What do you do?" Well, I have been very busy. I have 2 biological children and 2 stepchildren, and I've raised them all. And my firstborn was actually why College Ready got started. I won't go into details, but I think the story might resonate with you, so I will share. So when he was in middle school, 8th grade spring, about this time, he came home from school and he says, "Mom, I know exactly what I want to do after I graduate high school, and I know exactly where I want to go." And I'm like, "Wait, you know I changed my major 5 times and I applied to 2 schools. Like, I didn't have this whole thing figured out." He goes, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." And then he walks out. Difficult, right? And then he turns around, he says, 'Will you help me?' Oh, as the parent, 'Will you help me?' This is the reality that we all sit in. I said, 'Yes, of course, I'm your mom, of course I will do that, no problem at all.' And then he walks away. So I did what any good parent would do, and I took him to his high school counselor, the one going into— that he'd be going into. He didn't go to here, um, and I said, will you please tell her what you told me? Because I don't want to be that parent. I, I'm— I really don't. It doesn't matter where you go. I, I just want you to tell him. He says, yeah, so I want to be a brain surgeon. I want to go to one of those Ivy things. And she looked at him and she goes, why? Doctors don't make money anymore. And I'm like, whoa, I wasn't expecting that. And he looked at me and I looked at her and I was like, oh my gosh, what do I do now? I thought she was going to solve all my problems and she was just being a realist. And he looked at me and I said, well, what do we do? And she said, well, are you sure that's what he wants to do? And so we thought, okay, let's go make sure that's what he wants to do. So 4 years later, I'll take you to graduation. Him and I decided that we would put together a plan and a strategy. I'd started 7 other businesses. Sure, I could build him a business of himself. And he did exactly what I asked, which again, the first one did exactly what I asked. Then he, you know, it was amazing. He just continued to— it was so easy. We didn't really have to fight through it. It wasn't challenging, but I did go back to school and I got my master's degree. And then I went back to school and I became a certified independent college consultant. Then I went back to school to become a financial strategist. I figured I didn't want to mess up. I was the first to go to college and we had no doctors in our family, so I was like, oh, I have a lot of weight on my shoulders. When he graduated, he applied to 12 schools, got into 11, full ride to 7, ended up getting a full ride presidential scholarship at USC. And this mom was learning the fight song. I didn't know it, but I was learning it. I was like, he's gonna be an hour from home, I'm golden. And then a week later, Harvard sends this incredible like package. It was insane, like this beautiful invitation. And he looked at me and he goes, Mom, where's America's Funniest Home Video? Like, you guys are setting me up, aren't you? Like, he wouldn't even open it. He's like, this is messed up. He would not even open it. He said, call the school, I don't believe you. So I called the school and they go, yeah, we sent you 2 tickets to come check it out. And now I'm like, wow, we're going to Boston! Because I had a whole different plan. I'm like, oh, when we fly there, he's not gonna be so far from home. Yes, he loved it. We were walking down the Charles River and he's like, Mom, I love you very much and I promise I'm coming back, but this is where I'm going to school. And that was that. And I said, as long as you get it for the price you got at USC, all right. And he did. So that's what I'm talking about. I'm going to talk to you about financial negotiations, about college as a business, about how to take opportunity to get the big money return on investment. All right, so the other three had their own strategy, and I think it's important that I mention this. My second, her dream school was University of Alabama. I asked her I said, "Why?" She said, "Duh, Mom, the football." I said, "Oh, you're gonna play football?" She didn't think that was very funny. And so I said, "Well, I'm not paying for out-of-state school. We live in California. Like, no, we're not doing that. That's my rule." She goes, "Well, if I go for free?" I go, "Of course. Will you help me?" There we go, off the path again, 4 years later. University of Alabama. That child got into 9 schools. Alabama was her first choice. She got a full ride. Off she went. She's now a pediatric registered nurse. So I have a doctor and a nurse, and I'm needle-phobic. Don't know how that happened. Number 3, my stepson. He did not want to go far from home. He was total opposite. He's like, "No, life's good here. I'm fine. I really don't feel like I need to go anywhere." And I said, well, maybe at least to Northern California. So he applied to one school, San Francisco State. That was it. Sink or swim. Not my strategy, but that's what he wanted to do. Luckily, he was overqualified, ended up going for free. Shellee, it has not started. It has not started. And it was going like this online, so I messaged Renee. Okay. Sorry, you guys. It says live. Yeah, she said it's not started and it was going like this online. So I don't know where the issue is. Okay, okay. Sorry everyone. Uh, yep, cuz my Wi-Fi wasn't picking it up. Okay, sorry everyone. Sorry to interrupt you. Are you sure you want to stop streaming? I'm going to keep streaming. Okay, I don't know what else to do. I know. I don't know what to do either. Can one of you check the link that we sent out to the parents? My son says there's terrible reception here, so it could be just poor reception. Because it says it's streaming well, but Carrie just checked and mine wasn't picking it up on the Wi-Fi. I wonder if it could be the weather relayed. I don't know. Okay, um, sorry. That's okay. And Renee can't see it. I'm just gonna pause here. Sorry, you guys, I just want to make sure. I didn't want to get through the presentation without— No, no, it's, it's the right thing to do, Carrie. It just says it's live. We're live streaming. Everything is good. Live chat says that there is an arrow on the video that needs to be pushed. Yours is working? Okay, okay, we're live. Just making sure. Okay, excellent. So sorry about that, everyone. I just want to make sure that the other, uh, people that were streaming were good to go. So back to, uh, San Francisco State. Off he went, didn't know his major, just kind of did his own thing, didn't want help. That was very challenging. Sister, one year later, says He went to Harvard, she went to Alabama, San Francisco. I want to go to Europe. I'm like, really? Yeah, I want to do international business. All right, we've got this, no problem. So I spent the next 4 years navigating what global education looked like. We got— there's a lot. You think there's a lot to apply here? Oh my gosh, there's no vacation. There are visas, there's work. It's, it's a lot. But I will tell you this, she got a U.S. and European— she had a dual business degree in 3 years for $27,000 total. She got to tour Europe every weekend. Bad gig, not for the right student. So hopefully that helps you to see that even if it's an Ivy, if it's state, if it's a private, if it's a public, doesn't matter. Same strategies will work. That's the goal. It's not to tell you about my kids, it's just telling you that they're the ones who challenged me. All right, so this is what we're going to talk about tonight. So we're going to talk about student positioning. These are all ways you're going to get money. That's why we're talking about them. So student positioning, obviously we have to get accepted, right? Or it doesn't matter how you paid for it. Second, your student aid index, your FAFSA and your CSS Profile. Independent scholarships, need-based scholarships, and then institutional and merit scholarships. So all of those are so critical, but if you miss the one with the star above it, you miss a lot, a lot, a lot. Okay, so I think the latest statistic, if I'm not mistaken, is 87% of families complete the FAFSA wrong. They just complete it wrong. They complete it, but they're using it like you're applying for a loan. You overcomp— you— yes, I own a very expensive nice home and we have very we have all this money. No, no, no, that is the poorest day of your life when you fill that form out. So we're going to talk a little bit about that because everybody does it wrong. I look at them all year long, and that is the biggest mistake I see. They do— the FAFSA does not look at if you own a home, so don't tell them your equity. Okay, that little thing right there will save you thousands. There's more. There's a lot more. So we're gonna get into that, but that is— getting in is part of it, and then paying for it is part of it, and they both go hand in hand. So I'm gonna share— hopefully this will play for you. That was me because he just crossed the stage and I was like, "It actually worked! I didn't pay a dime!" So I was probably the loudest person there. And that's the feeling I want you to have. So today we're going to talk about the GPA and the test scores are no longer enough to— yes, they'll get them in to some schools, but that's not going to get them enough for the money. I'm all about the money, okay? I'm getting them in and then getting them out without debt. Then we're going to talk about, yes, there are some important things that you need to know Knowledge equals no mistakes equals you get to keep your retirement. Sound good? That's what we're going to talk about. All right, this is about your student's future. This is— I'm not selling anything, I'm not going to pitch anything. This is purely educational, so please just relax into it, absorb, take notes. I'm going to try to get through this quick because I have a lot to share. If you want to talk after, we're here for you. All right, so I have to talk about this first one because every student that I talk to right now is questioning, should I even go to college? It is a new generation and we need to talk about it because if your kids are not talking about it at home, they're thinking it. They're thinking, you talk about you're still paying off your loans, you talk about you didn't use your major, Utah. I mean, the list goes on and on and on, and these kids are absorbing all of this. And the, the sad part is, is we're not sharing all of the really cool stuff about what we learned in college, right? How we got to pick our classes and our, our major and all of the great stuff. So try to share all of that as well, parents. Go on college tours, get them excited. It's an option. I help students who don't want to go to college. That's not the point. I just want them to be able to decide on their own. The other big one is influencer. Does anybody have any influencers in the room? Okay, not in this room. Maybe online. I get about one a week and then I ask them, I would love to see your business plan. And then they look at me like, what? What's a business plan? So again, different generation. They're thinking differently. We need to be thinking with them. Supporting them every step of the way. So it's important to realize that yes, college is part of their future, but it's not the endgame. It's the stepping stone to get them there. So that's part of the process. Here's the problem: college has never been more expensive or more competitive. That's reality. I'm not going to tell you that's not true. But it doesn't have to be. Every single student has a college that's perfectly fit for them. And I want you to just enjoy that moment to think, I may not have even heard of the perfect fit college. There are thousands. And so it's important to think about what is the best fit for your child, right? Academically, socially, financially, athletically, theater, whatever that may be. That's the starting point I want you to put your, your mind at. And if you have multiple kids, make multiple boxes on your page so you can kind of think about, well, for this one, this will work, that one, that will work. It's important to think about how it's going to fit each child. Just by curiosity, how many of you would rather me talk about strategies to get accepted versus affordability? It's okay to raise your hand. It's okay, it's very common. Every time I present that, the same thing. The reality is, if you don't get in, who cares? So we need both. And I'm going to touch on— you guys have an incredible counseling staff here, they are so good at what they do, so I'm going to let them dive into that. But I have to touch on it so you understand how it all plays in together. First and foremost, college is a business. I really, really want you to think about this. If you own a business, say you're a college, and I come to you and I say, "Oh, I really wanna work for your company. Like, I think you're amazing. I've heard great things. You're the best." And you will say, Where's your resume? Oh, I was on the beach. I didn't have much time. I was shopping. My friends had this going on. You're like, yeah, well, I can't really hire you without that. And they say, you know what, let me do this. I'll give you 30 days trial, but I'm going to pay you minimum wage. Okay. Child B comes and they say, I really, really want to work for you. You say, where's your resume? They bring out 4 pages, they show you that they can do your job, go on vacation, have fun, you will figure out how to pay for it. That is college. That is how you have to think about it. The kids who haven't been doing things to show that they're going to come and make the school great, why would they pay them a lot of money? The kids who are doing everything to show how amazing they are Proof? That's the thing. Remember, colleges are bringing on students. They need you as much as you need them. That's so important, right? If you don't come and pay tuition, or somebody doesn't pay tuition, there's no college. So they're looking for kids to come in and make their school better, graduate with the diploma on the wall, and start marketing all over again. So when you're thinking about this, please know it's not so much about your child as much as it is about they need so many CPAs, so many psychologists, so many mathematicians to have a balanced school, but they want the best of the best so they have the best school that everybody wants to go to, and therefore that's how the game is played. So it's important to put that part in your mind as you're thinking about this. We're going to dive in now to ways you can save as your child's going through school. I know I helped work— I help students from middle school all the way through college transfer. So it's important to think about these things equal dollars. So the first one is a strong GPA. A high GPA could get you so many scholarships. It's amazing. Right? But maybe you don't have that child. I had 1 out of 4. Okay, the next one is test scores. So there's a lot of students who want to tell their parents that testing is optional. Okay, here's the reality, parents: if you want scholarships, it is not optional. Bottom line. I wish I had better news. Yes! There's a counselor over in the corner. Happy Saturday! So I didn't tell her that's what I was gonna say, but here's the thing. If you owned a school, could you really pick students based off a GPA? Not really. So now what do you got? You have to have some tangibles to compare apples to apples, oranges to oranges. So if you don't take the test, And my student writes, "I studied so hard to get a 36 on my ACT," in their essay. Can they unsee that? Now how optional is it? Colleges say there's no box for it. You don't need a box. All you need is somebody to talk about it in an interview. So please know, parents, if money is important to you, if your child is not a good test taker, that was number 2. That is her title, "Don't Like Taking Tests." She had massive test anxiety, decent GPA. We tried everything. I mean, truly everything. Bless her heart, it was so painful. I mean, we really tried. And her brother, you know, the Harvard kid, so it was really hard. She was an athlete, she was awesome, but she struggled. She had test anxiety. So what did we do? We actually found a test strategist. Didn't know it existed. Okay, not a tutor, not a test prep, it's a strategist. What they do is they figure out how your child learns. Amazing. Start with the kid, right? Some kids learn by hearing, some by seeing, some by writing, right? Well, hers was all of it and none of it taught all of it. And so she worked with a test strategist and she increased her score by 300 points. That was scholarships. That was it. That's all she had to do. So you can see how important that can be. Yes. I understand California schools don't even look at your test score. So the question was, I understand, I'm just going to repeat it for the people online, that California schools don't even look at it. I, I agree that there's no box for it, but my point is, if I write in my essay that one of my challenges was I struggled with testing, and so I spent this much time test prepping to get my 36, how optional is it? Do you see what I'm saying? So it's all again in how you, you market or strategize for the child. But here's the thing on that question: what about if they don't test prep? Or what about if they don't test and UCs go test required next year? What's going to happen? There's a lot of kids who won't be able to apply. And this happened this year, and it happened last year to other schools, not the UCs yet, but you wait, it's coming. So we want your student to have every advantage. We know it's not fun, parents, right? None of us want to do it. But here's the other part. If your child is going to have to take the LSAT, the MCAT, the NCLEX, a test, whatever the CPA one is, a test to do what they want to do. That was my daughter. Her dream was to be a nurse. Guess what? If she didn't figure out her test anxiety, she couldn't do her dream. The NCLEX, without that, there is no nursing. Okay, so again, we're just really setting your child up for success if they learn test strategy now. I don't sell test prep, by the way, just saying, I don't. It's not what I do. I'm just telling you how to save money. It's important to understand that these same skills will take them into college and help them do well on their college tests. So it's not money wasted, it's not, it's not just money thrown away. It's really setting them up for the tests for the rest of their life. Anyway, we'll keep going. Uh, dual enrollment. Oh my gosh, so important. How many of you think that if your child takes an AP class, they should take the AP exam? Yeah. How many think they shouldn't or don't need to? Okay, don't know. That's okay, that was me. Yeah, that's cool. If you want scholarships, they better take them. That's it. All in there. Right? I mean, it's just, I know, it's hard. I get it. But here's the thing, again, business mind. You wanna think about this. If you are in college and somebody took a bunch of APs and they didn't take the test, why didn't they take the test? Did they not learn the material? Did they not want to go in on a Saturday? Do they really not want to like be educated, show proof? There's too many questions that get asked. Did you have a question? No? Okay, perfect. So AP exams, if your child gets a 3, 4, or 5, right, on 3 or more, they're an AP Scholar. Did any of you know that on the UC app there's 20 spots for activities, honors, and awards? 20! That's a lot! On the Common App there's 10. If you're an AP Scholar, guess what? They— boom! Right at the top. So easy. So easy. Not for me, but for you. Go ahead. Because I don't know the difference. How is it impacted between the score that you get for AP classes that your students are enrolled in versus how well they do in the actual final AP test itself for that class? So every college will look at it uniquely, so that's why it is a little confusing. Sorry, the question was, um, I'll summarize it, that, uh, the AP exam— so you have the AP grade in the class and then you have the AP exam score. And how important are each? This— this— did I get your question? Yeah. So here's the thing: if your child gets an A in their AP class and gets a 1 on the AP exam, probably not good news. Probably not good news. Either grade inflation or they have major test anxiety, right? But the chances of that happening probably very low. Most students who are getting an A and a B get a 3, 4, or 5. So I have students who take AP exams without taking the class, so they can self-study and do it on their own. So there's lots of ways to do it. So that's a great question. It's really important showing proof. There are so many schools— there's a school right now that has smiley faces and sad faces as their markings, their grades, because they don't want anybody to feel bad. So I, I need you to understand, like, you, you're seeing— your school is amazing, and I'm sure all of yours are amazing too, but there are schools out there that make colleges question, is there grade inflation, right? They have to show proof, and when it's a standardized test, they're showing proof. All right, choosing the college your student will graduate in 4 years— massive, massive, massive. I can show you, and I have a program that can show you what percentage of students will graduate from that college, that college, in 4 years, how many take 5 years, how many take 6 years, and what percentage actually graduate. Opportunity cost is real, parents. Right? You think it's cheaper to go to a school that's less expensive, but what if they're there 5 years, 6 years, 7 years, 8 years? Now how cheap is it? That's not— our, our schools are overcrowded in California because we have great schools and people want to come to California. I understand as taxpayers that's not right, totally get it. But that's our reality. So our state schools are so overcrowded that it's taking students to go to summer school and winter session and school all year round to hit 4 years. And as long as your child knows that and they're willing to do it and you're fine on it, awesome. But otherwise, just know that for other students, they're like, no, I'm not going to school 5, 6 years to get a 4-year degree. That's silly. That is correct. So academically, financially, look for out-of-state public schools that offer the WUE, or even schools that offer— they'll match your state's tuition. There are plenty of them. And then look for private schools that meet 100% of need. If you're a need-based family, there are schools that if you get in, they'll pay. Harvard's one of them, by the way. If you get in, you make less than $200,000, they will pay the full pot, everything. Okay, so endowments are real. They have $53 billion, I think, right now. All right, what affects college admissions? I'm going to kind of breeze through this because I'm, I know that this is focused on the financial part. Admissions has changed. Here's the number one misconception: why apply to two schools? I put a stamp on it, I sent it in, it was not a big deal. I don't know what you're stressing about. It's not like that anymore. That is the real challenge. So I'm gonna go ahead and take off my Little Miss Jacket because I'm getting really warm. Um, not that I— oh, okay. So you want to have grades. Grades are always king of king, queen of queen. Top-notch, super important, but they're not the only thing. Your weighted GPA— some colleges are going to look at how many AP, how many IB, how many dual enrollment. Your test scores: ACT, SAT, PSAT, and APs. Your class rank— not every high school ranks, ask your high school. Extracurricular activities, uh, this is important, unique. Ask your child this question tonight, parents. It's one of my favorite. Look them in the eye and say, "Who are you?" She's looking at me going, "Ah, don't ask me that. That's not fair." I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you embarrassed. But this is a reality. When I meet with students, I look at them and I say, "Who are you?" They tell me their name. They tell me where they live. Maybe they'll say their sport. Colleges want to know. They really want to know. That's why they ask for essays. So please help your student understand who they are. Their uniqueness will get them accepted and get them scholarships. There's a scholarship right now, $10,000, if you're a vegan. Just saying, could be a vegan for 10 grand. Do you have to prove it? I don't believe you have to prove it, but I don't know, I could prove it. I really could do that for some time. It wouldn't be that terrible. But truly, their uniqueness is worth so much. They're special. And then if I really want to embarrass them, I say, "Can you tell me what your grandparent would say about you?" And they're like, "Oh, so embarrassing." I said, "That's what you need to put on your college application." That's the uniqueness. All right, essays, critical, icing on the cake, very, very important. Their interests, special skills, passions, letters of recommendation, diversity, leadership, and college interviews. If you have a student that has an opportunity to do an interview, say yes. Say yes, my son interviews for Harvard and for UC San Diego Medical School, and all they're looking for is for the student to talk about what they did. That's how they know if they really did it, okay? All they wanna know, they're not looking to mess 'em up, they're not looking for bad stuff, they just wanna hear the student talk about their experience. You can't make that up. We're gonna briefly talk about U.S. News and World Report. I was just published an article about the nurses and the situation with nurses right now and loans and such. But I bring this up because you have to be careful when you choose colleges based on the U.S. News and World Report. You are basically doing that based off advertising. The U.S. News and World Report only looks at Um, I'll give you an example, and hopefully that doesn't make anybody sad, but if you have a student who takes the PSAT their junior year, that's the money round, that's the one they need to take. When they do, they're going to get a barrage: apply here, apply here, apply here, apply here, apply here. And guess what? That is because they want their numbers to look good, right? Every time somebody applies they look good. And every time they say no, oh, now it's harder to get in that school. The school rankings go up. That's U.S. News and World Report. Okay, be very careful what you read, who you trust, what you Google, because it's not all real. I mean, it is real, but it's made up from advertising fictitious numbers. So it's It's a game that they're playing. This person, this top secret person called Strategic Enrollment Manager, this is the one we care about. This is the one who's at the admissions department. One of my consultants was the Dean of Students for the Claremont McKenna Schools, and she tells this better than anyone. But her story goes, everybody reads applications and essays. They spend about 4 to 6 minutes. Doing so. And as they're going through, right, they're, they're making sure that yes, everything checks out. And then that, that reader passes it on to another reader, and they— if they get lucky, they go to there. If they use AI, they don't go there, they go to a whole nother pile. But that's a whole nother thing. Um, and then the strategic enrollment manager is the one who gets all of them around the table and says, okay, well, we only have this much room in our business department, we only have this much room in our art department, and they have to balance and juggle all of this. So you can have the most amazing student, but if they're applying to a major that's already overcrowded, that's just going to be more competitive. It has nothing to do with how amazing they are or aren't, and that's why so many people are pulling out their hair going, "Who gets in?" Because it just comes down to they can't have all geography majors and then lay off all of these other teachers. So they have to have an enrollment manager. All right, so GPA and test scores, yes, we know they're important, but here's the big question. You want the money? Show me the money. How will they stand out? These out— especially the UCs— thousands and thousands and thousands. I can't even remember how many it was last year. And it goes up every year. Most students in California will apply to at least half, if not all, UCs. That's just a reality. That's causing so much pressure on the system that it's really challenging to be there. Okay, so how are they going to stand out other than their GPA and their test score? This is where the, the acceptance comes, and this is where the money comes. All right, and then their test scores— I already hit on that. All right, so I'm going to give you a brief case study so you can kind of wrap your mind around this. Remember, I'm a parent of 4 and I've sat in your chair, and so I want you to think about it this way. So Marcus, his dream was to go to UCLA, and he really wanted to be in the music department. He had a 4.1 GPA. Marcus got accepted, but he didn't get into his major that he originally thought he wanted to apply with. But what we did is they— we, we contacted the music department at UCLA and we said, you know, who's graduating? What instrument? Oh, oh, bassoon. We're gonna need a bassoon. Guess what Marcus learned how to play? Dabasoo. Got into the music department, Marcus lived his dream, all was great. So it really comes down to how does your student fit into the school. The essays, I can't explain how important this is. If they apply to a UC school, they're gonna have 4 PIQs. If they apply, so at some schools, just to say, There's one school right now, 18 essays. One school, 18 essays. I agree, don't understand why. It keeps a lot of kids from applying there, maybe that's why. But on average, most students, you know, 4 or 5, it's not crazy. State schools, nada, don't have to worry about it. But just remember that the essay is really, Who are they? That's the thing that sets them apart. So I know it's not fun for the student, and students, that's the thing that's going to help you get in. So the essay is really an important piece, especially for many. So what we use is we use— I put together what we call the vault. It's 18 years of my intellectual property. I was going to show you, but we're already getting tight on time. Inside of here I can show you, and I'm sure you— do you guys use Naviance here? Okay, we use Score. Score, okay. So there's different versions of this, and different high schools will have different versions. We actually have a proprietary software of my 18 years and my 2 books. And, um, what, what we'd like you to know is how much a school is going to cost before you apply. Wouldn't that be helpful? Like a real number, not the number like the sticker price, right? Because that's the sticker price. We want you to know what the real number looks like. And so I'm going to give you an opportunity later— there's no cost— to learn your student aid index. That's the number you need to know to know how much a school is going to cost you. And I'm going to just— there's going to be a QR code. Oh, it's in your file folder, and then there's going to be a QR code online. That's just for you guys. It's a— it's the place to start if you care about money Why not know what a school is going to cost? We can show you if the school is generous or if they're stingy. That's important to know, right? Because if you don't want to pay full price, you don't want to apply to stingy schools. Okay, so again, we're looking for an affordable college degree, and here's different ways that you can leverage it. I spoke on most of them. Um, so This is important because most people think, I make too much money, I'm not gonna get anything. That is not true, okay? There are buckets of money. There's the need-based bucket, there's the institutional bucket. That's the biggest money, you guys, comes from the school themselves. That's the big money, right? In 18 years, college-ready students have earned over $80 million. That's a lot of money. Last year alone, we had 29 students get $10.3 million. I really care about this stuff. It's very, very important to me because I was in your seat. I went to Laguna Beach High School, had blonde hair, blue eyes, like I was like that kid, and I was terrified thinking, how am I going to pay for this? It's just sick. Harvard was $63,000 then. Now it's even worse than that. So please know, don't just stop there, because there are lots of ways to do it. Think about this, right? You wouldn't go— well, maybe in California, but in most of the country, you wouldn't go to an open house, pull out the flyer, and go, oh yeah, I'll pay that. No, you would be like, let's see the comps, let's go. Like, what else is there? You would negotiate. What about a car? You walk onto a car lot, you're not gonna go, oh yeah, I wanna pay that price right on the sticker there, that one looks good. No, but why would you do it for college? People all the time, it makes me crazy. I'm thinking it's the only thing that I can think of where people are happy to pay the price on the sticker. You don't need to do that. The FAFSA is a way to help you navigate that process, but keep in mind the FAFSA looks at some of your assets and not on the others. Wink wink, know which assets, right? I mean, they lay it out, it's tax code, right? You can do your own taxes or you hire a CPA, same type of thing. So just know It's knowledge, and the knowledge is out there. So that's what my job is, to help you guys understand and have empowerment. All right, so, um, here's another question I get all the time. Um, do you know how much it will cost you if you pick the wrong college? Picking the right colleges is the hardest part of this process, right? Of course we have all of the fits, but then we have the financial fit. Well, what if they pick the wrong one? Well, not every college has every major. That means they're going to have to transfer. To transfer, add another $100,000. Ouch. And they have to leave all the new friends they just made. It's so much easier, just do it right from the beginning. Save you time, money, and a lot of frustration. So the admissions process is challenging, but there are lots of opportunity for you. And I want to jump in to the cost. How we doing on time? All right, I have a parent testimonial from a Laguna Beach High School. I don't know if you guys know the Kohlberg family, um, but Caitlin Kohlberg— that's her mom Cheryl— she was one of my clients, and Caitlin dreamt of NYU, dreamt of it. That's all she talked about for 4 years. And then she got into Berkeley. And then she's like, wow, that's kind of cool. And her parents are like, that's really cool, because NYU is like almost $100,000 a year and Berkeley's not close to that yet. Um, so Shellee Howard tells the story of our conversation where I was talking to Caitlin about the reality of financial literacy, the importance of getting a really good degree and being able to continue to not go into debt and to— if she wants to go and get her master's. She's actually going to go get her master's from NYU, so it all, it all worked out that she got there anyway. But the nice part is she didn't go into debt. She got her 4 years at Berkeley, had an awesome experience, such a perfect fit for that family. So it's on my YouTube channel if you want to hear the, the story. Alright, now we're gonna dive deeper. We're gonna talk about my income's too high, my child's grades are too low, we own a home, it is only for special groups, it's not as hard to apply DIY, high school advisors will do it all. How do you feel about doing it all? They'll even do the applications. No, these are all realities of what families come to us, and I want everybody to know I love our high school advisors. They, they are angels in my book. What they get to do every day is amazing. The number of schools— you guys have like 200 per grade here at Laguna Beach. My son's class had 4,000 per grade, and they had 2 counselors. He didn't get to see his counselor one time. You all are pretty lucky here that you have a much smaller ratio. Lots of people online may not have that same situation. So I just want you to realize, like, they need you as a parent for sure. You guys have a great school, great staff, but they don't truly understand financially how this can set them back. And then if they marry somebody with debt, now they're double-debted. You know what I'm talking about? So they need you to talk about this, and that's why I'm talking about it, so you can now talk about it to them. All right, so this is, this is what we're going to talk about when we talk to our students. So the reality of a full ride for an athletic scholarship, or a full ride for any scholarship, but athletics especially, is about 1.7%. 1.7%. So for all of you who are paying for private hockey lessons and I don't know, my daughter was a competitive cheerleader that cost me way too much money every year. And you know, we get caught up in it, and it's good, balance is good, but just be mindful when they need a tutor or they need a batting coach, go for the, the tutor, right? Every time, that, that's, that's the thing that's going to take them where they need to go. The athletics is what's going to help get them accepted. Okay, the chances of a full ride if they're in basketball or football— those are money-generating sports. Okay, when they bring in the cash flow, they can get the cash flow. I have students who are gymnasts. I even have a student who's a bowler. I have a student who's an ice skater. There's no full rides for that. They're amazing. They're Olympic potential, but there's no funds for that. So please know, parents, it's really good. I, I showed you I was the first to start softball at the school. Like, I believe in sports. I played for the USA. But be careful to hope that all of that's going to pay for it, okay? So when you talk to your child, yes, let's keep doing it. It's great, it's balanced. Unless they are all-league, all-state, varsity, 4-year letter, D1 is probably not going to happen. Okay, that's just what we have to be mindful of. I work with scholar athletes all the time. My first two were. All right, um, the next one: private scholarships are available, um, to everyone. Guess what? Your child in 8th grade can start applying for college scholarships. 8th grade. But yet everybody starts talking about on their senior year. When are they the least busy, right? The summer between 8th grade and 9th grade. Nobody's doing anything. That is a perfect time. They can't even probably have a job yet, they're so young. That is a great time to really start this process for the, for the, the scholarships that that they can apply to. There are some scholarships that if they don't apply to by their junior year, they're gone. Gone. You can't go back. And remember, the FAFSA looks at the second semester of the sophomore year and the first semester of the junior year. So for those of you who are like, well, what? I'll repeat it. The second semester of their sophomore year and the first semester of their junior year. That is their FAFSA year. You will not apply for the FAFSA until October of their senior year, but it's called a double look-back. Okay, so they are going to look at your taxes 2 years prior. That changed just a few years ago because everybody kept saying, oh, I'm filing an extension, I'm gonna file another extension, and that, that just doesn't work. So you definitely need to have your taxes done. All right, um, there are legitimate websites, but be very careful. I can give you some, I'm happy to do so, that are legit. But if it— if there's no essay required, do not have your child give them, yes, we own a home, yes, we own a car, yes, we live in Laguna, whatever that is, because you're going to get refi now, buy a new car, Be very careful, okay? They are, they're teenagers and they don't understand what information is safe and what is not. They need you to help put on those guardrails for them so it is safe for them. Also, have them do a throwaway email for scholarships, first name last name at gmail.com, and spam will go crazy in there because there's just a lot of stuff. There's a lot of really good scholarships though, you guys. My son got this Coca-Cola scholarship. It was $25,000 a year for 4 years. He didn't have to do anything for it. Well, he had to keep his grades up, but he had to keep his grades up anyway. So just know, like, there's some really good ones. Nordstrom— any Nordstrom shoppers? There's some really good money at Nordstrom. So there's lots of opportunity And then look at scholarships from your employer. Oh my gosh, we often forget a lot of employers will do a match. A lot of employers will— I have employers that pay for my services. Employers are a really great resource. For school teachers, you can go to your credit unions. If you're in civic, community service, Rotary, you can do that. There are lots of, lots of money, and I want you to know how to get to it. All right, we're gonna keep going. These are private scholarships our students have won. We talked about that. Okay, we're gonna jump into the SAI. This is such an important piece. Okay, many people think, I make too much money. I get it, that was me. This SAI, the Student Aid Indicator, is is going to tell you based on a few factors on how much money each school will cost you if your child doesn't get scholarships. Then I can tell you which of those— the high end of what people received and the low end of what people received. And if you look at the high end, the most money people received, and you're still like, oh, don't apply there because they're not going to have this miraculous thing, right? There's two schools right now that are super popular for class of 2026 that are incredibly stingy, and I'm a little worried for these families, but I can only lead them to water, right? So just be mindful. Um, it looks at your parents' income, the parents' assets, student income, student asset Assets, assets. Not all assets are the same. There's lots of assets they do not look at, and that is where you want to keep your money. Okay, there's lots of assets they do not look at, so I just want to let you know that is an opportunity. Happy to go in deeper with that. Um, the FAFSA is important. You definitely want to complete it. The CSS Profile is only for typically your private school schools? Um, not, not all schools. All right, there's two types of institutional aid. Um, here's where the big money comes in. Like I mentioned, my son got a full ride at USC. What that entailed is he had to go— well, he had to apply by a certain deadline, a special early deadline that nobody told us about, but I had happened to do the research. He applied by that to that He then had to do a panel interview, and then he had to do a one-to-one interview, and then he won the presidential scholarship, which was the full ride. That opportunity led to other schools offering full rides because now they're competing for him. That is what we're talking about. It's helping students understand how do they get into that position. So there's Self-help as well. There's work-study. Say you have a student and they can apply to do work-study. My son, he did college tours at Harvard and he led, you know, all the people around when they came to visit. Little, little secret, parents, when you're on that visit, my son used to tell his friends to drive by or bike by and wish him happy birthday. Why? You get big tips when it's your birthday. Yes, that's a Harvard kid for you. Um, and then my daughter was at the gym. She thought, how much closer can I get to the football team than at the gym? So, you know, we, we had to work at the gym. All right, so you can ask for more money. Absolutely you can, but you have to have a good reason. You can't just say, oh yeah, I really didn't want to pay that much. So, you know that thing called senioritis? Yeah, it happens. And when it happens, it's real hard to negotiate, and it's really hard to get off the waitlist. So they need you, parents. They need you to continue to cheer them on, to push them forward, to help them understand it's not over until they graduate. Too many— at least the UCs are putting so many kids on the waitlist. The only way to get off the waitlist is with something new. So if you stop and there's nothing new, what are you gonna do? You just have to wait patiently. That's kind of not very fun. So our students are continuing on to do amazing things, and guess what? It's good for them. It's not just for college, it's stuff to make them a better person. All right, this is what an award letter would look like. This isn't just an example. Why I show this is because it makes me crazy. It makes it look like they're giving you a ton of money, but really they're giving you a ton of opportunities for loans. You have to really look close, parents. It looks like you are receiving this huge award letter and And then when you go line by line by line, you're like, no, no, no, no, that's a Parent PLUS loan, that, that's a Stafford loan, that these are a bunch of loans. That is not free. There are opportunities, but this is it. It's like, you know, when you, when you buy a home, you don't just sign your name. Like, you're, you're looking at all the details. You gotta look at the details. Alright, we talked about institutional, need-based, and merit-based. I'm going to talk briefly on merit-based, and then we're going to dive into something fun, tech, wrapping it up. Alright, so merit-based. This is for some students, not for all students, right? I had 1 of 4, and— thank you, sir, that's super helpful. I appreciate that. And so for those of you who have a merit-based student, there's a lot of money. That's all I'm gonna say. For those of you who don't think they are, they are at a school, maybe not their dream school, but they are at a school. We've had more students get a full ride at Chapman University right here down the road than any other school, period. It is an incredibly generous school. Don't look at their price tag because it'll freak you out. Right? But just know that's this year, last year, it changes all the time, so we got to stay on top of it. College obviously is going up. Important fact here: private schools can be cheaper than public schools. Yes, you've heard it, it's true, all day long. Remember my daughter? Remember my son? This is the reality. Private schools typically have more money And so they are typically looking to pay for good students to compete with the lower-priced public. All right, so we're going to wrap it up. You can pretend it's not going to happen, put your head in the sand, do it yourself, hire an expert, but this is what you need to do. So if you want to take a picture of this, this is the reality. I spent 30 hours a week on top of my full-time career. I don't want you to take it that this is going to be an easy thing. Your counselors are amazing, but they cannot do it alone. They can't, right? They need you, the parent. They need you, the student. They need a team. I call it a village. I have a podcast called Parents, Is Your Teen College Ready? And if you listen to it, I bring in specialists from every single area that you could possibly need to give you wisdom, because that's what it needs for your family to be successful through this process. Last thing is, you have in your folder— I want to end with this, it's 2 minutes, hopefully you can give me a little grace here, but it's definitely worth your time. I'm Layla. I'm Henry Nielsen-Kausch. My name is Mila Brugge. My name is Ryan Stradgold. I have led my group to agree on a fundraising goal of $7,500 US dollars, and this year we have sent over 300 copies of our different medical-related booklets, which are all written and illustrated by What our group's goal for this project was, was to raise funds in order to buy all of the soccer equipment that they could ever need to play safely and happily. Countless young female students face challenges attending school regularly because they lack access to menstrual products. Each pad we sew, each educational booklet we make, and each fundraising effort we undertake is a step towards restoring not only their hope, but my hope for an empowered future. In the future, I hope to expand our project to the greatest magnitude it can possibly be. Together, we can create a world where no girl has to choose between her health and her education. I hope that in the future I can help these kids in Uganda more than just software. I hope to be able to spread power and education all over the world. Okay, thank you. I share that because it's a student-led student-led organization. This is what students— this is standing out. This is what these kids are doing. I share that because many people feel, I'm too busy, I'm too this, I'm too that. Two of those kids got a full ride to UCLA medicine biology. That's huge. That's huge. That's life-changing big time. If you have a child who maybe is not sure what they want to do, or— it's a, it's a free— it's my service. So College Ready, um, is my company, but this is my nonprofit. And I did this because I want to inspire teenagers to find their passion, live with purpose, and find their why. And so if you're not sure how to help your child do that, have them join. It's 1 hour a week online. It's global. We built 2 schools in Uganda, an orphanage in Oaxaca. We've raised over $48,000. These kids are amazing. It's student-led. I just mentor. I'm behind the scenes chatting, telling them what to do, but it's leadership. They can earn 8 national awards, 4 leadership certifications. I just want to inspire you parents. They need help with this. They just do. There's no other way around it. So thank you all for coming. It's been my pleasure, and thanks for joining online.