If You Start Late, You Will Over Pay For College.
Do not watch if you are or have a high school senior!
Most parents believe:
✔ good grades are enough
✔ in-state is automatically cheaper
✔ scholarships are mostly luck
✔ applying by the deadline is “good enough” Unfortunately… college admissions and scholarships do NOT work that way anymore.
In this workshop, J.D. Wyczalek (why-zall-ick) college admission expert of AZCollegePlanning.com explains:
• Why some strong students get rejected
• Why weaker students sometimes receive large scholarships
• How timing can impact admissions and aid
• How colleges use rankings, enrollment goals, and financial strategy
• Why some private colleges cost LESS than in-state universities
• How families may reduce unnecessary college costs
• Scholarship positioning strategies for 8th–11th grade students
• FAFSA & CSS Profile insights
• Real student scholarship success stories
This workshop video is for: 🎓 8th–11th grade students and families
Since 2007, AZ College Planning has helped families nationwide navigate:
✔ college admissions
✔ scholarships
✔ career planning
✔ financial aid strategy
✔ application positioning
✔ college selection I
f you would like a Complimentary College Admissions & Scholarship Strategy Session:
📞 Call or Text: 888-237-2087
🌐 Website: AZCollegePlanning.com
📧 Email: info@AZCollegePlanning.com
Don’t become the family that says: “We wish we had started sooner.”
TRANSCRIPT:
Hello. Hi. Good evening. The information I am presenting today is general in nature. If you want to talk
about your family specific situation, at the end of the presentation, I’ll offer a free no obligation college
consultation. If you don’t want that, that’s fine, too. I’m going to give you a lot of great good information today.
Tonight may completely change how your family thinks about college because most
believe good grades are enough. Instate is automatically cheaper. Colleges are fair and scholarships are mostly luck.
Unfortunately, none of these are fully true anymore. College has become big business. And families who don’t
understand the rules often overpay by tens of thousands of dollars. Hi, I’m J.D.
Wyczalek (why-zall-ick), the founder of a AZCollegePlanning.com. I started in in 2007 and I can
tell you something with absolute certainty. What worked when you applied for college years and years ago doesn’t
work today. Imagine this. Your child works hard for years. Late nights, AP classes, sports,
volunteering, etc., etc. Then senior year arrives, the financial aid offers
come in and suddenly the dream school costs $62,000 more than you expected per year.
Now you have three choices. Say no. Number one, say no. Number two, take on
massive debt. Number three, watch your child walk away from a dream they worked for years. This is happening to families
every single day. Every year. It’s sad. Not because the student failed, but
because the family learned the rules too late. So, let me ask you a question.
Would you rather learn the college admissions and scholarship rules early or after the damage is already done?
College has become big business. Tonight, we’re going to talk about what parents and students will learn today
about the college admission scholarship process. Why a 3.9 GPA student can be
rejected while a 3.3 GPA students get said gets admitted with scholarships.
Why some out of state and private colleges can cost less than instate. The hidden scholarship tiers most families
never see. Why waiting until senior destroys scholarship leverage?
How colleges really decide who gets money and why. And at the end of the
presentation, I’ll offer a complimentary college consultation if you would like
to uh take advantage of that. Exhibit A. Same student, two colleges, completely
different results. Sam was admitted to Auburn University and Miss Auburn
admitted him with a weak aid offer. In fact, they offered him nothing. Miss
admitted admitted him with a strong scholarship offer, then increased the
offer again after strategic positioning. Why? Because colleges do not all want
the same student. They don’t all want the same student. Parents think college admission is about
being good enough. This is only partially true. What really matters is does this student help this college
accomplish its the college’s goals? If the answer is yes, then the student
will be admitted and will get some good scholarship money. The answer is no.
Well, you know the answer. Colleges do not award money fairly. They award money strategically. It’s because of the
college ranking system. Colleges care about rejection rates,
yield, applications, uh, test scores, rankings,
demographics, geodiversity, and more. Once parents understand how colleges are judged through the rankings, then you’ll
understand why colleges make the decisions they Let’s talk about why colleges really admit a student and give
scholarships. College is not just rewarding students. They are recruiting students they want. Colleges give the
biggest best scholarships to students who help the college. students who may
help a college raise rankings, improve statistics, increase diversity, fulfill
uh underrepresented majors, improve yield, strengthen programs, and attract
future applicants. Colleges do not award money fairly. They award money strategically.
Colleges are businesses competing against other colleges. And like every
business, they invest in their customers that they want most. Colleges ask this
question of every applicant. How does this student help us? Colleges are not
trying to get a well-rounded student. They’re trying to build a well-rounded
student body that will have a positive impact on their rankings. That will have a positive impact on their rankings. A
student who is the missing puzzle piece often gets rewarded. As the example with
SAM, Auburn and Miss, I love the rivalries that go on between colleges. ASU and UVA, Berkeley, and UCLA are just
a couple of them. Colleges compete heavily for rankings. This past year, UCLA surpassed Berkeley in selectivity.
Because of this, 145,000 students applied to UCLA at $80 a pop.
That generated 11.6 $6 million in application fees and UCL only has
about 7,000 freshman seats to fill. That means tens of thousands of students
never had a chance. So why does this matter to your family? Because colleges
are businesses competing for prestige, ranking, applications,
uh statistics, and students that they want.
that’s why they’re doing it. And once you understand that, you stop approaching college emotionally and
start approaching it strategically. The goal is not to just get admitted.
The goal is to become wanted. Families who understand how colleges
think pay less and can position themselves to win.
So, selectivity creates prestige. Prestige drives applications and
applications drive revenue. College is big business. You got to understand this so that you can position yourself and
your child to win. Exhibit B. Here’s another example. This is Max. Max followed this the strategic application
plan. Instead of randomly applying to schools, we helped him identify colleges where
he was more likely to be admitted, more likely the colleges wanted him, and more likely they would reward him with
scholarships. I do an awful lot of research as I’m helping these students out. And there are over 2,000 four-year
colleges in the US. That’s overwhelming for most families. The real challenge is
not finding colleges. The real challenge is identifying which colleges fit your
student and which colleges may compete for your student. Well, Max applied to
about a dozen colleges and was admitted to most of them. But then something very interesting happened. Three colleges
kind of rose to the top. And those three colleges were ASU, Drexel, and Muhlenberg . And the financial outcomes
were dramatically different. First, let’s look at Drexel. Most parents would see an $86,000 price tag and immediately
cross the school off the list. But that’s exactly what most families don’t understand about college pricing. The
published price is not the real price. Drexel’s official cost of attendance is
over $86,000. But after scholarships and grants, Max
Max’s estimated net cost dropped to $27,000.
He was offered over
$50,000 in scholarships. Max’s estimated net cost dropped to
27,000. And here’s the shocking part, that was comparable to ASU’s instate net
cost. So, the expensive private out of state college ended up costing about the same as the in-state public
university. Parents, this is why strategy matters. If families only look at sticker price, they may accidentally
eliminate colleges that could have been financially competitive. The goal is not
finding the cheapest looking college. The goal is finding the college most likely to want your student.
Let’s look at Muhlenberg . the official sticker price at Muhlenberg . Same thing about uh 86,000 for Drexel,
85,000 for Muhlenberg . But look what happened. Muhlenberg offered Max $66,000
in scholarships and grants, which brought the estimated net cost down to just over $8,000.
$8,000 for one year. parents, that’s way less
than instate at any public university. So, what changed? Muhlenberg really
wanted MAX. And when a college identifies a student that helps them accomplish the institutional goals, the
financial offers can be very aggressive. This is why two students with similar grades can receive completely different
scholarship offers because scholarships are not awarded equally, they are awarded strategically.
The goal is not just getting admitted. The goal is becoming wanted.
So, let’s step back and look at the big picture. It was actually cheaper for Max to attend an out of state private college
than an instate public university. In Max’s case, the out of state private college offered the best financial aid
package. And here’s another important detail. To keep this scholarship, he only needs to maintain a 2.0 GPA.
And he’ll he’ll exceed that. uh he’s got a 35. Uh many parents assume
scholarships are impossible to keep. Some are actually very manageable. This is why families need to stop thinking
emotionally and start thinking strategically. The college that appears expensive sometimes becomes affordable
and the colleges families assume are affordable sometimes become very expensive. The goal is not chasing the
cheapest looking school. The goal is understanding which college wants your student,
which college may compete for your student, and how to position your student strategically. Families who
understand how colleges think often pay less. Why did that college give him an
amazing scholarship package? So, after everything we just looked at, what was the final results? It was actually less
expensive for Max to attend an out of state private college that’s than an instate. And most families would never
believe that. Parents are taught stay in state, avoid private colleges,
automatically eliminate expensive looking schools. But the sticker price is often misleading.
The colleges that look expensive sometimes become affordable, and the colleges families assume are affordable
sometimes become expensive. In Max’s case, the private out of state college offered the strongest financial aid
package. Strategy. The goal is not simply getting admitted. The goal is
identifying which colleges want your student, which colleges may compete for your student, and how to position your
student strategically. Families who understand how colleges think often pay less. Why did that college give him an
amazing scholarship package? Simple answer, they wanted him.
He made a positive impact on their rankings. Here’s one of the biggest secrets in college uh admissions.
Different colleges value different students. A student who is overlooked by one
college may become extremely valuable to another. Again, we just looked at Sam.
So, one of the smart things a family can do is ask this question. What does this college value?
Because colleges reward students who help their goals. In Max’s case, we helped him understand which activities
mattered most, how to strengthen his resume, which colleges fit him best, how
to engage with colleges, how to position himself in essays, and how to follow up strategically. He positioned himself in
those ways that that the college valued. And the result was this exceptional scholarship offers. Before you can
compare colleges, you need to understand one very important number, COA, cost of
attendance. And this is important. Write this down. Cost of attendance because
tuition alone is not the real cost of college. Cost of attendance includes everything.
We want to know what that ALL-IN number is. Tuition, housing, meal plans, books,
fees, parking, travel expenses, personal expenses, and more. So, what does an
instate uh actually cost at Arizona State University? The uh annual cost is
roughly $38,000 per year. NAU and UVA are hovering about
the same price. And many parents are shocked to see that number. Now multiply that over four years. That’s $152,000
for four years. And God forbid that a student takes six years to graduate.
This is why understanding college pricing matters so much. Most families underestimate
college costs because they only look at tuition. And once your student is admitted and does get all of his or her
um scholarships and aid packages, we have an easy to- read proprietary spreadsheet to plug all your numbers in
so you know actually you know accurately your net cost for each college your
student was admitted to. and we’ll review that and tell you if you were offered a good aid package or you were
short changed. One of the biggest mistakes families
make is falling in love with a college online or the brochure. College brochures are designed to sell. So are
the websites. So are social media accounts and all those things. But an
in-person visit gives you something far more valuable. reality. If your family
was not has not visited colleges yet, do that now. I had a student who visited a college in Los Angeles and she was
looking at the brochure and looking at the students and she said, “These don’t
match. I am going to encourage you to go and visit some colleges and visit locally. Visit colleges within an hour, maybe two
hours of where you live because the local visits are easier, cheaper, lower pressure, and they’ll give you give your
family a frame of reference. Once students visit a few campuses, then they begin to notice the differences, and
that helps families make much smarter decisions later. You don’t know what fit means until you’ve actually visited the
college. We had a student, Ellie. She visited several colleges. Pacific
Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, Willamette University in Oregon, and the University of the Pacific in
California. On paper, some colleges look amazing. But once she visited her
feelings changed. One campus the vibe felt different, one felt too quiet and another felt just
right. And that is why visiting matters. It was really funny. I was talking to
her about it and asked her, “What do you like about these different colleges?” And what she liked specifically about
Pacific Lutheran university or I’m sorry, um, University of the Pacific in California was it would it was within
walking distance of an In-N-Out Burger and a Crispy Cream.
Uh, but once you visit once she visited, her feelings changed. And that’s why it and that’s why visiting matters.
Students often know within minutes whether a campus feels right. A campus
visit can save a family from making a very expensive mistake. What happens if your student falls in love? A campus
visit can save a family from making a very expensive mistake. The best time to
visit a college is when college is in session so you can see the other students. See the other college students
and ask yourself, do you feel do you fit in and do you feel as if you can make
friends? If the answer is yes, keep it on your list. One category that’s ranked, which I
think is one of the most ridiculous categories, is most expensive college. Some colleges now exceed $100,000
uh per year. And yes, you heard that correctly, 100,000. This year, Harvey Mud College in California was placed at
over $104,000 per year. NYU is six figures. Caltech is 93,000 and even UCLA
for out of state students is approaching $84,000 per year. This is why strategic planning
matters because one wrong college decision can impact a family financially
for years. The cost of college has outpaced inflation dramatically. This is why
families can no longer afford to figure it out later. I want you to try something later tonight.
go to the internet and type in uh the name of any college
and cost of attendance. So, ASU cost of attendance, Stanford cost of attendance.
And look at what those numbers are because that number includes everything. Tuition, housing, meal, meals,
uh dorm room, books, fees, transportation, personal expenses, and more. And now take that number and then
multiply that number times four years. And then multiply that number again
times the number of kids you’ve got, two kids, three kids, etc. And how and how are you going to be able to afford to
pay for that? Parents are asking this question because many families accidentally drift into college decisions without fully understanding
the financial consequences. And most families don’t start asking
these questions until the senior year of high school. Oh, we’ll just figure it out. How are you going to figure out
$400,000? By then,
many opportunities for leverage, scholarship, and strategic position have already passed. The earlier families
understand the game and start the process, the more options they are going to have.
So, after speaking with thousands of families over the years, I started asking parents a simple
question. How are you planning to pay for this? And honestly, most of the families don’t have one single answer. Instead, they’re trying to piece
together a plan because parents are trying to balance their child’s dreams, family finances, retirement, monthly
cash flow, and future debt. And unfortunately, many families don’t start seriously discussing this until it
becomes urgent. So, over the next few slides, I want to walk you through some
of the most common ways families have told me as ways to pay for college. And these might be some ways that you might
be thinking about. And always the first one that comes up is uh private scholarships. My student’s going to get
a private scholarship. So let’s put a definition on what private scholarship means. That is a scholarship that your
student applies for and wins. If your student receives a notification that
says you’ve won this scholarship and they did not apply for it, it’s a scam.
Especially if that notification says, “Mail us $100 and we’ll tell you which
one you’ve won.” That is absolutely a scam. So, they have to apply for it. And
if they win that private scholarship, they can use it at almost any college.
And families are going after these numbers be and going after the private scholarships. But those are the small
numbers. I want to go after the big scholarship numbers. And the big
scholarships are going to come from these three categories. The first category is federal funds. Second is
state funds. And the third, the big kahuna of the three is college endowment
funds. Some colleges have ridiculously huge endowment funds. For fun, do this.
Go to Google and type in the name of the college and endowment. Harvard has $53
billion in their endowment. The interest that
that account produces is enough to give every student a full ride. Does Harvard
do that? Absolutely not. ASU $1.4 billion
in their endowment. And then uh UVA $1.3 billion in their endowment. Uh the UT
$40 billion in their endowment. We want a piece of that pie. When families think about paying for college, one of the
other things that they think about is athletics. My kid is an athlete. My kid’s going to
get an athletic scholarship. Most student athletes do not receive a full
ride scholarship. That’s one of the biggest misconceptions in college planning. Many athlete scholarships are
actually partial scholarships. For example, sports like baseball and athletic scholarship might be around $5
to $8,000. That’s not going to cover anything near the total cost of attendance at any college, even an
instate college. I always encourage families to think strategically. Don’t build your entire college
financial plan assuming athletics will cover everything. Instead, look at athletics as one piece of the of the
puzzle. Another strategy that parents have told me as a way to pay for college is we’ve
saved some money. And a lot of families think, well, maybe we should have saved more. But the
reality is, uh, many families have saved $10,000 or less for college. Now, if you
save that or more than that, then God bless you. You’re better than the average. How are we going to make 10
grand go where $150,000 or $400,000 should go? And even if you did save more, the next
question is or a better question is how does the
financial aid system look at those savings? Because not all savings are treated the same. Money saved in the
student’s name is assessed more heavily at around 20 to 25%. And parent assets
are assessed at around 6%. So sometimes just by moving assets from one owner,
from the student owner to the parent owner, we might qualify for more need-based aid
um in that. And then there’s a a third bucket and that third bucket is the
retirement system. Any money that’s parked in that category is not assessed
in the financial aid system. So we want the the majority of our money to be in the not assessed file.
Here’s my disclaimer. Before you move money around or any of that stuff, you need to
know what the ramifications are, both positive and negative. Sometimes it’s smart to move money around. Sometimes
not. Each family situation is unique and different, and each student within a family is unique and different. If you
want to talk about it later in the complimentary consultation, give me a holler.
Another strategy that parents have told me as a way to pay for college is we’re going to
um pay as we go or payment plan. Some colleges allowing fam families to spread payments out monthly instead of paying
one giant bill all at once. Uh but here’s something important. Not all colleges offer a payment plan. And even
among the colleges that do, the rules can vary significantly. There may be some enrollment fees,
processing fees, uh deadlines in order to enroll in those things. Those are all
things that need to be uh identified before
before you go to college. Another strategy that parents have told me as a way to pay for college is we’re going to
borrow the money. And this is where parents really need to understand the difference between
these different types of loans. There are federal loans and private loans. I won’t go into all the details on that.
The federal loans, there are two federal loans, one for student and one for
parent. And the student loans for the student are more favorable in interest
rates. Uh but they are capped. So, you can’t take out uh $30,000 or $60,000
in a student um student federal student loan.
This is why uh this is one reason why early planning can dramatically change a family’s options. The goal is not simply
getting admitted. The goal is graduating without creating financial damage to the family. Another way that families have
told me is to pay for college and you might be thinking about this as well is uh some are going to use their equity in
their in their home. I won’t go into all the details on this. Most of you know how this works. If you want to talk
about the pros and cons with this idea, I’d be happy to talk with you about it.
And the last idea is uh liquidate retirement accounts. Some families even
consider withdrawing from retirement accounts. Parents, this is why planning matters. Because while without a
strategy, families often make emotional, financial decisions.
Please don’t throw out a college based only on the sticker price. One of the biggest mistakes families make is
automatically eliminating a college based only on the sticker price.
Because, as we already seen tonight, the published price is often not the real price. Some colleges that look expensive
may end up offering significant scholarships, grants, or other financial incentives. And some colleges families
assume some colleges that families may assume are affordable may end up costing
more in the long run. So parents, I do not want you to automatically throw a college away just because that number
initially scares you. But you must ask, how are we realist realistically going
to pay for this? The goal is finding colleges that fit academically,
socially, emotionally, and financially. We want balance. Explore opportunities,
keep an open mind, look for colleges that want your student. We can help you identify those colleges, but also
understand the net cost, scholarship requirements, etc. Families who understand both sides, opportunity and
affordability, usually make much better decisions. The goals is not just getting admitted. The goal is helping your
student graduate with options. One of the things we do with families is help them evaluate colleges strategically. We
help families estimate admission probability, potential scholarships, estimate net cost, and what colleges may
uh which colleges may be most financially realistic.
So, we’ll help with that. One of the things we do with families is help them evaluate colleges strategically. We’ll
help you create a list of colleges and we help families estimate admission probability, potential scholarships,
estimated net cost, and which college may most financially
which colleges may be financially best.
One of the most overlooked questions families should ask is this question. How long is it going to take my kid to
graduate from your school? What is the average graduation timeline for students to graduate from your college? Because
many parents assume college equals four years. But for many students, that is
not the reality. At many public universities, the average graduation timeline is six years.
And those extra years are expensive. extra tuition, extra housing, extra meal plans, extra books, extra lost income
opportunities. Why does this happen? Well, here’s why.
A student may apply for a class and that class and and that class is full, but
they need that class to get into the upper level classes and now they have to wait until that cycle comes back around.
That’s one reason because they can’t get into a class. But the most prevalent reason is because they flip f between
majors. This week I’m a business major. Next week I’m a biology major. Oh, philosophy major. That sounds super
cool. I’ll do that. Every time a student changes majors, that pushes the
graduation window out further and further. So, one of the things that we do at a college planning is we help
students research careers, majors, and colleges
so that when they do go to college, they’re more solidified. This is the direction I want
to go into, and they’re less likely to change their major, to change their mind, and graduate on time in four years
or less. If you go to my website, AZCollegePlanning.com, click on the college results
button, type in the name of any college, it’ll tell you the statistics of that
school, and we’re looking at ASU. And the six-year graduation rate at ASU
is 66%. 66% are taking six years to graduate at
ASU. Parents, this is where strategic planning can completely change the
experience for a family. One of the first things we do is help students better understand themselves because
many students are trying to choose majors
and then uh are trying to choose colleges and then a major and then a career. And
that’s the wrong order. That’s why we use our proven career assessment tool to help students identify careers first,
then majors, and then colleges that have that major
because ideally colleges college should support a career goal, not just become
an expensive default decision. We hope families understand admission
strategies, scholarship positioning, demonstrating interest, application timing, and college fit.
And one of the biggest things we help students do is learn how to position themselves because college is not
looking for uh good grades just for good grades. They’re looking for students who
help them accomplish their institutional goals. How will the student impact our rankings? So we help students
strategically highlight those things that will uh that the colleges value
and then the student becomes more competitive and more attractive to the college.
The challenge is identifying the right colleges, the right strategy, the right positioning and that’s where a college
planning can dramatically change outcomes. Yep, that’s me. It’s my high school
senior picture. I remember when I met with my uh high school guidance counselor, Miss Nuss. As I walked into
her office, she said, “J.D., you’re a good artist. You should be an art major.” And that’s about how much time I
spent with her. Maybe maybe just a couple minutes there. No offense to any guidance counselors. They’re overworked
and over booked. I went home and I thought about for about 37 seconds and I decided I probably need another plan.
Graphic design. Yeah, that sounds cool. At that time, I had a friend attending Biola University in uh Southern
California, and he told me, “Biola,” he told me, “You got to come to the school.” So awesome. Awesome. The girls
here are super cute. We have amazing amazing beach bonfire parties. And they
were fun. Yeah. And I asked him the all important question. Do you have a
does that college have a graphics department? He says, “Yeah.” And I said, “Dude, I’m in.” And that’s how much I thought when you pick up my career,
major in college and all that. And what ended up happening was in my junior year
of college, I was speaking with uh my favorite
professor, Professor Craig, and he says, “J.D., there’s this internship opportunity. I think you should apply
for it, and if you do, I’ll write your recommendation letter.” And I applied, and he did, and I got it. I got a I got
a job at a graphics house and decided I don’t want to do this the rest of my life and I had to reset. We really are A
through Z college planning. We help families from A to Z. That’s why one of our biggest things
that we focus on is helping students identify careers, majors, and colleges
strategically because the goal is not simply get a degree. The goal is helping
students build a strong future, a meaningful career, financial stability, and a quality lifestyle. And parents,
this is the world is changing fast. AI, automation, and technology are already changing industries and careers. So
students need to think strategically about adaptability, skill development, long-term demand, and future
opportunities. That’s why we help students think through the process in order. careers
first, then majors, then colleges because colleges should support a prosperous a college degree should
support a prosperous future. There are two main financial aid forms.
You need to understand both and almost every college is going to require one or both of them. And yes, you should submit
these forms even if you think you may not qualify for aid. Some families accidentally disqualify themselves
simply because they never submit the forms. Sometimes these forms are required for merit aid scholarships.
Submitting financial forms can also signal enrollment seriousness.
There’s a little hint for you. The first form is the FASA free application
federal student aid. This is um a mistake on this form uh can cost
thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars. This is why uh families uh
hire us to help them with these different things.
The second form is the CSS profile. It’s administered by College Board. College Board is the entity that creates the SAT
test, PSAT, APS, uh KIPS, and a few other things. The CSS profile asks all
the same questions that are on the FAFSA form and then it asks additional questions in the supplemental questions
section. And one of the supplemental questions that some colleges ask in the
on the CSS profile is what’s the make, model, and year of your vehicles? JD,
why are they asking me that question? Because if you’re claiming that your adjusted gross income is $60,000
and you’re driving a brand new Bentley or a brand new Maybach, that doesn’t match. And then they’re going to start
asking more questions. Here’s David’s story. David’s uh family
hired us to help him with his applications, help him position himself, all that stuff. We helped him identify a
handful of colleges and uh one of the schools that he applied to
was Georgetown in Washington DC. And according to the numbers uh let me back
up a little bit. His uh give you a little bit demographic about dad. uh dad’s uh income uh was
in in in the very high six figure uh and and seven figure numbers every year and
that and based on on just that alone he’s not going to qualify for any need-based financial aid at any college
and Georgetown is a predominantly a need-based aid only school and and when I was talking with David’s
father I encouraged him to fill out the forms and he says, “We’re not going to qualify.” I said, “Let’s play the game.”
And we helped him with the financial aid forms. The end of the story is he was
offered $30,000 uh half tuition uh to attend Georgetown. Um why? because
they wanted him and they offered that incentive of that scholarship because they knew that David would make a
positive impact on their rankings which would attract more students which would
attract more applications and more application fees. It all comes back to
making money. The colleges want to make money. This is
one reason why we really say we are A through Z college planning because helping families today goes far beyond
simply choosing colleges. We help families navigate admission, scholarships, career uh direction,
financial strategy, and financial aid forms. And parents, these forms matter.
Now, unfortunately, many families wait until the last minute. This is one reason many families choose to have
guidance through the process. At a college planning, we assist families with reviewing the FAFSA forms,
reviewing the CSS profile, understanding deadlines and all that. And parents, the
earlier families understand the rules, the more options you’re going to have.
One of the best ways to increase scholarship offer is
dun is to create competition
because colleges compete for students. They’ll tell you that they don’t and
they’ll encourage you to apply early decision and when you apply early decision you’re not competing. Strategic
families understand something different. Colleges compete for desirable students.
We show your student how to become desirable where those colleges want your student. We want the college to compete
for your for your student for your child.
How do we uh the number one way and get more money increase scholarship is
through leverage. Here’s the strategy here’s where the strategy becomes powerful. If a student
applies to only a highly uh to one college, a highly selective school and gets admitted, uh that college often has
very little incentive. If a student applies only to one college and gets
admitted, the college often has very little incentive to offer aggressive scholarship money. Instead, we prefer
helping families identify multiple strong fit colleges where the student
has strong chances of admission and where the student may become highly valuable
to the college. Because when multiple colleges want your student, leverage increases. The goal is not just
admission. The goal is options. When colleges know they are competing,
behavior can change. Here’s a real example. We had a student named Danielle. She visited um we encouraged
her to go and visit some colleges. She and her parents visited University of Arizona. And whoever the tour guide was
did an outstanding job because after the visit, Danielle basically said, “This is it. This is my number one. I’m going to
only apply to one college. I want to go to UVA. Only one.”
But we encouraged Danielle to build a more strategic college list and to apply to several competing colleges. Fast
forward to February of her senior year. Dad calls me on the phone and said, uh,
she was admitted to, uh, UVA, we knew she was going to get in, but they didn’t give her any money.
That’s not unusual. Um, but because Danielle had other
admission offers and competing scholarships offers, we were able to strategically communicate with UVA. And
not only did UVA improve uh, beat the other aid packages, they
gave Danielle an iPad. Daniel was really excited about the iPad. Dad was more excited about the scholarships.
This is why strategy matters.
Exhibit C. This year, two students applied to ASU Barrett. One student had a 39 GPA. The
other student had a 33 GPA. And here’s a surprising part. The 39 student was
denied admission to ASU Barrett. The 33 student was admitted to ASU Barrett
Honors College. Parents, when I tell families this, they’re usually shocked because most
people assume high GPA automatically equals better outcome. But college admissions are often more complicated
than that. In this particular case, timing played a role. The 39 student
applied in January, just before the deadline, and the 33 student applied
much earlier in September. Colleges are shaping classes in real time. So,
generally speaking, earlier applications often create more opportunity. And by the way, the story does does have a
positive ending. The 39 student was admitted to other colleges and did get some really good aid packages and we
were able to negotiate and get some more aid uh at some of the schools that he uh applied to.
Um so, missed deadlines or delayed applications can potentially change
outcomes. That’s why we provide monthly reminders, planning timelines, strategic guidance,
and ongoing accountability so students stay on track instead of scrambling late in the process. Colleges
reward proactive families.
Parents, every student is different. Different strengths, different goals, different financial situations. And even
within the family, two students are different. But what these students have what all
these students have in common that we just went over and a few more that we’ll talk about was strategic planning. So
let me show you a few real world examples of how strategy can influence admission scholarship timing and overall
cost. This is McConnell. McConnell applied strategically to nine colleges and would
was admitted to all of them. One of the things we focused on was helping him position himself strategically.
Different colleges responded very positively and ultimately NYU offered the strongest
scholarship package. The scholarship was valued at over 65,000 per year.
McConnell aligned strongly with what that college valued and that’s an important lesson here. Different
colleges value different things. Remember that question earlier, what does a college value? McConnell fit that
value. And interestingly interestingly uh he did not apply as a theater major
because over 40% of the students at NYU are theater majors.
We have too many of those students. We need somebody else and McConnell fit that category. So over
four years, McConnell received $263,000
and parents that is potentially that is
less student loans, faster uh and earlier investments,
buying a home sooner, potentially starting a business, and greater per freedom because he doesn’t have all that
student loan baggage. This is why strategy matters because small decisions made during high school can create
massive long-term financial differences if you start soon enough. I love to tell
this story about Rohit. What’s good? Good is being admitted. What’s better than that? Getting a scholarship. What’s
better than getting a scholarship? Getting full tuition. Getting the full tuition scholarship.
And by the way, when families um be very skeptical if any of your families or
friends say that they got a full ride at ASU or UVA or NAU or any of the state colleges or any college in that matter,
uh because they probably got full tuition. What’s better than full tuition? Of
course, the full ride that covers tuition, housing, meal plans,
everything, books, all that stuff. But what’s more, what’s even more unusual,
more incredible, this getting paid to go to college. The
scholar, this scholarship covered tuition fees and included additional cash stipend. After paying for housing
and meals, Rohit actually net was a net positive of $2,000. He got paid $2,000
to go to college. Parents, imagine your student getting paid to attend college.
that completely changes everything. We’ve had multiple students earn highly competitive scholarships like this. Uh,
one student earned a similar scholarship like this at USC. Imagine graduating from USC and getting paid to go there.
Parents, opportunities like this don’t accidentally happen. They’re
strategically planned. They typically involve planning, positioning, academics, timing, uh
strategic execution, and that’s one reason families uh choose to start planning earlier.
This is Nicole. Nicole ultimately received 45,000 per year in scholarships
and the estimated parent net cost was $11,000.
This is important to note. WashU is is widely viewed as a extremely expensive college and many families would
automatically assume there’s no way we can afford it. But this is where strategy matters
because the college offered need-based aid and merit aid and we approached the
process strategically to maximize both opportunities. The sticker price was not the real
price. Over four years, the total scholarship value was $181,000.
This is not random. It involves planning, positioning, timing, and understanding how the system works.
Sometimes the colleges that look most expensive end up offering the best aid package.
Here’s another example. This is Bruce. Bruce ultimately received $51,000 per year in scholarships and parents net
cost $13,000. That was less than an instate college.
And honestly, Bruce’s dad, it was less for him to attend an in-state college.
Bruce’s dad initially thought my statement, it could sometimes be cheaper to attend an outstate college than an in-state college was just marketing. And
then the scholarships arrived and and then they discovered it was true
uh that the sticker price is not the real sticker price. It’s not the real price. Uh $24,000 in scholarships to
attend University of Notre Dame. Yeah, J.D.. But does lightning strike
twice? Yes. And then came Adele, his younger sister. Same family, same
strategic planning process. and Adele ultimately received more than $216,000
in scholarships over the course of four years to attend TCU. Again, it was less
than $10,000 for her to attend college per year. And parents, this is important
because this demonstrates something critical. Strategic planning can create repeatable results. Once the family saw
how the process worked with Bruce, they approached Adele’s process much earlier and much more strategic and she got
more. But JD, do all these students have perfect GPA and perfect test scores? No.
This is L’s story. And L had a 2.3 GPA. So this is not just for um students that
have great grades and great test scores. Colleges are looking for many different things. And despite the GPA, L uh still
received scholarship assistance. And here’s the really surprising part. It ended up being less expensive for her to
attend this private college than to her to attend instate. Parents, I keep telling you this, the sticker price is
not the real price. The sticker price is not the real price. Different colleges
value different students differently. Some colleges are more aggressive with scholarships and institutional
aid because they are trying to attract certain students. L showcased her
leadership, her community service which that college valued.
This is Tanner. Tanner was interested in the military academies and yes, we can help out
with the military academies. They’re extremely competitive. When Tanner first started
his we had a conversation, he said is that he was doing some research and found out that his u the minimum ACT
score to be admitted into the Air Force Academy was a 24 and he had a 25. He
says, “A yay.” And I said, “They’re going to take your application and throw it in the trash
because you’re just barely above the minimum.” So we plugged him into our um beat the test program and he improved
his score uh to a 29 2930 and uh got admitted into the merchant
academy. So yes we can help families navigate highly competitive opportunities like the military academies
and if you’re considering the military academies we need to start earlier in the process.
Here’s Jonathan’s story. Jonathan and his parents and I had a conversation late in his senior year after we had
worked with him for several years. Sprucing up his resume, getting better test scores, all of those things. We had
a roundt conversation and his parents agreed that they would were willing to spend X dollars for him to go to
college. Anything above that, Jonathan would have to take care of. And after we
received his uh scholarships from uh George Fox University in Portland,
Oregon, we were $5,000 short. It’s not unusual for colleges to lowball offers
because they know that most families will just accept the offers and rack up some loans. Jonathan had an idea. He
says, “What if I do this? What if I uh defer admission?” And yes, you could do
that. I He says, “I’ll call the college. I’ll defer admission. have them hold my
spot and then I’ll go get a job. I’ll save a $5,000 and then I’ll um go to college the next
year. I said, “What are you gonna do? Work a year? You go to school year? Work a year? Go to school for year? Take
eight years to graduate?” No. No. Here’s what I want you to do, Jonathan. I want you to call your admissions recruiter
and explain your situation. You know who your admissions recruiter is, right?
I’m asking him loaded questions because we had already instructed him on how to uh find his admissions recruiter. Oh
yeah, I know who that is. I said, ‘Call up and explain your situation. And poof, magically another $5,000 appeared.
Jonathan graduated in four years, not eight. So we met the parents budget and
Jonathan graduated on time. Bull’s another example of student who did the work was coachable, followed through and
got the results. 100% of tuition plus and that was at our latte.
Chad followed the strategic plan and landed $231,000 at Vanderbilt. Parents net
cost was about $6,000 per year. Also,
this student followed the strategic plan and landed with $212,000 for TC TCU and graduated with no student
loan debt. The end of his story is awesome. He utilized the career center at his college to land an internship,
which he did. And with his experience and his degree in finance, he landed a
top paying job at an investment firm in Colorado. Awesome. Excited for his
future. This is Trevor. And Trevor is an important example because sometimes an
instate college is the right choice. Parents are not saying every student should leave the state. I’m saying every
student needs the right strategy to ever follow this the strategic plan and ultimately graduated 100% debt-free. And
parents, that’s where we want our uh our kids to start their future without all that student loan baggage. I got this uh
just a a short while ago. Um so, let me show you something that
most families do not realize. Sometimes admission admission decision is not
final. So, this student received a notification from Boston University that pretty much
said, “No, you’re not admitted.” And um the student was initially not admitted
to Boston University, which was her dream school. And like many families, they were devastated. But instead of
simply giving up, we approached the situation strategically. And eventually,
Boston University sent this message. We are really excited to welcome you to the
class of 2030. I have updated your record to admitted and you will be able
to see this on your my BU application portal tomorrow. Super excited for her.
Families often assume a denial is always permanent, but in some situations there
may be some opportunities that might be worth exploring. We’ve seen successful
reconsideration outcomes at multiple universities. Not guaranteed, but sometimes.
But sometimes I would love to help your student create
their own success story. Every student story we’ve discussed tonight started
somewhere. They simply started planning earlier and approached the process strategically.
And I would love the opportunity to help your student create their own success story. At A throughZ College Planning,
we help families navigate the entire process. Admissions, scholarships, career direction, essays, financial aid,
positioning, strategies, strategies, and every family is different. So, we
personalize the process based on the on the student, the family, their goals,
and long-term plans. Our goal is not simply admission. Our goal is helping students graduate in four years or less
with strong opportunities with little or no student loan debt.
If tonight’s workshop opened your eyes and if you’d like help building a strategy for your student, I’d encourage
you to schedule a complimentary college admission and scholarship strategy session. In that meeting, we can discuss
your students goals, college possibilities, scholarship positioning, financial consideration, and strategic
next steps. I do want to mention this, we only have a limited number of spots
available, and families who begin earlier create more opportunities. Colleges,
college planning rewards proactive families.
Here’s another example. This student received $39,900
in scholarships and over four years 159,000. And once again, this private college ended up costing less than an
instate university. This is exactly why strategic planning matters. This one
came in recently. This student initially received a scholarship of 28,000 per year, but after additional strategic
communications, the college increased the offer by $2,000 for a total of
30,000. Uh times four years, $120,000 for loyal University of Chicago.
Sometimes colleges improve offers when they know they are competing for your
student. We want them to compete for your student. I love receiving messages like this.
This student wrote, “Thank you.”
I got into Georgia Tech. Thank you for the 10-week plan you gave me. It helped me get into my dream school, which means
a ton. I will be attending Georgia Tech in the fall, and I got 32,000 a year. It
was the best aid offer I got outside of ASU. Admission success is often the result of
many small strategic decisions. This success started with a conversation.
Let’s have a conversation. Let’s have a conversation. Parents, your
child only gets one shot at college admission and scholarships. One missed deadline, one poor strategy,
uh one poor uh decision, one overlooked opportunity can potentially cost a
family thousands of dollars. That’s why I’m so passionate about this because I’ve seen families overpay unnecessarily.
missed scholarship opportunities, applying late, choosing the wrong colleges, and making decisions without a
strategy. And many of those mistakes could have been avoided. So, please don’t leave something this important to
chance. At a college plan, we’ve been helping families navigate this process since 2007.
Before you leave tonight, stop here. Take a picture of this slide. If you’d like help creating a strategic plan for
your student, call or text or email us jdazolplan.com.
Call or text 8882372087. Leave a message or text. And when you
contact us, please leave your name, your students high school graduation year,
the best phone number we can reach you at during the day. I’ll give you a call. And um
we’ll put we’ll put something on the calendar. Don’t become the family that says, “I wish we would have started
sooner.” Because college planning rewards families who start early.
info@AZCollegePlanning.com
Call or text 888-237-2087.
If I didn’t answer your questions, please call, email, or text and I’ll
be happy to answer any of your questions.
Thank you