Most students go to college for a few simple reasons, but the reasons are rarely well thought out.
They include reasons like:
- The student wanting to live in an active and alive environment, like college – away from home.
- The student wanting to have fun
- The student wanting to find themselves
- The student wanting to earn more money than their friends who don’t go to college
- The student wanting to go to a “brand” name college or an Ivy League college
Unfortunately, in today’s college environment, things don’t often work out the way students or parents intend. In fact, today’s college reality – because of poor college planning — is:
- 50% of the students who start college never graduate. They end up with some college time but no degree… And that means that most of their college expenses were wasted.
- 26% of college freshmen dropout during their first year.
- 38% of college freshmen never return to college for their sophomore year.
- 48% of the people, graduating from college in 2006, moved back to live in their parent’s home – bad news for the both parents and the student.
- 80% of all college graduates, in 2009, had no job five months after graduating.
- Within four years after graduating from college, 40% of college graduates end up working in careers that are unrelated to their college majors.… And many graduates NEVER figure out what they really want to do.
- 55% of the US population, in 2009, was not satisfied with their jobs
- 22% of all employees, in 2009, expected to change jobs within the next year.
- Today, the average college graduate has accumulated student loans of over $25,000 and credit card debts of over $5,000. That means that they will enter the workforce with a big iron ball chained to their ankle.
- And… In 2009, about 65% of college graduates had student loans and about 33% of those students will default on their student loans. That will create both additional costs for the student and serious long-term financial difficulty for the student.
None of these disasters needed to occur.
ALL occurred because of “POOR COLLEGE PLANNING”.
If you and your student invest the average $80,000 for a four-year degree at a public college, or $200,000 for a four-year degree in a “brand” name college like Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, then you certainly do not want those kinds of results, do you? The sad truth is that most college students are just wasting money because they’re going to the wrong college, for the wrong reason, and the wrong price.
But, what makes all this really sad is that most of these problems are the direct result of students and parents not beginning to think about college until the student is in their Junior or Senior year of high school. Planning for college is simply put off. And by the time they finally do start thinking about it, the students and parents not only don’t know ANSWERS to the things they need to know, they don’t even know the QUESTIONS that they need to ask.
During high school both parents and students:
- Either do not have, or do not take, the time to deal with college planning.
- They do not know what is significant, and what is important, when it comes to college planning.
- They have not saved money for college.
- And, they assume that it is the parents’ responsibility to financially get their student through college.
Then, when college abruptly comes to the forefront in the student’s senior year, both parents and students start to panic about college, and that nearly always leads to bad decisions that result in paying way too much for a college education. Is that what you want?
And you WILL pay too much for college:
- If your student goes to college but never graduates.
- If your student selects the wrong major.
- If your student changes majors because of indecision.
- If your student fails to select a college that really wants them.
- If your student selects a college on the basis of where their friends go.
- If your student expects YOU – the parent – to be responsible for paying for their education.
- If your student changes colleges without a plan.
- If your student is not among the top academic students of the college they attend.
- If your student does not have a special talent that is valued by the college they attend.
- If your student does not manage their personal finances well.
- Or — if you and your student do not follow the college’s unique rules for applying and receiving institutional scholarships or discounts.
So, what can you do to avoid these problems for your student and yourself?
Discover a comprehensive program designed to give your student the guidance and resources to not only choose the right college path, but how to save a tremendous amount of money along the way.