Nicole Jones - The College Assistance Plan

Posted on Nov 04, 2015

Arnie Pechler introduced our guest speaker Nicole Jones, who spoke about college planning. She is pictured here with Arnie (left) and president Mark Clement (right).

Nicole Jones put out an interesting thought at our meeting today: If you told your 14-year-old son or daughter that you were going to buy a house for $200,000 and that they could pick the house and furnish it, would you be comfortable entrusting that decision to them? It may be a little terrifying to think about, but that is the kind of purchasing power you are handing over when your child starts to look at colleges. And that’s why it’s important to be proactive and prepared for your children’s college expenses. The College Assistance Plan helps parents with the planning and decision-making.

It is important to be aware of the mistakes, aware of the numbers. 40% of the kids who start college drop out. They don’t receive a degree but leave school with debt, sometimes as much as $50,000 in loans. The average time to graduation is now 5-1/2 years. This is due to many factors including class availability and class size. On average, students change majors 4 times during their college career. Each time they change their major, more time will be required to complete their degree, adding more costs. One in three students at your kid’s school will transfer or drop out. Why is that relevant? The longer your student stays enrolled, the more valuable they become to that school, which gives you some leverage.

College education can be viewed as a commodity, with you as the consumer. It’s in the interest of the colleges to make you view them as exclusive and prestigious. That’s why the letter comes saying, “Congratulations! You’ve been accepted…” You are the consumer and have the final say in where your child goes to college. If you were buying a house or a car, you would likely try to negotiate the best price, rather than just paying the asking price. Most people don’t realize you can negotiate with the college with the potential to get a better deal.

Nicole stressed the importance of prepping students early. Push your children, starting in 9th grade, to do well academically. Very few students will be offered “full-ride” scholarships for athletics, but colleges like to have high graduation rates and to have their graduates go on to successful careers. Having high SAT scores and good academic records make your child more attractive to those schools.

The planners at the College Assistance Plan can help decipher the financial assistance letters that colleges send out. Nicole cited one instance where the student’s financial aid package seemed to indicate that he could attend his school for $10,000 per year. (The college’s standard tuition rate was $55,000/year.) After reviewing the offers in the letter, they discovered that in addition to the three scholarships offered, there were four loans. Obviously the loans would need to be re-paid, making the actual cost $40,000 per year.

Other services provided by the College Assistance Plan include: choosing the right college major, help with college search, the financial aid process, completing the FAFSA (or not), and understanding 529 plans and other education savings accounts. Information about the College Assistance Plan can be found on their website www.collegeassistanceplan.com or our own Arnie Pechler can put you in contact with them.