Finding The Right College Without Paying A Fortune To Attend!

Finding the right college withoutpaying a fortune to attend

The answer is “Yes”

•Webinar will be recorded

•Slides are available

•Watch for email with link

to Cyndy’s blog

Links to all presentations available at www.guidedpath.net/category/cyndys-blog or at

www.collegeraptor.com/counselors

http://www.guidedpath.net/category/cyndys-blog

http://www.collegeraptor.com/counselors

College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential

The Presenters

Lynell Engelmyer has more than 20 years of experience working as an admissions officer, financial aid director and also for the College Board. She serves as a professional college counselor for students from around the country.

Tyler Hakes is the director of marketing and one of the founding members of the College Raptor team. He’s worked previously in higher education marketing and consulting.

An experienced middle and high school counselor, Cyndy has experience working in college access programs, schools, and as an independent college counselor. She is the founder of HECA, MyCCA.net and GuidedPath.


The big challenge

● There are 2,000+ 4 year colleges and universities in this country

● Hundreds of factors go into finding the “right” college

Photo: Trinity College


Finding the right fit

● Academic factors○ Grades and test scores○ Course requirements○ Credit transfers○ Majors/Programs○ Admissions selectivity

● Cultural factors○ Campus size○ Culture○ Sports/Events○ Amenities○ Clubs○ Location


The Missing Piece

• There’s an important piece other methods don’t accurately include, and for so many students, it’s the most important factor...

Is this school a good financial fit for me?

$10,000?

$35,000??

$60,000???


The importance of financial fit

• College costs for consumers are skyrocketing

• Student loan debt now more than $1.3 trillion

How can students make responsible decisions about college without going into massive debt?


Pitfalls of not considering cost

• With sticker prices continuing to rise, some schools offer significant discounting, other schools do not

• Students could easily end up with $100,000+ in debt

• How can you incorporate financial fit into the college search process to help students find a good match?


How do you help students?

• Use your personal knowledge base/personal experience

• Use college search sites

• Add community colleges/state schools for safer financial bets

• Spend hours completing net price calculators

Photo via Flickr

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jrhode/4632887921/in/photolist-84oLaX-m1dXm-fnCZRf-amYMbe-fdUYn6-4HwXvZ-7hRCbR-8qngjt-4Hy3iU-i4N8go-pu7p2-m1aGQ-2RY21M-5XCQTy-e8BM9b-bqFFD6-5Chxzf-6SSh-9nxqM1-7hVtZG-oMsSx3-aBPtG-A7DG7-4UAtLC-8GXBZm-4VJ1wM-5mdnvL-ckFLd5-7dky5b-83TFgx-4KU47x-6jCc8q-f9gCni-5E3GXw-m1aJ5-ftJdAn-4HbywY-cJr1oj-vS2js-aBPx7-jUERCk-5sTWy7-aKM9NF-92AFzZ-8SPw4f-4FWiDP-7oMhy-vS2kQ-5pApZW-4e16eb


Determining “real” college costs

You could:

• Take a list of colleges and go to each school’s website

• Find the (often well-hidden) net price calculator on each site

• Enter the family’s financial information over and over again to get cost estimates for each school

• Figure out how to compare the results of each school

This is laborious, confusing and time consuming—there has to be a better way!


Better solution

• College Raptor was developed to match students based on academic, cultural, AND financial fit—in minutes

• Provides price transparency to let students compare colleges based on net price for each student/family, NOT the “sticker” price or average financial aid packages


Our Vision

College Raptor is a free tool that matches students with colleges based on:

• Academic factors• Cultural variables• Estimated net price for any 4-

year college in the U.S.• Provides a clear and simple

way for students to compare colleges and build a customized list of options


Our Data

• IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System)

• College net price calculators

• Crowd-sourced award letter information

• Hundreds of thousands of proprietary data models


How We Are Changing College Search


Sally Smart

Very strong student:

• 3.8 GPA

• 34 ACT / 1510 SAT CR+M

• Interested in Engineering

Lower middle-income family:

• $65,000 income / year

• $5,000 assets

• 4 in the family, 2 working parents


Gary Goodstudent

Strong student:

• 3.5 GPA

• 28 ACT / 1260 SAT CR+M

• Undecided majorLower-income family:


• $0 assets

• 4 in the family, 1 working parent


Gary Goodstudent - Results


Steve Unsure

Average student:

• 3.5 GPA

• 22 ACT / 1030 SAT CR+M

• Interested in architectureMiddle-income family:


• $30,000 assets

• 5 in the family, 1 working parent

Only considering state schools

Not familiar with other options


Steve Unsure - Results


Our Goals

• To provide the best, free platform to help families

• Turn counselors into superheroes

• Improve the way families find and compare colleges

• Improve college access and affordability for ALL students

• Combat under-matching

• Increase student success

• Change lives

Photo via Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/g8g1np


How Schools & Orgs Are Using CR

• Iowa College Access Network-Presented to 430 high schools across the state-All counselors trained on using CR-Printed flyers and handouts to students

• iMentor (New York City)-Mentors use CR with 5,000+mentees

-Create college list, explore options


How Schools & Orgs Are Using CR

• Ohio College Access Organizations-Webinar for all staff-Financial aid training

• Schools and Districts-Institutional version of College Raptor

-Including CR in planning classes/events


How IECs Can Use CR

• Free access to the site, available to the public

• Create a free account as a counselor

• Create accounts with students, have them use the tool to build their list and help them evaluate options


Working With Us

CollegeRaptor.com/Counselors-Many resources, handouts-Enter email to learn about new features/developments

Institutional version of College Raptor (Free!)

Email Tyler: [email protected]

http://CollegeRaptor.com/Counselors

mailto:[email protected]

College Raptor Confidential

GuidedPath- Helping you send

more students to college


•To predict a student’s chances of admissibility into an institution, we familiarize ourselves with admit rates, average tests scores, GPA range, and other attributes of fit.

•To predict a client’s eligibility for aid from an institution, we must know a few of its financial attributes.

The “BEST FIT” must include all factors: Academic, social and financial fit!


Resources for families to calculate EFC:-Net price calculators on websites

-FAFSA4caster

-College Board

-Others?

#1- Start with calculating an EFC

Why you need College Raptor and GuidedPathGuidedPath offers an EFC calculator

for both FAFSA and PROFILE.


#2- Evaluating a college’s generosity:

•What percentage of need does it meet?

•What is the average amount of merit aid it awards?

•What percentage of undergrads are receiving merit aid?

GuidedPath search gives you all this information- and more!


#2- Evaluating a college’s generosity

GuidedPath offers the most comprehensive search and compare tool on the market.


#3- Evaluating Merit Scholarships


Conclusion1. Help family’s understand their

financial profile in terms of demonstrated need. Are they high, moderate, low, or no need?

2. OR in our terms, Whole, Half-Half, or Merit?

3. Help them understand the kinds of colleges where they will be eligible for the greatest amount of aid.

4. Help populate their college list with a smart mix of colleges that maximize the probability of aid, using College Raptor.


Watch for email

Cyndy’s blog

–Watch webinar

–View & download slides

–Watch for Q & A

Professional Development

–Invitation to UPCOMING Webinars


Thank you

• Questions?

Finding The Right College Without Paying A Fortune To Attend!

Education

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