HOW A WELL TRAINED COLLEGE CONSULTANT CAN SAVE YOU MONEY

A well trained college consultant, while parents feel are expensive, can save a family several thousands of dollars in ERRORS or MISTAKES.

I just recently had a father come up to talk to me while I was having coffee --"I am so distraught, I don't know what to do. My daughter calls herself an "aspiring artist" and she was at UCLA but she has dropped out cause she says it is not the right school for her and that she does not feel like she can fit in-- I dont know what to do, I wish she would go back"

I hate to hear these stories, and this poor man is part of the UNDER employed in our country right now. He is trying to give his daughter opportunities, but he has NO CLUE where to start... so I asked to meet his daughter.

One look at her told me she did not belong at UCLA. I was not sure how she had been accepted, but she had and she had gone, and now we had to pick up the pieces. Her work is unbelievably good and she told me what she wants to do.

I sat down later in the day and looked at schools that might help her.. the two schools that jump out at me repeatively, and look to be a good fit are NYU and Otis/Parsons Institute.

I talked again to her father when I saw him and told him about these schools and he said,"you know my daughter visited NYU and loved it.. she wanted to go there, but I did not think it was a good idea because we dont have the money"


I asked him if he had applied for financial aid, and his daughter had a great award from UCLA...

So I asked him to consider letting me have a couple of hours with her to see if we can rework her educational efforts and see if we can get her on track.

This is a story I hear a lot, and it is no wonder that only about 52.% of all college students graduate in 5-6 years, after that no one knows. High School counselors had a different agenda, their goal is to matriculate students to college and then what happens, happens.

As a consultant, my goal is a little different. My goal is to not only matriculate the student to college, but help them walk through another graduation ceremony,

As for this man's daughter, I am hoping to work with her so that I can help her reach her goals. She lost one year going to UCLA, and hopefully we can transfer the units... so schools accept it, some don't --- and she has lost this year being lost.. so two years out, she is confused, lost time, and is looking for the next step.

I am confident I can salvage this situation and get this girl on track, but so many student's go down the same road.

Most of the time, students will follow their college search based on a best friend and their advice of where to go to school, followed by a good relative, sibling and then a parent.

A good college consultant can encourage a student to think through their selection and choices of schools. They can help a student blossom into the next stage of life and find a positive experience for both the student and family.

The goal is to find the RIGHT situation so that the student completes their course of study and graduates.