News

Blog Menu

College Studies, Forward or Backward

Posted by Hans Hanson

What will your child do, study forward or backward?
That's the million dollar question.

No, it's four million!

Clearly not enough effort or forethought goes in to choosing a college study plan. Students are choosing majors that "sound cool"; or they choose a major that mom or dad suggests based on their perspective, which is typically outdated. Outdated means that it relates to jobs of the past, not jobs of the future. The result is that students are studying for non-growth jobs with lower income opportunity.

In a recent study, it is revealed that only 25% of college graduates get jobs related to their college studies; 25% are unemployed; and 50% are working jobs that don't require a college education. Well, that's rather alarming, but not surprising.

Read all about this and much more in our new book- Dissecting the Big Business of College

For saving college costs, here's our Strategy # 9- Study forward, it’s about the 2020’s

Studying-forward is studying for jobs of the 2020’s, the jobs being projected for growth and good wages. Studying-forward will project your income favorably.

Studying–backward refers to studying for jobs from the 1990’s, the jobs being occupied by 45-year-olds who intend to keep them for another 20 years. Studying-backward will likely result in underperforming career earnings.

Many of the old job classifications come with more competition for fewer openings, which means lower starting pay and slower income growth. Therefore, it can be estimated in some cases that lifetime earnings for those studying-forward could accumulate in $4,000,000 additional income over those studying-backward. That gets my attention! How about yours?

Studying-forward seems college logical to me! Studying the wrong major is a family budget crusher, career blaster, and seems illogical to me.

Our student-families save thousands on college costs, and you can too. All you have to do is want to, and ask us how we can help.

Hans
Founder CollegeLogic
Office # 203.470.3704

Um, an expression of doubt or uncertainty

Posted by Hans Hanson

Students arrive everyday on college visits completely unprepared for the visit.

That's just the cold-hard fact!

Here's a quick test of your child's preparedness-

Ask your child, or have someone else ask-

"What interests do you have in college studies?

If their first word is "Um", they are unprepared, simple as that! If their response is made in five words or less, then they are completely unprepared. Don't blame the colleges for disappointing scholarships or surprising denials. Unpreparedness comes at a big cost.

Read all about this and much more in our new book-

Dissecting the Big Business of College

For saving college costs, here's our Strategy # 8- Vision Recruiting, a look into the future

Establishing credibility and value with colleges requires a lot more thought, preparation, and execution than to merely arrive on campus to follow around on a campus tour.

College officials are tired of hearing the same standard responses ranging in words from one to five, such as-

um, I don’t know
um, I’m undecided
um, I haven’t thought about it
um, maybe business, maybe technology
um...

From the college perspective, that of the Admission Office, these responses show very little thought of the student, add no value and typically serve to reflect negatively upon the student. Parents seem carefree about it. Why? Because the college is not encouraging them otherwise. The college knows these responses lead to extended college terms. It's playing right into their hands.

In order to create value and distinguish yourself from the masses of applicants otherwise, it’s necessary to be able to express yourself when asked to do so. This means that you are able to express your vision for what you want from the college experience and how it will prepare you for adult life thereafter. Colleges and their admissions staff value this greatly. We call it Vision Recruiting. It seems college-logical to me.

The Basis Behind College Rankings is a Farce!

Posted by Hans Hanson

A top priority of every college president is to protect their college ranking. If successful, then money will flow.

College rankings...let's evaluate the criteria-

the 4-year graduation rate
GPA of incoming freshmen
job placement for graduates
average pay for those jobs
internship opportunity
study abroad opportunity
research opportunity
range and depth of study programs

That all makes sense, right? Sure it does, those factors would naturally reflect in a college's ranking. But none of those factors are included in the college ranking.

Furthermore, the # 1 weighted factor for college rankings carrying 18% weight is of all things, the 6-year graduation rate. Since when is six years the standard? That's preposterous, defined as "utterly absurd"!

There's no wonder the national average time it takes to graduate in a 4-year degree is 5.8 years!

Read all about this and much more in our new book-

Dissecting the Big Business of College

For saving college costs, here's our Strategy # 7- Learn how each college distributes financial aid

College education is a debt-fueled business with parents borrowing from every imaginable source to fund their child’s college expense. Colleges are making it easier by offering “parent loans” and doing so as a substitute for financial aid, blind-siding parents across America. This too is preposterous. I call it the "financialization of college".

It's now the parents job to visit the Financial Aid office during their college visits to find out precisely how they distribute financial aid. Otherwise, you will be blind-sided just the same. No longer can parents hear the chatter and rely on it, rather, parents need to discern the difference between fallacy and reality. This seems college-logical to me!

Whose Lead do You Follow?

Posted by Hans Hanson

No one follows the lead of a seller's realtor when negotiating a deal to buy a house.

Why do parents follow the lead of the college in negotiating a deal to buy a college education?

That's exactly what parents do when they attend college information sessions and arrive home to preach their gospel. The information-session presenter on campus tours are highly trained to get parents to think how they want them to think. It's their strategy to get your buy-in to their business model.

CollegeLogic-parents often know more details of the college they are visiting then do the presenters. It's part of prequalifying the college for understanding what they might be buying. It's the same as getting to know everything you can about a house before you visit and enter purchasing discussions.

In those information sessions, following the presenter's lead is like following the lead of the seller's realtor. They will tell you what they want you to believe, such as-

you don't have to know what you want to study
you don't have to submit SAT/ ACT scores
if you submit ED and get accepted, you must cancel other applications
we meet demonstrated-need at 100%
our graduates have a 90% job placement rate

If you arrive home and base your college plan on their instruction, then you will be falling prey to the big business of college.

Read all about here in our new book-

Dissecting the Big Business of College

For saving college costs, here's our Strategy # 6- Have a plan to create quality options

Our application-strategy is designed to get 6 - 8 acceptances resulting in a range of costs centered around the academic standard of the student. In doing so, we like to create a baseline of cost-affordability for comparison purposes. This creates leverage and choices in preventing a cost-prohibitive college outcome, now that’s college-logical!

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

Posted by Hans Hanson

Anything without a plan is left to guesswork and random chance.

When parents think high school counselors will take care of the college process for them, then a random college choice is what to expect.

When parents think travel team coaches will take care of their recruiting for them, then a random chance is what to expect.

When parents think the college will show them how to save on college costs, then overpaying for college is what to expect.

In all three situations, each is a matter of reactive behavior resulting in typical, undesired outcomes. That might be ok for buying a pair of shoes, but not for buying a college education!

If better outcomes result from being knowledgeable, aware, and involved in the college process long in advance of submitting applications and settling on college costs, then why don't more parents do it?

It's not convenient
They don't know how
They don't know when
They are too consumed with other matters
It's easier and less expensive to rely on others

That's a prescription for choosing wrong colleges, studying wrong majors, staying in college too long, overpaying for college, and for athletes, sitting on the bench.

Learn all about this and much more in our new book-

Dissecting the Big Business of College

For saving college costs, here's our Strategy # 5- Have a plan to submit early applications

Most people randomly submit applications to a handful of colleges without having a strategic plan. They hope to get accepted into a few of them, then make a college choice leaving the worry of costs and possible majors until later. Not us. Rather, we have a defined plan to win preferred acceptances and maximize scholarships.

Our client-families submit their applications prior to the start-up of their senior year. Why so early? There are two reasons. One, the senior year begins very busy for the students with no letup in site. Submitting applications after it begins becomes an after-thought with other more pressing situations to attend to until its late. And when it’s late, college applications become the pressing situation. That’s neither a strategy nor a plan. It’s ineffective and can only lead to predictably disappointing results.

Secondly, late submitted applications typically compromise acceptance rates and scholarship awards. It’s just the way it works. We don't like to be late to anything, much less college.

Your reward for being early? You will likely be given preferred treatment by the admissions office for an acceptance and scholarship for two primary reasons. Early applications reflect serious intent of the student. And admission counselors generally appreciate early applicants giving them a chance to review the application before they get swamped with late applications. This strategy often leads to higher acceptance rates and larger scholarships. It makes good college-logical sense to me!