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Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and

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Speaker 1: Matt and today we're discussing navigating college decisions with Alicia Howard.

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Speaker 1: At Today on the podcast, we're speaking with certified college

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Speaker 1: counselor Alicia Howard. She has been in education for fifteen

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Speaker 1: years and worked in college admissions for five years before

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Speaker 1: starting College Insights. In at College Insights, Alicia helps students

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Speaker 1: navigate college decisions through academic advising, resume building, and applying

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Speaker 1: to the right schools. She is passionate about college students

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Speaker 1: avoiding the crippling effects of student loans. So this will

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Speaker 1: be a really valuable conversation for anyone considering college, for

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Speaker 1: students who are already in school, and even for graduates

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Speaker 1: who already have student loans as we'll touch on that

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Speaker 1: as well. So Alicia, thanks so much for coming on

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Speaker 1: the show. Yeah, thank you, thank you for having me today. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I'm glad to have you and Alicia. Real quick before

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Speaker 1: we start talking about college, well, we intentionally Matt and

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Speaker 1: I drink a craft beer on every episode. It means

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Speaker 1: the world to Matt and I. We love beer and

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Speaker 1: so uh and so we love our families and we

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Speaker 1: love our families and so well, we love both equally.

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Speaker 1: I don't know something like that, but yeah, because we

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Speaker 1: love beer, we're we're happy to sporge on really good

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Speaker 1: beer right now while saving for the future. Today on

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Speaker 1: the show, we're drinking a beer called hot Food by

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Speaker 1: North Park Beer Company, and a listener John sent that

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Speaker 1: one our way. So what's your kind of craft beer equivalent?

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Speaker 1: What what do you like to sport John in the

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Speaker 1: here and now even while you're saving and investing for

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Speaker 1: the future. Traveling. Traveling is a big one for me.

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Speaker 1: I lived abroad for many years and I've backpacked almost

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Speaker 1: thirty countries, So the big traveler. Yes, I know people

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Speaker 1: are like, oh, I like to go travel and I

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Speaker 1: went on a cruise. Like no, I'm I'm a real

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Speaker 1: traveler and I have no problem spending money on that

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Speaker 1: while you know, also saving for my future. Very cool.

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Speaker 1: If if you could snap your fingers right now and

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Speaker 1: kind of transport yourself to to any country that you've

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Speaker 1: been to, where would you go back to you right now? Thailand?

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Speaker 1: Thailand has been on my mind a lot lately. And

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Speaker 1: when you travel like I do, I have a lot

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Speaker 1: of places I can couch surf, if I want. So

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Speaker 1: my friend called me and was like, hey, I just

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Speaker 1: bought a three bedroom villa on the beach and pouquette.

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Speaker 1: You want to come crush my spare bedroom. I was like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I will do that. So, yeah, that's that's something I'm

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Speaker 1: willing to spend money on. Although it's cheap, it's cheap

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Speaker 1: to do and somewhere like Thailand, so it's not actually

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Speaker 1: a very expensive thing to do. Yeah, Thailand is wonderful

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Speaker 1: to food, everything so cheap here. You've been there, right,

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Speaker 1: and that where you wrote on the elephant and have

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Speaker 1: I didn't ride on an elephant. I walked with an elephant. Oh,

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Speaker 1: and you walked with it, but then you were in

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Speaker 1: the river with it and you're talking about how it's

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Speaker 1: like it was this like surreal experience. You talk so

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Speaker 1: much about that elephant bath. I've done that. I have

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Speaker 1: done it too. It's crazy, isn't it. Yeah, it's so fun. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And holding the tigers, that's like definitely one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite things to do. I didn't hold a tiger. I'm

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Speaker 1: not that crazy. I did. I held a tiger and

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Speaker 1: by the time we got there, the baby tigers were

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Speaker 1: like taking a nap, and so I told the monk,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, I really want to hold a tiger, and

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Speaker 1: he's like, yeah, I have one you can hold, and

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Speaker 1: I have a picture of me. But this thing is

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Speaker 1: like a move faster like for a live tiger, Like

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Speaker 1: this was like a daddy tiger, And so I'm like, really,

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Speaker 1: that's like I wanted to hold a little baby. Gave

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Speaker 1: me like this massive tiger to hang out with and

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Speaker 1: snuggle with. But I took it because that's the only

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Speaker 1: shot I had. I like the sound of your your

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Speaker 1: tiger orphanage. That sounds amazing. I know, it was fun. Alicia,

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Speaker 1: how let's let's talk something about you know, our topic

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Speaker 1: at hand here, like how did you get started in

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Speaker 1: the world of academic advising and admissions? Like basically all

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Speaker 1: things college related? How did how did you get your star? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so that's actually a super long story, but the fast

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Speaker 1: story is that, I mean, I've been in education for

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Speaker 1: but fifteen sixteen years now and kind of started in

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Speaker 1: everything and just took the opportunities that came my way.

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Speaker 1: And so I'm not I'm a kind of person. I'm

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Speaker 1: not afraid to try things and kind of mess things up,

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Speaker 1: as long as my bosses were cool with it. They're like, oh,

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Speaker 1: you want to plan this camp, or do you want

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Speaker 1: to plan this curriculum, or how you should create this class?

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Speaker 1: And I just kind of took everything, and so it

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Speaker 1: ended up giving me this very general expertise of a

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Speaker 1: lot of things. But I had graduated college from grad

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Speaker 1: school in two thousand and eight and I was actually

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Speaker 1: going to law school when the economy crashed, and so

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Speaker 1: I kind of had an early midlife crisis, like what

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Speaker 1: am I gonna do with my life and just decided, Okay,

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Speaker 1: I'll go back to law school, but I'm not going

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Speaker 1: to go back unless I can figure out how to

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Speaker 1: come out without debt, because I had undergrad and graduate

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Speaker 1: school debt. And so I went to Korea. I worked

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Speaker 1: my way up the ladder there and was figuring out

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Speaker 1: how to pay for law school, and you know, as

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Speaker 1: a default, I figured out how to not pay on

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Speaker 1: my own student loans and get them forgiven. I figured

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Speaker 1: out how to get to law school for free, and

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Speaker 1: then I ended up kind of just helping other people

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Speaker 1: and just fell into it, and I really enjoyed the work,

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Speaker 1: and so I kind of ended up starting a business

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Speaker 1: on accident. Honestly, over time it's grown and now I

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Speaker 1: have a lot of good data on how successful these

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Speaker 1: kind of trick tips, tricks, you know, strategies work, and

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Speaker 1: now it's kind of at the next phase of growth.

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Speaker 1: So I it was seriously an accident. I fell into it. Well,

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Speaker 1: that's cool, and I love that it worked for you

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Speaker 1: in order to kind of curb your student loan debt,

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Speaker 1: Like what what aspects of consulting and specifically helping people

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Speaker 1: navigate the admissions process where you drawn to? You know,

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Speaker 1: for me, it was you know, I came from a

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Speaker 1: pretty poor family and my like my parents didn't even

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Speaker 1: graduate high school. So when I was going through the

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Speaker 1: process myself and I was sixteen when I went to college,

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Speaker 1: I just didn't know what I was doing. And I

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Speaker 1: tried the best I could, but you know, I really

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Speaker 1: didn't have support. And what I mean by support is

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Speaker 1: my parents were, you know, gung ho, we'll we'll back

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Speaker 1: you up, but like they didn't know what to do.

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Speaker 1: They couldn't edit my essays, they didn't know where to

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Speaker 1: look for schools, and so I kind of had to

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Speaker 1: figure that out on my own. And then I just

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Speaker 1: kind of had that passion of you know, there's a

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Speaker 1: lot to this process, and being in education for a

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Speaker 1: long time, I understood it very well, you know later,

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Speaker 1: but not when I was a kid. So I just

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Speaker 1: kind of had that passion of really helping really middle

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Speaker 1: class families, you know, lower income kids. They qualify for

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Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of free staff, there's all

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Speaker 1: kinds of nonprofits. Wealthy kids have always paid for it,

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Speaker 1: as you've seen now in college admission scandals that are

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Speaker 1: coming up. Um, I don't do that illegal stuff, but

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Speaker 1: you know, well, yeah, but wealthy people have always paid consultants.

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Speaker 1: And so what a middle class families do and what

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Speaker 1: help do they have? They have nothing. So I just

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Speaker 1: kind of had that passion to help help kids that

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Speaker 1: were like me, very cool. I mean, well, yeah, speaking

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Speaker 1: of the middle class, like, there is such a price

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Speaker 1: disparity from school to school, right, so how how would

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Speaker 1: you recommend for folks to determine if an expensive school

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Speaker 1: is worth it? So I'd see that's very you know,

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Speaker 1: case by case, but generally an expensive school honestly is

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Speaker 1: only worth it if you can pay cash. Period. There's

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Speaker 1: not really an exception because there's four thousand universities in

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Speaker 1: this country, like, you can't find one that will fit

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Speaker 1: your needs and be affordable. Now, you might not know

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Speaker 1: where to look, which is why people hire me. But

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Speaker 1: I have clients Like I have a client right now.

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Speaker 1: Both of his kids are at public schools out of state,

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Speaker 1: and it's sixty grand year, and he's very wealthy. He

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Speaker 1: owns a lot of property in Seattle, and so he

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Speaker 1: has no problem writing a sixty dollar check every year.

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Speaker 1: That's fine, he can afford it. That's buying a happy

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Speaker 1: meal to this guy. Most families, I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: send them to those schools. It's totally not worth it

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Speaker 1: to get a public school degree for sixty grand a year.

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Speaker 1: That's crazy. So for most people, I'd say, if it's

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Speaker 1: over priced, if it's that expensive, it's it's not worth

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Speaker 1: it unless your family can write a check for it. Sure,

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Speaker 1: And as we've seen kind of the costs of college

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Speaker 1: tuition creep up and up, and by creep, I mean skyrocket. Yeah, right,

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Speaker 1: they've gone. It's gone up so fast, and it's become

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Speaker 1: so daunting for people when they are choosing what college

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Speaker 1: to go to. Do you ever recommend for folks to

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Speaker 1: go to for students to consider choosing a community college

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Speaker 1: instead for the first couple of years to kind of

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Speaker 1: keep those costs low, and then like transferring to a

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Speaker 1: college that maybe is a better fit for those final

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Speaker 1: two years. It can be. It really depends on this student.

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Speaker 1: I mean I see students. I mean one like me.

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Speaker 1: There was no way I was going to do that.

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Speaker 1: I really wanted that for your experience, and I do

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Speaker 1: see the value in it. Now. Do I see the

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Speaker 1: value of coming out with two dollars in debt? No, So,

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Speaker 1: like there's wiggle room there. And it depends because you know,

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Speaker 1: some community colleges are not that affordable nowadays, So it

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Speaker 1: just depends where you're from and where your your costs are.

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Speaker 1: But for some people, yeah, I have a lot of

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Speaker 1: students where they just have no idea what they want

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Speaker 1: to do. They don't even know what they're looking for

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Speaker 1: in a college. Yeah, maybe it's a smarter move to

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Speaker 1: just stay home and go to a community college. Um,

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Speaker 1: we have somebody in our family right now. This is

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Speaker 1: a great example. She didn't know what she wanted to do,

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Speaker 1: actually got a sports scholarship to go play at a

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Speaker 1: community college, ended up not wanting to stay there, but

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Speaker 1: her boyfriend was out of college. Um, he's at Western,

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Speaker 1: which is a school here in Washington, so they're doing

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Speaker 1: a long distance thing. Well, she took some time off

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Speaker 1: and now she's at a community college near her boyfriend

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Speaker 1: who's at Western, and it works really well for her.

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Speaker 1: You know, she still gets the experience of the four

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Speaker 1: year um, the four year experience and friends and you know,

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Speaker 1: interacting with students at that school. Isn't paying the price

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Speaker 1: and she still gets She lives in an apartment with

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Speaker 1: a friend who is at Western there and so she's

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Speaker 1: still getting that experience but without the cost. And then

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Speaker 1: you know she'll probably transfer there at some point. But

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Speaker 1: you know, there's ways to have that experience without paying

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Speaker 1: that cost if you're kind of in that middle ground

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Speaker 1: of not knowing what to do. So there's definitely validity

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Speaker 1: to it. So on the other end of that, right,

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Speaker 1: you know, with a four year college like that, you're

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Speaker 1: getting that experience. But do you ever think that that

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Speaker 1: it makes sense for a high school or to not

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Speaker 1: even considering going to going to college at all? Right, Like,

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Speaker 1: like we said, like we are seeing the cost of

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Speaker 1: college become prohibitively expensive, and like a lot of recent

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Speaker 1: graduates are even in jobs that don't require the degrees

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Speaker 1: that they've just worked so hard to get or that

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Speaker 1: they've spent a ton of money to receive. So do

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Speaker 1: you ever have clients that come to you where, you know,

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Speaker 1: sometimes you even advised them that, you know what, like

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Speaker 1: maybe college isn't for you. Oh yeah, all the time,

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Speaker 1: and I'm advising it more and more. Um now, Like

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Speaker 1: obviously there's students, you know, like I have a bunch

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Speaker 1: of clients this here. It's just kind of odd it

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Speaker 1: worked out that way. But they want to be doctors. Okay,

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Speaker 1: well you want to be a doctor, you want to

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Speaker 1: be a teacher, like you have to go to college.

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Speaker 1: There's an yeah. But then there's people who even like

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Speaker 1: my my nephew who's nineteen, you know, my sister was like,

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Speaker 1: what do we do. I'm like, he's not going to

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Speaker 1: go to a traditional four year college. He's going to

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Speaker 1: go to a vocational school or get do some sort

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Speaker 1: of like trade. That's just what's best for him. That's

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Speaker 1: the kind of like he's that person. I could see

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Speaker 1: him being an electrician or something. And that's fine, that's great. Um,

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Speaker 1: if you can go to a great trade school, or

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Speaker 1: go through an apprenticeship program. I mean here in Washington,

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Speaker 1: we have such a shortage of electricians. They're making like

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Speaker 1: a hundred hundred twenty grand a year, and the training

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Speaker 1: for it is really good. Like you can be making

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Speaker 1: and not have the debt and be making six figures.

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Speaker 1: I mean, why not, you know it is for some

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Speaker 1: for some students, it's it's a great option. So for

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Speaker 1: for high schoolers or parents of high schoolers who are

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Speaker 1: mechanically inclined, what direction do you push them in when

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Speaker 1: it comes to trade schools? How like what's the best

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Speaker 1: way for them to kind of go about pursuing work

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Speaker 1: with their hands or work in the trades. Yeah, I

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Speaker 1: usually recommend because usually a lot of times they don't

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Speaker 1: know what they want to do, and that's kind of

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Speaker 1: where they get stuck. So I'll usually a guys and

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Speaker 1: I have a lot of relationships here in our area

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Speaker 1: and be like, hey, can you job shadow this kid

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Speaker 1: for a couple of days, like let them tag along

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Speaker 1: and see would he be a good electrician or you know,

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Speaker 1: commercial plumber or welder, you know those kinds of things,

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Speaker 1: and see if they like it, you know, if they

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Speaker 1: have a skill at it. And if that's something they

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Speaker 1: want to do, then you know, we'll hook them up

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Speaker 1: with those mentors and kind of send them down down

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Speaker 1: that path and get them going that way. I love that.

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Speaker 1: I think it's amazing that, Like you mean, your company

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Speaker 1: is called College Insights, But at the same time, you're

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Speaker 1: also keeping in mind that sometimes like the best path

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Speaker 1: for some of these students to take isn't one that

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Speaker 1: actually involves college. So yeah, I think that's that's smart.

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Speaker 1: So well, Alicia, we are actually going to talk some

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Speaker 1: more about college. We're gonna talk about kind of the

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Speaker 1: admissions process and how to pay for college, and we're

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Speaker 1: gonna get to those topics right after the break. All right,

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Speaker 1: we're back from the break. We're talking with Alicia Howard,

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Speaker 1: and we're talking about navigating college decisions. Okay, and Alicia,

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Speaker 1: let's say that our fictional student here is has declined

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Speaker 1: to go to a trade school, that they're interested in

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Speaker 1: a traditional four year degree. Let's talk about navigating the

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Speaker 1: admissions process. What are the biggest things that most folks

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Speaker 1: applying to college don't even consider during the process that

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Speaker 1: could actually end up really hurting them. Oh man, so

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Speaker 1: I have a perfect case, right now with the client.

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Speaker 1: What I'm about to tell you is going to save

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Speaker 1: you about so you're gonna yeah. So what most parents

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Speaker 1: don't realize because most parents went to college thirty years ago, right,

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Speaker 1: and they applied to one school and it was a

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Speaker 1: little application and it was easy. It's not like that anymore.

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Speaker 1: It's so competitive that we have all these essays and

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Speaker 1: all these little pieces of paperwork that have to be submitted,

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Speaker 1: all this financial paperwork, like just a lot of stuff.

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Speaker 1: So I recommend that you probably need a solid year

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Speaker 1: ideally to really get through this process. My average students

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Speaker 1: writing essays, there's multiple applications, the applications more complicated. There's

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Speaker 1: just a lot of stuff that goes through this process

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Speaker 1: to really navigate it and make sure the family and

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Speaker 1: the kid are meeting their goals right. So it's a

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Speaker 1: long process. What most people do is they lollygag or

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Speaker 1: they don't realize it's important, and they end up submitting

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Speaker 1: their applications in January February March when it's that's the

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Speaker 1: later deadline often called the regular decision deadline mine most laws.

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Speaker 1: So in seven states there's actually this is actually by law.

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Speaker 1: I will tell you if it's not by law in

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Speaker 1: most states, it's definitely a practice by most universities. What

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Speaker 1: happens is once you get your admissions letter, that kind

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Speaker 1: of triggers to the Financial Aid Office. That thet the

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Speaker 1: next step kicks into place, so your offer letter comes. Well,

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Speaker 1: at every university there you know, tied on funds. There's

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Speaker 1: only so much funding and that gets awarded basically in order.

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Speaker 1: So the sooner you've submitted all of your applications, the

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Speaker 1: sooner that goes to the Financial Aid Office, the sooner

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Speaker 1: you're the more money they have, et cetera. When you

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Speaker 1: wait until like February to submit those applications, there's only

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Speaker 1: so much money left, and so a lot of kids

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Speaker 1: wait till like July to do their fast fut and stuff.

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Speaker 1: Well money's gone. There's no money left. There's no money left,

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Speaker 1: even if they like would have qualified for something. So

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Speaker 1: the earlier you get your applications and I am seeing

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Speaker 1: a difference of about twenty to thirty thou dollars and

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Speaker 1: offer money. Remember most of those applications, the scholarships are

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Speaker 1: offered freshman year, So if you don't get it freshman year,

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Speaker 1: and there's exceptions to this, but if you don't get

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Speaker 1: that money freshman year, like you're not getting it all

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Speaker 1: four or five years. So if you don't get that

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Speaker 1: five thousand dollar scholarship freshman year, that's twenty thou dollars

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Speaker 1: over four years. Why because you didn't get your stuff

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Speaker 1: in on time. You waited till January February March. If

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Speaker 1: you would have gotten that in by the like November

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Speaker 1: one deadline, you get significantly more money. Now, my students,

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Speaker 1: I aim for a deadline of September, which don't tell,

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Speaker 1: don't tell the kids, But that's actually because I I

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Speaker 1: know I'm not going to get their work until October,

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Speaker 1: so like I tell them in September fifteen, that's not

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Speaker 1: actually what happens. But my kids who get their stuff

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Speaker 1: in in September October man they get acceptance letters usually

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Speaker 1: within a week or two because there's not a lot

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Speaker 1: of kids doing it at that time. Mission staff doesn't

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Speaker 1: have a whole lot of a whole lot to read

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Speaker 1: right the right then right, yeah, but prove Yeah, so

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Speaker 1: my admissions rate, so I have a hundred percent emissions

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Speaker 1: rate over my what eight years doing this? Because what

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Speaker 1: happens your admissions officers in a better mood, like they're

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Speaker 1: getting through them faster. Again, it depends on the school,

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Speaker 1: but they're getting higher acceptance rates. Plus their offer letters

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Speaker 1: are significantly higher. So the easiest way to save money

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Speaker 1: on school is to get your stuff in early and

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Speaker 1: don't wait like everybody else does and call me in

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Speaker 1: like November or October ary. Yeah, you're not going to

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Speaker 1: get any money. There's no money left. It makes me

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Speaker 1: think of like when we go to the grocery store

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Speaker 1: and it's the beginning of the month in our budget resets,

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Speaker 1: and we have a fridge or not a fridge, but

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Speaker 1: we have like a you know, a full gallon of milk.

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Speaker 1: When I'm making my coffee, I pour a lot of

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Speaker 1: milk into my coffee because there is a lot of milk.

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Speaker 1: But you know what, once we're getting towards the bottom

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Speaker 1: of that jug and I'm like, oh, you know, there's

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Speaker 1: just a little bit left. And so I tend to

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Speaker 1: be more conservative. But but yeah, I had no idea

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Speaker 1: that it had that much of an impact when it

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Speaker 1: comes to financial aid, just getting getting your foot in

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Speaker 1: the door, getting your name in the door, getting on

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Speaker 1: their list, and then earlier, like the compounding effect of

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Speaker 1: getting a freshman year and then and then getting those Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the recurring funds for years on end, that's huge. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: especially middle class families, that's super important. Again, it's different

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Speaker 1: if you are pelgram eligible or different things. That's a

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Speaker 1: different set of rules. But if you're a middle class

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Speaker 1: and you're not going to qualify for a bunch of grants, man,

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Speaker 1: your best bet is to get those scholarships, your departmental scholarships,

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Speaker 1: your university scholarships, your academic scholarships. But the best way

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Speaker 1: to get those is to get them early. By February March,

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Speaker 1: a lot of stuff's gone, so the only their best

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Speaker 1: bet was to do it early. But because you just

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Speaker 1: couldn't get organized, it's just so sad. I see so

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Speaker 1: many families. I'm like, man, you just like couldn't get

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Speaker 1: organized early enough, and you like cost your kid thirty grand. Well,

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Speaker 1: so you know, at least you're talking about how it's

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Speaker 1: like a year long process, right just basically applying to school.

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Speaker 1: You're talking about the importance of those essays. What about

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Speaker 1: just other extra curriculars in high school? Like what are

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Speaker 1: most college admissions departments looking at are Like, are they

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Speaker 1: looking you know, for you to be involved in a

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Speaker 1: bunch of clubs like I was in high school, even

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Speaker 1: though I barely went to them. I was that girl totally.

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Speaker 1: I was a part of a ton of different clubs

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Speaker 1: and I had minimal involvement in every single one of them.

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Speaker 1: Or are they looking for maybe more initiative. Are they

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Speaker 1: looking for a student who's maybe like the presidents you

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Speaker 1: know of a certain club. Matt was the kid in

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Speaker 1: chess club playing checkers. Yeah, all right, yeah, So it

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Speaker 1: depends on the school. And now if you're going I

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Speaker 1: V S, that's a very very specific profile you're looking at.

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Speaker 1: But most schools, I mean, they do kind of want

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Speaker 1: you a little well rounded, but they want you more

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Speaker 1: focused than they tell you. Like most people will say, oh,

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Speaker 1: be really well rounded. But the truth is is, like

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Speaker 1: most people who are experts, and we all know those people,

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Speaker 1: you're good in one thing and you're really, really really

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Speaker 1: good in that one thing. Ing. So like a good

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Speaker 1: example of a good profile is like, be really good

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Speaker 1: and you're you know one to three things, right, You're

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Speaker 1: really great in football or maybe a couple of different sports,

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Speaker 1: or you're really strong in your key club because you're

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Speaker 1: a great volunteer, be specific and if a couple of things, Now,

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Speaker 1: it's okay to round that out with you know, maybe

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Speaker 1: you do want to do a couple of clubs, that's fine,

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Speaker 1: but don't join like twenty clubs. It's a little bit

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Speaker 1: of both. Be really good in two or three things,

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Speaker 1: rounded out with a couple little things. But do something

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Speaker 1: you enjoy. Don't do something like you're gonna hate for

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Speaker 1: your college, your high school and college career. What about

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Speaker 1: the academic side at leastia like AP honors classes, Like

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Speaker 1: how important are those in kind of factoring in where

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Speaker 1: you fit in the hierarchy when you're applying for college.

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Speaker 1: That really depends on on the student. But the more

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Speaker 1: competitive of a school you're applying to, the more important

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Speaker 1: it is to have those you know, A p IB classes.

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Speaker 1: There are certain schools if you're going to, honestly like

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Speaker 1: it's not very competitive, so it's not going to make

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Speaker 1: that big of a difference. But the more competitive of

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Speaker 1: a school, the more important it's going to be to

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Speaker 1: have those A p I B classes. Now, as an educator,

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Speaker 1: I will tell you it's great to have those just

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Speaker 1: because high school classes are so much easier than high

417
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Speaker 1: than college classes, and you're gonna get your butt kicked

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Speaker 1: in college if you don't have, like, if you don't

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Speaker 1: learn steady skills, if you don't learn note taking, if

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Speaker 1: you don't learn just those skills you need to develop.

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Speaker 1: So it's really good to have at least some of

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Speaker 1: those classes just for the experience of it. But if

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Speaker 1: you're going to IVY or highly competitive schools, I mean

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Speaker 1: even here in Seattle, the University of Washington, it's like

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Speaker 1: a thirty three percent acceptance rate or something like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: you better have those school those classes because every other

427
00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,600
Speaker 1: kid does, versus you're going to a school that's not

428
00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,440
Speaker 1: very competitive. Okay, one or two a P classes is

429
00:21:55,440 --> 00:21:57,679
Speaker 1: going to be fine. So you have to learn how

430
00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,920
Speaker 1: to balance it with what your long term goals are.

431
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:04,240
Speaker 1: Got it? So how also, how would you recommend for

432
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:08,679
Speaker 1: students to call their selection of potential schools. Obviously certain

433
00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:11,639
Speaker 1: schools have different strengths, but yeah, like how would you

434
00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,440
Speaker 1: recommend that you know, students go about kind of figuring

435
00:22:14,440 --> 00:22:17,120
Speaker 1: out what schools are kind of hone in on. Yeah,

436
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:20,440
Speaker 1: that's actually a long longer process than most people realize.

437
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,160
Speaker 1: But just a few things would be one go on tours.

438
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:25,959
Speaker 1: I always tell people to go on tours. Now you

439
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:28,639
Speaker 1: can go tour schools that you're not even interested in,

440
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,720
Speaker 1: but they're close to your house. I don't care. Just

441
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,440
Speaker 1: give me something to work with, right, Because a lot

442
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:36,440
Speaker 1: of people, like here in Seattle, they're like, oh, yeah,

443
00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:39,040
Speaker 1: I want to go to University of Washington. I'm like,

444
00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:41,200
Speaker 1: have you sat in on an English one oh one

445
00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,560
Speaker 1: class at the University of Washington, because there's like eight

446
00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,800
Speaker 1: hundred people and if you can't focus in a room

447
00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:49,639
Speaker 1: of that many students, it's not going to be a

448
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,520
Speaker 1: good fit. Well, that's good to know. It's almost like

449
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:54,560
Speaker 1: shopping for a house where you gotta go visit fifty

450
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 1: houses to kind of even know what you're looking for. Yeah,

451
00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,280
Speaker 1: they just they don't know. Um, a lot of students

452
00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:01,200
Speaker 1: you tell them it's a private school and they're like, oh,

453
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,280
Speaker 1: that's like my high school. But like kids don't know.

454
00:23:04,359 --> 00:23:06,920
Speaker 1: They're like, well, my high school has eighteen hundred students.

455
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:09,240
Speaker 1: They don't know what that means to go to a

456
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:12,080
Speaker 1: college with five thousand versus a mid size with like

457
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:14,919
Speaker 1: fifteen thousand versus a large with thirty thousand, Like they

458
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:17,600
Speaker 1: don't understand what that means the only way you can

459
00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:20,080
Speaker 1: conceptually get that in your head of what that looks

460
00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:22,560
Speaker 1: like is to go to those schools. So I know,

461
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:24,199
Speaker 1: if you go to a midsize school and you're like,

462
00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,320
Speaker 1: I love it. It was big enough, but small enough, Okay,

463
00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,240
Speaker 1: now I know I'm looking for a midsize school. You

464
00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:33,680
Speaker 1: need like a launch like a launching point almost yeah,

465
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:35,800
Speaker 1: Or it's so funny. I've worked with students. I had

466
00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:37,919
Speaker 1: a student I worked with. Once she was set she

467
00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,800
Speaker 1: had to go to California, and I was working with her,

468
00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,280
Speaker 1: and I'm like, this girl is always in a sweatshirt.

469
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:47,120
Speaker 1: She loves ugs. She's always wrapped in a blanket. And

470
00:23:47,200 --> 00:23:49,840
Speaker 1: I'm like, like, you know, you could tell she she

471
00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 1: likes to be snuggled, right, And so I'm like, um,

472
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:55,800
Speaker 1: are you sure you want to go to California? Well,

473
00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:58,640
Speaker 1: sure enough, she's in Colorado. So I love that you're

474
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:00,320
Speaker 1: looking at it down to that detail though, like she

475
00:24:00,359 --> 00:24:03,240
Speaker 1: wears us. Maybe maybe Colorado is a good spot. I mean,

476
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:05,280
Speaker 1: like always, I mean I have students that it's very

477
00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,399
Speaker 1: obvious and like, you're not a California girl, like you

478
00:24:08,440 --> 00:24:10,600
Speaker 1: want to be by the mountains and stuff. But they

479
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 1: don't know right, well, all my friends are going to California,

480
00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,040
Speaker 1: Like I must want to go to California. So you know,

481
00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:19,120
Speaker 1: you just got to pay attention to those things and

482
00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,280
Speaker 1: what's available to them. Sure. So yeah, what are some

483
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:26,200
Speaker 1: of the other factors then that are helping you decide

484
00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:29,919
Speaker 1: what what schools people should be applying to? UM major

485
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:32,440
Speaker 1: is a big one, which sounds really simple, but most

486
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:35,199
Speaker 1: students don't know what they want to major in, and

487
00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,040
Speaker 1: so how do you choose a school and you don't

488
00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:39,120
Speaker 1: even know if they're going to have the program that

489
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:41,280
Speaker 1: you might want. So we do a lot of career

490
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:45,800
Speaker 1: coaching and you know, a lot of assessments to figure out, Okay,

491
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:47,880
Speaker 1: this kid doesn't know what they want to do, but

492
00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:51,480
Speaker 1: based on their personality, they're probably going to go into

493
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,080
Speaker 1: something of this sort, and what are some good schools

494
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,600
Speaker 1: that would support them through that. UM we might be

495
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 1: looking at larger universities that have so any program offerings

496
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,879
Speaker 1: versus you know, smaller college which is going to be

497
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,080
Speaker 1: more limiting. So you're kind of looking for those things.

498
00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,159
Speaker 1: Major a lot of things students might be interested in.

499
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,360
Speaker 1: For example, in Seattle, we have a big obviously big

500
00:25:12,359 --> 00:25:15,840
Speaker 1: tech industry. Well, if you're wanting to be a computer

501
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:18,440
Speaker 1: science major but you don't want to stay in Seattle,

502
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:20,960
Speaker 1: you know, we do need to kind of take internship

503
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:27,040
Speaker 1: opportunities or career opportunities into into that equation. Obviously, the

504
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,119
Speaker 1: big one is the finances, and there's so many myths

505
00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:33,600
Speaker 1: and misconceptions out there where you know, they think, oh,

506
00:25:33,640 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 1: I have to go to a public school or in

507
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 1: state school because that's going to be more affordable. It's

508
00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,159
Speaker 1: actually completely not true. I'm actually starting to send a

509
00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:43,320
Speaker 1: lot of students out of state because Washington State just

510
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:45,800
Speaker 1: doesn't fund our schools very well, and it's so expensive

511
00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,960
Speaker 1: to live here that it's actually been so much cheaper

512
00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:51,879
Speaker 1: to go out of state, um than it is to

513
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,680
Speaker 1: stay here at an in state school in Washington. So

514
00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,160
Speaker 1: all those little factors of like the finances and major

515
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,040
Speaker 1: and you know, personality, all things have to go into

516
00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:04,640
Speaker 1: making that list of schools. Yeah. Well yeah, let's let's

517
00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:06,920
Speaker 1: let's keep talking about the finances and money. Um, let's

518
00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,840
Speaker 1: talk about how to pay for college. So, Alicia, how

519
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,760
Speaker 1: would you recommend for folks to make college more affordable?

520
00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:18,879
Speaker 1: So Number one I would say is start early, like

521
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:22,200
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier. The earlier we start. Now we're

522
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,400
Speaker 1: not rushing the process. We're getting more money and by

523
00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,199
Speaker 1: default we're giving you more options. Right, and now we

524
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,480
Speaker 1: have choices. The other best way to make college affordable.

525
00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:32,960
Speaker 1: And again this is going to save you, guys, a

526
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:35,960
Speaker 1: lot of money. Maybe not because you have you have

527
00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 1: to know what colleges are more affordable, but the list.

528
00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,639
Speaker 1: The easiest way to save money is by the list.

529
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,040
Speaker 1: And that means which schools am I applying to that

530
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:47,679
Speaker 1: are going to give me the best offer or have

531
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 1: a lot of components that are going to make school

532
00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,480
Speaker 1: affordable for me. So let me give you an example

533
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:57,520
Speaker 1: of that. So, like I said, in Seattle, colleges not

534
00:26:57,560 --> 00:27:00,879
Speaker 1: only a little bit more expensive, but so expensive to

535
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:04,640
Speaker 1: live here. Um, the average one bedroom in a bedroom,

536
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:08,920
Speaker 1: not an apartment, a bedroom near the University of Washington

537
00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:11,600
Speaker 1: and Seattle. There's a bunch of schools in Seattle, but

538
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,000
Speaker 1: all these Seattle schools, the average bedroom is going for

539
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:19,320
Speaker 1: a month like a bedroom. You can see how expensive

540
00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,720
Speaker 1: this is about to get, right, And so most schools

541
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:25,560
Speaker 1: here are going for about thirty dollars a year. That

542
00:27:25,720 --> 00:27:29,040
Speaker 1: is in state tuition. Guys, that's why I get really

543
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,800
Speaker 1: mad when people are like, oh, you guys just you know,

544
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,399
Speaker 1: spend money on beer and like blah blah blah. I'm like,

545
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,440
Speaker 1: you guys have no idea. It is so expensive to

546
00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,160
Speaker 1: go to school here, even in state. It's ridiculous. So

547
00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 1: it's just expensive. However, like a good example is, I

548
00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,119
Speaker 1: was I just sent one of my kids to a

549
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:50,680
Speaker 1: school in the Midwest, out of state public school. However,

550
00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:53,880
Speaker 1: if you're a good student and have good grades, um,

551
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 1: and they're not even super high it's like a three

552
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 1: four or something, they will basically give you a scholarship

553
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,720
Speaker 1: to make it the equivalent of in state tuition. So

554
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,600
Speaker 1: it's like nine thousand or ten thousand a year in state,

555
00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:08,600
Speaker 1: which is pretty normal, um, lower than what it is

556
00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,560
Speaker 1: in Washington State. However, a bedroom is going for two

557
00:28:13,000 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 1: and fifty dollars a month. Yeah, this school in particular

558
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:20,679
Speaker 1: also has one of the best honors programs. They have

559
00:28:20,800 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 1: tons of basically the same options, um that you would

560
00:28:24,119 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 1: have here at some of our larger state schools. But

561
00:28:27,480 --> 00:28:30,400
Speaker 1: you're paying two or fifty bucks for a bedroom. So

562
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 1: the cost savings, I mean when you do the math

563
00:28:34,119 --> 00:28:35,960
Speaker 1: on it, I mean, it was saving like fifteen grand

564
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,560
Speaker 1: a year or something like that. So it's just so

565
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,120
Speaker 1: worth it to send your kid out a state. They're

566
00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:46,560
Speaker 1: gonna have more opportunities. The other difference being Seattle so competitive,

567
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,920
Speaker 1: especially if you're in like tech or nursing or like medicine.

568
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 1: Here it's just so developed that it's just hard to

569
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:56,840
Speaker 1: get internships and paid positions. Well in the Midwest not

570
00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,400
Speaker 1: so competitive in in those industries. So I'm actually having

571
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:04,200
Speaker 1: students it's cheaper and they're getting a lot more opportunities

572
00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:07,560
Speaker 1: for internships by going to some of those schools versus

573
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:10,400
Speaker 1: trying to stay in state. So that's just one example.

574
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 1: There's a million like that. There's a lot of ways

575
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:15,760
Speaker 1: to do it, but choosing the right school, having a

576
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,560
Speaker 1: strategy for what that list look like, that is a

577
00:29:18,720 --> 00:29:22,040
Speaker 1: very good way to save money. Yeah, So so it

578
00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,000
Speaker 1: sounds like keeping the cost slow obviously crucial, and and

579
00:29:25,040 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 1: that going out of state can help with that, especially

580
00:29:28,200 --> 00:29:30,480
Speaker 1: you know, if you live in an expensive state like Washington.

581
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:34,160
Speaker 1: But that's one side of the value equation. If we're

582
00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:37,000
Speaker 1: talking about like what your degree is worth when you graduate,

583
00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,440
Speaker 1: how how much are you taking that into the equation too?

584
00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 1: For these students who you know, like, what are they

585
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:44,800
Speaker 1: potentially going to make in their first couple of years

586
00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 1: out of school? And how important is that in the

587
00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 1: decision making process. Oh, that's huge. Um, we run the

588
00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,040
Speaker 1: numbers on that when we meet, and you know, we'll

589
00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:56,280
Speaker 1: recommend different things. So like, for example, if you're going

590
00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:58,280
Speaker 1: to be in like let's say you're gonna be a

591
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:02,000
Speaker 1: mechanical engineer, I know all the numbers for national averages

592
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,320
Speaker 1: for careers, so quick math in my head, Like, I know,

593
00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:09,680
Speaker 1: if you're a new mechanical engineer Seattle area average market whatever,

594
00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 1: like the average is about sixty first year, right, first

595
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:17,520
Speaker 1: five years. However, I also know once you're about five

596
00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,520
Speaker 1: years out, you get a huge pay bump, right, so

597
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 1: you can spend a little bit more money on your degree.

598
00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:27,080
Speaker 1: If you're going to make good money, you know, five

599
00:30:27,160 --> 00:30:31,600
Speaker 1: ten years down the road, right, versus somebody who is

600
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: going to be like a creative writing major or a

601
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,880
Speaker 1: teacher or you know, these things that are very very

602
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 1: minimal increases. Marketing majors, for example, don't make good money

603
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,080
Speaker 1: for quite a while toor that much later down their

604
00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:48,320
Speaker 1: careers generally, So if you're going to do that, we

605
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,840
Speaker 1: need to be very cognizant and I'm gonna honestly be

606
00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 1: taking a lot of options away from you if you're

607
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 1: not a family that can pay cash. We need to

608
00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 1: be more strategic, because you know, it's so funny, so

609
00:30:59,520 --> 00:31:02,560
Speaker 1: many pair rents. They want to be supportive of their kids.

610
00:31:02,600 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 1: They're like, oh, my kid got this opportunity, and so

611
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:07,240
Speaker 1: like they'll go into so much debt to get their

612
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,800
Speaker 1: kids through school. And I'm like, and I'm actually about

613
00:31:09,800 --> 00:31:11,600
Speaker 1: to write a blog post on this where i think

614
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:13,720
Speaker 1: my headline is going to be something like, please stop

615
00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:19,600
Speaker 1: supporting your children, Like stop because you're supporting your kids

616
00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:21,960
Speaker 1: and I'm using air quotes and you're going and I

617
00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:23,640
Speaker 1: just had a family call me last week. They're going

618
00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,680
Speaker 1: to go into hundred seventy thousand dollars in student loan

619
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,680
Speaker 1: debt because their kid got into this school and they

620
00:31:29,720 --> 00:31:31,000
Speaker 1: really want to go to the school and it's like

621
00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:34,560
Speaker 1: their dreams. And I'm like, you're not supporting your kid

622
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:38,120
Speaker 1: by putting him in almost two thousand dollars of debts,

623
00:31:38,200 --> 00:31:41,800
Speaker 1: Like stop, Like you are not helping your child. And

624
00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:43,840
Speaker 1: a seventeen year old just isn't equipped to make that

625
00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:46,520
Speaker 1: decision right. Yeah, And that's the thing. We can't blame

626
00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,000
Speaker 1: the kid, Like again, she doesn't know, like she has

627
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:52,560
Speaker 1: no concept of how much money that is. And so

628
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:54,959
Speaker 1: mom and dad are like, well, I don't want to

629
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 1: not support her, but you know, it's like you have

630
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,560
Speaker 1: to take that into the equation that's a bad idea.

631
00:32:01,760 --> 00:32:05,000
Speaker 1: We can find a school that will be just as great,

632
00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,360
Speaker 1: you know, just as great of a fit. She'll have

633
00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:09,960
Speaker 1: a great career opportunity. But let's do it where she's

634
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 1: not going into hundred seventy thousand in debt. That's just

635
00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 1: assinine to me. Yeah. Well, so okay, let's talk about

636
00:32:15,920 --> 00:32:19,840
Speaker 1: scholarships and grants right paying for school that way? Is

637
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:23,720
Speaker 1: there a best way to approach searching and applying for

638
00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,760
Speaker 1: you know, for these funds, And if a family or

639
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:29,920
Speaker 1: a student doesn't do a great job finding these scholarships

640
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:31,800
Speaker 1: that are out there, like, how much money are they

641
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,920
Speaker 1: potentially leaving on the table if they neglect this step? Yeah,

642
00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:39,360
Speaker 1: So the first step is we're pulling money from many

643
00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:42,320
Speaker 1: different sources. So that's why like these little things, Okay,

644
00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:44,520
Speaker 1: we're going to be very strategic and where you're applying

645
00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:46,959
Speaker 1: to because I know, if you go to these schools,

646
00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:49,080
Speaker 1: you'll get this offer. And if you go to this school,

647
00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: you're going to get this offer. And there's schools that

648
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,120
Speaker 1: are just notorious, like I just know what your offer

649
00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:56,400
Speaker 1: is going to be because it's just they're like the

650
00:32:56,520 --> 00:33:00,320
Speaker 1: always the same. And so we're being strategic there. We're

651
00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:03,280
Speaker 1: pullying money in those ways. Now we have a gap

652
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 1: to fill. So let's say the school is going to

653
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:08,920
Speaker 1: be a hundred thousand dollars including all living expenses, all

654
00:33:08,960 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 1: in over four years, and they give you enough to

655
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 1: cover half, so we need to come up with fifty

656
00:33:14,240 --> 00:33:17,600
Speaker 1: dollars and other money. Lots of different ways to do that,

657
00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 1: but the private scholarship route, people don't realize how much

658
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:24,320
Speaker 1: work it is, how much time it takes. We actually

659
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:26,440
Speaker 1: have like a full scholarship program. But just to give

660
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,600
Speaker 1: you an example, we just finished a scholarship list for

661
00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,080
Speaker 1: a student. It's a hundred scholarships that they qualify for.

662
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,520
Speaker 1: It took our research team almost thirty hours just to

663
00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,920
Speaker 1: find a hundred scholarships. So that's not even the application process,

664
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:44,160
Speaker 1: that's just finding the ones. That's just finding scholarships that

665
00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:46,960
Speaker 1: you qualify for that are customized to you, that took

666
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 1: thirty hours, So yeah, I used to I have to

667
00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:58,480
Speaker 1: do all the work, but yeah, I'm not trying to

668
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:02,440
Speaker 1: go to jail this year, so um yeah. But yeah,

669
00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:04,520
Speaker 1: it takes a lot of research time, and so what

670
00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 1: happens is kids give up and so it takes a

671
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:12,080
Speaker 1: lot of time. However, like once you find those scholarships,

672
00:34:12,120 --> 00:34:14,360
Speaker 1: now you're just writing the essays and that kind of stuff,

673
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,640
Speaker 1: so it becomes more manageable. But still I think so

674
00:34:17,680 --> 00:34:19,399
Speaker 1: I just did a video on this a few months ago,

675
00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:21,640
Speaker 1: so I have to remember the statistics. But it's like

676
00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:26,120
Speaker 1: enough scholarship money goes unclaimed every year where it would

677
00:34:26,120 --> 00:34:31,080
Speaker 1: pay full tuition, room and board for fourteen thousand students

678
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 1: a year. So it's it's a lot of left So

679
00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:39,440
Speaker 1: I always tell students start local. Go to your counseling office.

680
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:41,640
Speaker 1: Usually there's like a bulletin board or a book or

681
00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:45,400
Speaker 1: something that they'll have scholarships, you know, and and applied

682
00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:47,399
Speaker 1: us a lot of difference. It takes a lot of time,

683
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:49,759
Speaker 1: So don't just apply to like five scholarships and think

684
00:34:49,800 --> 00:34:54,000
Speaker 1: that's that's okay. Invest in it. But the national statistic

685
00:34:54,200 --> 00:34:56,080
Speaker 1: is you're going to get one intent that you apply

686
00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:58,879
Speaker 1: for I will tell you in practice, it's like one

687
00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:02,760
Speaker 1: in fifteen and the average scholarship award is like about

688
00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 1: and that's tax free, and you guys know what that means.

689
00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:09,080
Speaker 1: That's a lot of money for a college student to

690
00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:13,279
Speaker 1: get tax free. So it's definitely worth it to go

691
00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,440
Speaker 1: through that process. Are there any online resources that are

692
00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,280
Speaker 1: super helpful in your opinion for people who are trying

693
00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:23,200
Speaker 1: to dig up scholarships for themselves? Honestly, no, not really

694
00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:25,920
Speaker 1: really wish I wish I had a better answer for you,

695
00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 1: but I mean there's definitely a lot of online resources.

696
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,120
Speaker 1: There's obviously like fast Web and apps like scholar. The

697
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:36,239
Speaker 1: problem is you're really having to like search and find them, honestly,

698
00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:38,760
Speaker 1: Like if you know how to bullyand search, like bullyand

699
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,040
Speaker 1: searching is the best way to really start digging into them.

700
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 1: So much good information here, Alicia, and you know, we've

701
00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:46,799
Speaker 1: got a few more questions for you, including kind of

702
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:49,120
Speaker 1: how to tackle student loans on the flip side when

703
00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:51,640
Speaker 1: you're out of college, and we'll get to that right

704
00:35:51,680 --> 00:36:02,719
Speaker 1: after the break. All right, we're back from the break.

705
00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:05,799
Speaker 1: We're talking with Alicia Howard about navigating some of these

706
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:09,600
Speaker 1: tricky college decisions. And at least, you know, we we

707
00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:11,680
Speaker 1: just talked about some of the different ways to pay

708
00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:15,160
Speaker 1: for college. We've talked about scholarships, grants. Um, is there

709
00:36:15,280 --> 00:36:19,279
Speaker 1: like any type of funding basically for college that, yeah,

710
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:21,840
Speaker 1: that you feel that we haven't covered yet. Yeah. So

711
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 1: one other little trick I use for students, and something

712
00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:29,279
Speaker 1: they really don't think about, is just being cognizant of

713
00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,399
Speaker 1: where you're working and where you're applying to jobs. And

714
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:36,839
Speaker 1: so when you're most students are starting to work while

715
00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:39,880
Speaker 1: they're in college. Um, I'm actually seeing a huge downward

716
00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:41,680
Speaker 1: trend in that. It's really amazing me at how many

717
00:36:41,719 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 1: parents don't want their kids to work ever, But I

718
00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:48,759
Speaker 1: really encourage students to work in school for many, many,

719
00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: many reasons, and research actually supports that it's actually significantly

720
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,919
Speaker 1: better for students in many ways to work while they're

721
00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:58,359
Speaker 1: in school. But one thing I didn't know, because I

722
00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:00,680
Speaker 1: I did work my way through school. I is averaging

723
00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,040
Speaker 1: um about thirty hours a week in school. Sometimes I

724
00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:06,560
Speaker 1: dropped down to twenty. But I always always worked when

725
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:08,960
Speaker 1: I was in college, and it wasn't until I started

726
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,680
Speaker 1: getting into this line of work that I started learning

727
00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:14,840
Speaker 1: I really screwed up and that because I was working,

728
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:17,920
Speaker 1: but I was making minimum wage and you know, trading

729
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,800
Speaker 1: time for money. And there's so many companies that offer

730
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:25,160
Speaker 1: you know, education benefits and you don't have to be

731
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:28,920
Speaker 1: a manager or high up. Like if you're working and

732
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 1: you're working whatever, twenty hours a week, thirty hours a week,

733
00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:35,040
Speaker 1: whatever it is, they will pay for a lot of

734
00:37:35,040 --> 00:37:39,000
Speaker 1: your college. And so like one example of this here

735
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:42,279
Speaker 1: in Seattle, we have T Mobile is based here, as

736
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:44,800
Speaker 1: is Dick Strive In, which is like our it's like

737
00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,760
Speaker 1: our in and out Burger. But even at Dick Strive

738
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:51,160
Speaker 1: In it's a fast food restaurant. If you work there

739
00:37:51,320 --> 00:37:54,240
Speaker 1: in college, you make right now the wage of seventeen

740
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:57,840
Speaker 1: an hour, So it's two dollars over minimum wage in Seattle.

741
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:00,200
Speaker 1: But if you work there, I want to say, it's

742
00:38:00,200 --> 00:38:03,359
Speaker 1: twenty hours a week, don't quote me on that. They

743
00:38:03,360 --> 00:38:06,080
Speaker 1: will pay it's like six thousand dollars a year or

744
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 1: something tuition. Yeah, so they have really low turnover rates

745
00:38:11,840 --> 00:38:15,840
Speaker 1: for for fast it's like a six gave bonus that

746
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:18,680
Speaker 1: goes towards school. Every single This is every year, I

747
00:38:18,719 --> 00:38:21,879
Speaker 1: think it's is it every year? No, it's quite a lot,

748
00:38:21,920 --> 00:38:24,240
Speaker 1: because I think it's like twenty thousand for four years

749
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,680
Speaker 1: or something that's incredible. Yeah, it's it's quite a lot.

750
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:29,719
Speaker 1: And then like, again don't quote me on this, but

751
00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,800
Speaker 1: like I don't see mobile. If you work thirty hours

752
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:34,919
Speaker 1: a week and it could be call center, it doesn't

753
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 1: have to be in like the stores. They also give

754
00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:41,560
Speaker 1: you it's like whatever five six, seven thousand dollars in

755
00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:45,160
Speaker 1: in tuition assistance as well. And so I ran the

756
00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:47,640
Speaker 1: numbers on this once for myself. Obviously I went to

757
00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:50,839
Speaker 1: college like ten fifteen years ago. But when I ran

758
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:54,200
Speaker 1: the numbers on it, one think about it. They paid more.

759
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:56,799
Speaker 1: Like I was a hostess at a Mexican restaurant, so

760
00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 1: like it was a minimum wage, so they got paid more,

761
00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:02,439
Speaker 1: and on average it was like whatever, sevent eight bucks

762
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:05,400
Speaker 1: an hour more. So it's significantly it was more pay.

763
00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:10,320
Speaker 1: Plus you got you know, the tuition reimbursement. Plus People

764
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:12,279
Speaker 1: don't think of this, but like, how much better would

765
00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:15,600
Speaker 1: my resume have been? Patted not just being a hostess

766
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:20,000
Speaker 1: but actually working for a corporation where I learned more skills.

767
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,239
Speaker 1: But I didn't. I didn't know that. Yeah, and half

768
00:39:23,239 --> 00:39:24,840
Speaker 1: the battle is knowing. And that's why we wanted to

769
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:26,800
Speaker 1: have you on is because there are these things that

770
00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:28,840
Speaker 1: people need to know, and yeah, where you work is

771
00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:31,160
Speaker 1: one of those things that people need to know, right

772
00:39:31,200 --> 00:39:33,640
Speaker 1: and and so yeah, that's a great tip. I love that.

773
00:39:34,080 --> 00:39:36,560
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you to. I've seen some videos

774
00:39:36,600 --> 00:39:38,439
Speaker 1: that you've created at Lasia and you've talked about how

775
00:39:38,760 --> 00:39:42,000
Speaker 1: that there are additional challenges that immigrant families face. And

776
00:39:42,040 --> 00:39:46,040
Speaker 1: you're an immigrant yourself, how is the college application process different?

777
00:39:46,239 --> 00:39:48,360
Speaker 1: And what do immigrant families need to be aware of

778
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,799
Speaker 1: when they're applying to colleges? Yeah, so immigrant family, So

779
00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 1: it's interesting. So I'm American, but I lived in South

780
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:58,000
Speaker 1: Korea for six years and wasn't higher read there. So

781
00:39:58,040 --> 00:40:00,480
Speaker 1: it's interesting because I've been on that side where like

782
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:02,960
Speaker 1: I was working in higher ed in Korea, and like

783
00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:06,359
Speaker 1: I had to learn a new system even working there.

784
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,160
Speaker 1: And then you know, like I worked with my families

785
00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:11,319
Speaker 1: here and a lot of them, you know, are really

786
00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:13,279
Speaker 1: well educated. I have a lot of families, like their

787
00:40:13,280 --> 00:40:16,200
Speaker 1: parents work at Microsoft, and you know, they're very well educated.

788
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:19,440
Speaker 1: But they're like I went to college in whatever India

789
00:40:19,600 --> 00:40:22,880
Speaker 1: or Japan or like wherever I'm from. It's just a

790
00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:26,600
Speaker 1: very different system. So for immigrant families, it's just very

791
00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:31,319
Speaker 1: important to really spend time learning the system um and

792
00:40:31,320 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 1: what you see a lot, especially in certain families is

793
00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:37,560
Speaker 1: especially people from like Asian countries, and I use that

794
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:42,080
Speaker 1: term loosely, it's very test score heavy and so it's

795
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:45,200
Speaker 1: very like steady, get good grades, get a good s,

796
00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 1: a T score, and then what happens is like students

797
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:51,879
Speaker 1: kind of fall off in other areas, right, Like they're

798
00:40:51,880 --> 00:40:53,920
Speaker 1: not as well rounded, they're not as involved, they don't

799
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:58,680
Speaker 1: have the leadership skills, and that really hurts them because again,

800
00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:00,920
Speaker 1: like if you're applying to Harvard and everybody has good

801
00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:02,960
Speaker 1: grades and test scores, how are you going to stand out?

802
00:41:03,360 --> 00:41:05,640
Speaker 1: And that's just we're seeing that at every school of

803
00:41:05,640 --> 00:41:08,960
Speaker 1: every level. So it's just certain things of like really

804
00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,960
Speaker 1: learning the system in the US and what that means.

805
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:15,200
Speaker 1: And that's really hard for parents because like in you know,

806
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:19,160
Speaker 1: your culture impacts you're parenting, right, and so it's really

807
00:41:19,200 --> 00:41:21,480
Speaker 1: hard for a lot of families to be like, oh man,

808
00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:24,400
Speaker 1: I might need my kid to maybe doesn't take that

809
00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:27,160
Speaker 1: extra a P class or whatever, because I need them

810
00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:30,160
Speaker 1: to do this this other thing to be more more

811
00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:32,839
Speaker 1: well rounded. Um, you have a lot of cultures who

812
00:41:33,160 --> 00:41:36,279
Speaker 1: don't value education as much, and so it's really hard

813
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:37,799
Speaker 1: when you have a kid who wants to go to

814
00:41:37,840 --> 00:41:40,080
Speaker 1: school and you're working with the family who's like, what

815
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:41,879
Speaker 1: are you talking about, just like go get a job

816
00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,880
Speaker 1: as a dishwasher. So you're kind of balancing those different

817
00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:48,680
Speaker 1: cultures and those different those different issues, and so it's

818
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:51,120
Speaker 1: just it's finding that balance of ultimately the end of

819
00:41:51,120 --> 00:41:52,920
Speaker 1: the day, I work for my kid, right which a

820
00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:55,200
Speaker 1: lot of parents don't like to hear, but I want

821
00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:59,000
Speaker 1: what's best for the kid, and so navigating like the

822
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:02,799
Speaker 1: cultural issue, the language barriers, all those things, it's just

823
00:42:02,840 --> 00:42:05,040
Speaker 1: helpful for them to get a good understanding of how

824
00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:07,399
Speaker 1: it works here in the US. That's crazy. Yeah, there's

825
00:42:07,400 --> 00:42:09,600
Speaker 1: so much more to it than just what the parent wants.

826
00:42:09,640 --> 00:42:12,440
Speaker 1: And you know, there's just like the cultural expectations of

827
00:42:12,480 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 1: the parents. I'm sure that you also have to kind

828
00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:17,319
Speaker 1: of deal with. How about like military families as well.

829
00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:20,319
Speaker 1: Are there some specific hurdles that you feel that they

830
00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:22,879
Speaker 1: have to face. We we recently had an episode with

831
00:42:23,320 --> 00:42:25,200
Speaker 1: Doug Nordman and we kind of talked about the g

832
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:27,680
Speaker 1: I Bill and just kind of the different benefits that

833
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,440
Speaker 1: military families can experience, but what about some of the hurdles,

834
00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:33,840
Speaker 1: some of the obstacles. So for military families, So I

835
00:42:33,880 --> 00:42:35,320
Speaker 1: did a lot of this when I lived in Korea

836
00:42:35,360 --> 00:42:38,080
Speaker 1: because I lived across the street from the main military base.

837
00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:40,719
Speaker 1: So I actually started my emissions career with a lot

838
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:43,760
Speaker 1: of military families. So the big thing one is especially

839
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:46,279
Speaker 1: if they've been abroad for a long time. I mean,

840
00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:48,520
Speaker 1: you go to the school on base, so they have

841
00:42:48,560 --> 00:42:51,680
Speaker 1: the like kind of American education system. But the truth

842
00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:53,719
Speaker 1: is is like they've kind of been out of this

843
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:57,400
Speaker 1: system for a long time. Um, and it's it's different

844
00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,680
Speaker 1: when you're abroad. It's a different feeling, it's a different

845
00:43:01,040 --> 00:43:03,840
Speaker 1: I mean, ex pats, if anybody any of you've been expats,

846
00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:07,360
Speaker 1: it's just a different culture. And so a lot of

847
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:10,400
Speaker 1: military families, like you have kids who have been abroad

848
00:43:10,480 --> 00:43:13,759
Speaker 1: for a very long time or you know, obviously they've

849
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:19,680
Speaker 1: moved around a lot, and that creates a disconnect between resources.

850
00:43:19,840 --> 00:43:22,719
Speaker 1: Right You're you're switching teachers a lot, You're switching counselors

851
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:24,600
Speaker 1: a lot. You might not be able to get the

852
00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:28,319
Speaker 1: best letter of recommendation because you you know, you've moved

853
00:43:28,320 --> 00:43:30,840
Speaker 1: so much, your teachers are moved because their DoD teachers,

854
00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:33,600
Speaker 1: and so those are kind of specific things from military

855
00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,279
Speaker 1: families and it's totally doable. You just have to work

856
00:43:36,320 --> 00:43:39,720
Speaker 1: around it. So staying in communication. If there's a teacher

857
00:43:39,760 --> 00:43:42,680
Speaker 1: that you really liked but they left or you left,

858
00:43:42,800 --> 00:43:44,719
Speaker 1: you might just have to say, hey, would you mind

859
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:47,680
Speaker 1: if we stayed pen pals so that we can maintain

860
00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:50,839
Speaker 1: this relationship because I'm applying to college next year and

861
00:43:50,920 --> 00:43:52,880
Speaker 1: I might need that letter of wreck or you know

862
00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:55,040
Speaker 1: whatever that looks like. But you just have to be

863
00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:59,279
Speaker 1: a little bit more strategic and how you navigate the process. Hey,

864
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:01,600
Speaker 1: let's talk about student loans for a second, Alicia. And

865
00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:04,719
Speaker 1: there is of course, like a crisis is like an

866
00:44:04,719 --> 00:44:07,680
Speaker 1: overused word in our country, but I feel like, you know,

867
00:44:07,719 --> 00:44:12,200
Speaker 1: student loans, they definitely hate a crisis level for sure.

868
00:44:12,680 --> 00:44:15,480
Speaker 1: And so do you have any rules of thumb for

869
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:18,399
Speaker 1: how much in student loan debt a potential college student

870
00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:21,600
Speaker 1: should take on, because yeah, obviously you're trying to do

871
00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:24,640
Speaker 1: your best to help them go to college for cheaper free,

872
00:44:25,040 --> 00:44:27,160
Speaker 1: but if they do have to take out student loans,

873
00:44:27,440 --> 00:44:29,439
Speaker 1: how do you kind of help them think through that. Yeah,

874
00:44:29,600 --> 00:44:31,840
Speaker 1: I mean I think the first thing is like people

875
00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:34,919
Speaker 1: talk about student loans like they're bad. I don't think

876
00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:38,120
Speaker 1: that they're not bad. They're bad if they get out

877
00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:41,279
Speaker 1: of control and are excessive, right, Like I have no

878
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,680
Speaker 1: problem if someone needs to go take out ten thousand dollars,

879
00:44:44,680 --> 00:44:47,520
Speaker 1: Like ten thousand dollars is doable, right, you can get

880
00:44:47,560 --> 00:44:51,800
Speaker 1: through that. It's it's when it gets excessive in whatever

881
00:44:51,880 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 1: your circumstances are. So a few things. One is I

882
00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:58,239
Speaker 1: look at salary the first year out of school. The

883
00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:01,080
Speaker 1: general role like most financial issers I'm sure you guys

884
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:03,200
Speaker 1: know that is it shouldn't be more than your first

885
00:45:03,239 --> 00:45:07,120
Speaker 1: year's salary. However, I will say, like I prefer it

886
00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,920
Speaker 1: to be half of your first year's salary now sometimes

887
00:45:13,360 --> 00:45:15,960
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, and but again it depends what you're going

888
00:45:16,000 --> 00:45:17,920
Speaker 1: to go into. So again, if you're gonna be like

889
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:21,760
Speaker 1: an engineer, okay, like I in your first year salary

890
00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:24,839
Speaker 1: sixty thousand a year, that's actually like I don't want

891
00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:28,920
Speaker 1: you to take that out, but it's survivable because again,

892
00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:31,080
Speaker 1: like five years down the road, you're probably gonna be

893
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:34,080
Speaker 1: making well into the six figures. So like a sixty

894
00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 1: thou dollars and student loans. That's about a six to

895
00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:40,480
Speaker 1: seven monthly payment. That's doable when you're taking home eight

896
00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:43,799
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a month, right, So it just depends what

897
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,799
Speaker 1: you're gonna have versus I have a client actually just

898
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:50,080
Speaker 1: talked to a client the other day. You know, they're chiropractors,

899
00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:53,759
Speaker 1: married couple combined. They have over five hundred thousand dollars

900
00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:56,880
Speaker 1: in student loan debt. Well, they're making seventy thousand each

901
00:45:56,960 --> 00:46:00,279
Speaker 1: a year. So like when you're making seventy in a

902
00:46:00,360 --> 00:46:03,160
Speaker 1: year and you have two or fifty thousand dollars in debt,

903
00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:07,880
Speaker 1: that's not doable. Yeah, So I always sit with families,

904
00:46:07,920 --> 00:46:11,200
Speaker 1: We've run the numbers and we're like okay. Like again,

905
00:46:11,239 --> 00:46:13,160
Speaker 1: like one client I had last week, I tried to

906
00:46:13,160 --> 00:46:15,000
Speaker 1: talk the family out of it, but they just wouldn't

907
00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:16,920
Speaker 1: listen to me. But they're like, yeah, we're gonna go

908
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:19,600
Speaker 1: into a hundred seventy thousand dollars in debt for our kid.

909
00:46:19,640 --> 00:46:21,520
Speaker 1: And I'm like, well, i'll tell you a hundred seventy

910
00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:23,680
Speaker 1: thousand dollars is that's going to be about a two

911
00:46:23,719 --> 00:46:27,160
Speaker 1: thousand dollar monthly payment and your kid's gonna be making

912
00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:31,000
Speaker 1: like forty thou dollars a year, So like, I don't

913
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:32,359
Speaker 1: know how you think you're going to make a two

914
00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:35,759
Speaker 1: thousand dollar monthly payment making forty tho your take home

915
00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:40,839
Speaker 1: is like, you know, whatever it is. Yeah, And so

916
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:42,960
Speaker 1: that's one thing too. We're also gonna look at the

917
00:46:43,000 --> 00:46:45,680
Speaker 1: type of loans you're going to take out. So when

918
00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:48,600
Speaker 1: you get to debt that high, you're going to max

919
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:51,720
Speaker 1: out your student loans, you're gonna max out parent loans

920
00:46:51,760 --> 00:46:55,080
Speaker 1: most people, which means you're taking out private loans. Now,

921
00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:58,640
Speaker 1: government loans I can work with, Like, there's all kinds

922
00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:01,840
Speaker 1: of different tricks and loopholes and there's ways we can

923
00:47:02,120 --> 00:47:05,120
Speaker 1: deal with that. Private loans. I just I don't have

924
00:47:05,239 --> 00:47:08,600
Speaker 1: the options as much, Like you're kind of screwed. So

925
00:47:09,239 --> 00:47:10,920
Speaker 1: you know, we're looking at we're looking at that if

926
00:47:10,920 --> 00:47:12,239
Speaker 1: we're gonna have to come out with a bunch of

927
00:47:12,239 --> 00:47:15,440
Speaker 1: private debt, it's not a good idea. So we just

928
00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:18,360
Speaker 1: have to run those numbers. And it's different for everybody.

929
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:20,200
Speaker 1: And then we're going to say, like I'll be the

930
00:47:20,239 --> 00:47:23,640
Speaker 1: bad guy and say no, you're not going to that school.

931
00:47:23,680 --> 00:47:27,000
Speaker 1: That's a bad offer based on your grades, based on

932
00:47:27,080 --> 00:47:30,040
Speaker 1: all these factors you really should be getting this, so

933
00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:32,239
Speaker 1: that school is not giving you a good offer. It's

934
00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:35,719
Speaker 1: off the list. Well, Alicia, So I wanted to touch

935
00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:38,239
Speaker 1: on this. You mentioned on your site, how like many

936
00:47:38,239 --> 00:47:41,280
Speaker 1: folks they don't know about these loopholes right to find

937
00:47:41,360 --> 00:47:44,960
Speaker 1: free money to help pay back student loans. What is

938
00:47:45,080 --> 00:47:48,839
Speaker 1: that all about? Are you up for sharing sharing your

939
00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:53,000
Speaker 1: insights there? Yeah? Yeah, So what people not realize is um,

940
00:47:53,040 --> 00:47:56,240
Speaker 1: like if you look at like taxes, right, Like tax

941
00:47:56,400 --> 00:48:01,400
Speaker 1: law is very stringent, right, that's why there's tax attorneys

942
00:48:01,440 --> 00:48:04,759
Speaker 1: and cias and stuff. And yes, there are some loopholes,

943
00:48:04,760 --> 00:48:07,560
Speaker 1: and of course, you know, politicians argue about closing these

944
00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:10,960
Speaker 1: loopholes whatever, but for the most part, like it's fairly

945
00:48:11,040 --> 00:48:13,440
Speaker 1: black and white, right, We've closed a lot of these

946
00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:16,160
Speaker 1: loopoles over the years, and people who know the loopholes

947
00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:20,200
Speaker 1: kind of know the loopholes student loans are. It's very new,

948
00:48:20,560 --> 00:48:23,839
Speaker 1: and so there's a lot of loopholes that have not

949
00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:26,799
Speaker 1: been closed. So let me gibe like an example of this,

950
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:30,560
Speaker 1: because it's so easy. When I lived in Korea, I

951
00:48:30,640 --> 00:48:32,680
Speaker 1: pay taxes and Korea, right, I was employed at a

952
00:48:32,800 --> 00:48:35,800
Speaker 1: university there, and because of that, I don't pay taxes

953
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:39,399
Speaker 1: in the US, right, So I filed my taxes every year,

954
00:48:39,520 --> 00:48:41,440
Speaker 1: but I got to turn in this really cool form

955
00:48:41,520 --> 00:48:44,520
Speaker 1: that basically says, hey, I live abroad, I don't need

956
00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:48,279
Speaker 1: to pay taxes here. Well what does that do? That

957
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:50,840
Speaker 1: means my student loan payment I didn't have to pay

958
00:48:50,880 --> 00:48:53,840
Speaker 1: because my payment was a zero. But how was I

959
00:48:53,880 --> 00:48:56,200
Speaker 1: able to do that? It's because I was able to

960
00:48:56,200 --> 00:48:59,680
Speaker 1: be very strategic and how I filed my paperwork, and

961
00:49:00,120 --> 00:49:03,520
Speaker 1: I had so many friends that what ended up happening was,

962
00:49:03,960 --> 00:49:06,000
Speaker 1: remember this was like years ago. I didn't I wasn't

963
00:49:06,040 --> 00:49:07,560
Speaker 1: like an expert. I was just trying to figure it

964
00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:10,280
Speaker 1: out for myself at that point. And I had worked

965
00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:14,080
Speaker 1: with all these other Americans in my office, and I

966
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:16,080
Speaker 1: had so many of them with debt. Well they were

967
00:49:16,120 --> 00:49:20,279
Speaker 1: still paying on their loans, and so I was like, well,

968
00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:22,400
Speaker 1: I can file this paperwork for like So it was funny.

969
00:49:22,400 --> 00:49:24,400
Speaker 1: I used to sit there and like do people's taxes

970
00:49:24,440 --> 00:49:28,160
Speaker 1: on the subway and stuff and file this paperwork. And

971
00:49:28,239 --> 00:49:30,800
Speaker 1: one of my friends, actually, this last year, he's about

972
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:34,040
Speaker 1: to get his debt forgiven that way, so he's never

973
00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:36,760
Speaker 1: had to pay a single dollar on his student loans. Um,

974
00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:39,360
Speaker 1: and it's about to be actually forgiven here. Um, we

975
00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:42,000
Speaker 1: just filed the paperwork for it, so you can get

976
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:44,040
Speaker 1: it forgiven. But you want to pay as little as possible,

977
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:46,719
Speaker 1: that's one strategy. It really depends what you're trying to do.

978
00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:50,400
Speaker 1: That's cool. That's so much great info in this conversation, Alicia.

979
00:49:50,560 --> 00:49:53,319
Speaker 1: We thoroughly enjoyed it, and thank you so much for

980
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:55,759
Speaker 1: coming on. Can you kind of tell our listeners where

981
00:49:55,760 --> 00:49:58,759
Speaker 1: they can find out more info about you? Yes? Um,

982
00:49:58,880 --> 00:50:01,799
Speaker 1: so our company has called Insights, that's with an S,

983
00:50:01,840 --> 00:50:05,879
Speaker 1: and they can find us at college insights dot com. Uh.

984
00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:09,160
Speaker 1: They can also call us at four to five five

985
00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:12,439
Speaker 1: zero seven nine zero six nine. Um. They can also

986
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:16,160
Speaker 1: follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook under college Insights

987
00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:18,399
Speaker 1: all the socials. Yeah, I was I was thinking kind

988
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:20,120
Speaker 1: of as we're going through all of this, so much

989
00:50:20,120 --> 00:50:23,120
Speaker 1: of this could be overwhelming for maybe a parent of

990
00:50:23,160 --> 00:50:25,879
Speaker 1: a high schooler or even high school who's realizing that, hey,

991
00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:27,480
Speaker 1: there's so much more that we need to consider, mom

992
00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:30,279
Speaker 1: and dad, and so this is great information. But I'm

993
00:50:30,280 --> 00:50:32,680
Speaker 1: glad that folks can also give you a ring if

994
00:50:32,680 --> 00:50:35,080
Speaker 1: they need that additional help. Yeah, we have tons of

995
00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:39,279
Speaker 1: free resources on there, and like my big thing is access. Right,

996
00:50:39,480 --> 00:50:41,760
Speaker 1: Like again, I started this business not to make money.

997
00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:44,120
Speaker 1: It's because I really love my kids. Like right, I'm

998
00:50:44,160 --> 00:50:48,279
Speaker 1: a teacher, so um everything for us, like consultations, those

999
00:50:48,320 --> 00:50:51,880
Speaker 1: are always free. If people are like, hey, worst case scenario,

1000
00:50:51,920 --> 00:50:53,319
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you call me back in a year

1001
00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:55,359
Speaker 1: or two if you're too early. So it's it's not

1002
00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:58,000
Speaker 1: like it hurts to make that phone call. And then

1003
00:50:58,080 --> 00:50:59,880
Speaker 1: we can walk you through it and say, hey, this

1004
00:51:00,120 --> 00:51:01,719
Speaker 1: is what this is where you're at, this is where

1005
00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:03,960
Speaker 1: you need to be, these are the steps to get there,

1006
00:51:04,239 --> 00:51:06,000
Speaker 1: and then it's really just up to you of how

1007
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:09,680
Speaker 1: you want to navigate that process. Awesome, Well, Alicia, thanks

1008
00:51:09,719 --> 00:51:12,200
Speaker 1: again for joining us. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you,

1009
00:51:12,239 --> 00:51:15,440
Speaker 1: thank you for having me. Yeah, thanks Alicia. All Right,

1010
00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:18,680
Speaker 1: Joel Man, that was such a fantastic interview. We covered

1011
00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:22,520
Speaker 1: such an array of of information, like everything having to

1012
00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:26,160
Speaker 1: do with college admissions, paying for it. We covered so much.

1013
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:28,560
Speaker 1: I want to know what was your big takeaway from

1014
00:51:28,600 --> 00:51:30,640
Speaker 1: this episode? Man? I feel like we only scratched the surface.

1015
00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:32,600
Speaker 1: There's like so much more we could have asked, so

1016
00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:34,920
Speaker 1: much more. We could have gotten into. But the biggest

1017
00:51:35,040 --> 00:51:39,800
Speaker 1: takeaway from me was when Alicia said, apply early, apply

1018
00:51:39,960 --> 00:51:43,279
Speaker 1: really early, and it's gonna save you potentially tens of

1019
00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:46,040
Speaker 1: thousands of dollars. And I love that. Yeah, there's more

1020
00:51:46,080 --> 00:51:48,440
Speaker 1: money there. Like it. Just it makes so much sense

1021
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:50,640
Speaker 1: for you as a high school student, if you're listening

1022
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:52,360
Speaker 1: to the show, or you as a parent of a

1023
00:51:52,400 --> 00:51:56,000
Speaker 1: high school student, to apply to your college of choice

1024
00:51:56,440 --> 00:51:59,000
Speaker 1: super early on in the fall, if you want to

1025
00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:01,080
Speaker 1: get a good offer letter, if you want that school

1026
00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:03,279
Speaker 1: of your choice to offer you more funds to go

1027
00:52:03,360 --> 00:52:05,600
Speaker 1: there than apply early. I'm totally with you. That one

1028
00:52:05,640 --> 00:52:07,560
Speaker 1: stood out to me. I really like that one, and

1029
00:52:07,560 --> 00:52:10,200
Speaker 1: so mine. All right. My big thing was when she

1030
00:52:10,239 --> 00:52:13,600
Speaker 1: was talking about considering other things, other expenses other than

1031
00:52:13,640 --> 00:52:15,879
Speaker 1: just the cost of school. Right, she mentioned that school

1032
00:52:15,920 --> 00:52:17,759
Speaker 1: in the Midwest that was going to be two hundred

1033
00:52:17,800 --> 00:52:21,399
Speaker 1: bucks for a room as opposed to dollars. Huge price

1034
00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:23,680
Speaker 1: discrepancy there. That's that's massive. And I think a lot

1035
00:52:23,719 --> 00:52:27,280
Speaker 1: of times as students, uh certainly as parents, you focus

1036
00:52:27,360 --> 00:52:29,880
Speaker 1: so much on the school. You focus on the education,

1037
00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 1: you're thinking about the dreams and the hopes, just everything

1038
00:52:32,600 --> 00:52:35,600
Speaker 1: that kind of goes into it. And maybe you're thinking

1039
00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:39,319
Speaker 1: about the cost of college, but like a tertiary thought is, oh, yeah,

1040
00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:41,600
Speaker 1: by the way, like what is the cost of living

1041
00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:43,839
Speaker 1: in that town. I think that's something that a lot

1042
00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:46,759
Speaker 1: of folks are not considering, and if we keep that

1043
00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:48,680
Speaker 1: in mind, I think that's going to have a large

1044
00:52:48,760 --> 00:52:51,759
Speaker 1: impact on the overall cost of college. Yeah, I mean

1045
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:54,320
Speaker 1: that price that's a thousand dollars a month over at

1046
00:52:54,360 --> 00:52:56,440
Speaker 1: I mean you're talking twelve tho dollars a year just

1047
00:52:56,480 --> 00:52:59,720
Speaker 1: to go to school elsewhere, and yeah, over four years,

1048
00:53:00,000 --> 00:53:02,080
Speaker 1: and that's that's a huge amount of money. So, yeah,

1049
00:53:02,160 --> 00:53:04,680
Speaker 1: where you go to school, the cost of living there,

1050
00:53:04,800 --> 00:53:07,160
Speaker 1: that's a huge thing to consider, Matt. All right, Matt,

1051
00:53:07,200 --> 00:53:08,600
Speaker 1: So let's get back to the beer that we had

1052
00:53:08,680 --> 00:53:10,719
Speaker 1: on the show today. We drank a beer called Hot

1053
00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:13,640
Speaker 1: Foo by North Park Beer Company, and listener John sent

1054
00:53:13,719 --> 00:53:16,839
Speaker 1: this one our way. Yeah, well it's written like kung fu. Yeah,

1055
00:53:16,880 --> 00:53:18,719
Speaker 1: I feel like I should like karate chop yours any

1056
00:53:18,719 --> 00:53:23,160
Speaker 1: optical glasses we quick or something? Don't hit me bro u. Yeah, well,

1057
00:53:23,160 --> 00:53:24,920
Speaker 1: what were your thoughts on this beer? This is a

1058
00:53:24,960 --> 00:53:27,680
Speaker 1: West Coast style. I p a man, it's been a

1059
00:53:27,680 --> 00:53:29,480
Speaker 1: while since I've had a West Coast style. I mean,

1060
00:53:29,480 --> 00:53:32,960
Speaker 1: I feel like everybody's going with happy, juicy New England

1061
00:53:33,000 --> 00:53:34,439
Speaker 1: style I p a s. And so it was really

1062
00:53:34,480 --> 00:53:37,560
Speaker 1: actually refreshing to have something a little more harshly bitter,

1063
00:53:37,800 --> 00:53:40,239
Speaker 1: which is what the West Coast style typically brings. It

1064
00:53:40,280 --> 00:53:43,120
Speaker 1: was abrasively bitter, and I dug it. It's like this

1065
00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:44,800
Speaker 1: great change of pace from the kind of the stuff

1066
00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:47,400
Speaker 1: I'm normally drinking these days. And so I really enjoyed

1067
00:53:47,480 --> 00:53:49,439
Speaker 1: kind of having a West Coast ip A, going back

1068
00:53:49,440 --> 00:53:51,400
Speaker 1: to the I p A s that I was kind

1069
00:53:51,440 --> 00:53:53,600
Speaker 1: of brought up on right the ones that I first

1070
00:53:53,600 --> 00:53:55,839
Speaker 1: got into when I first started drinking beer. So this

1071
00:53:55,840 --> 00:53:58,440
Speaker 1: one was a really great example of a West Coast

1072
00:53:58,440 --> 00:54:02,000
Speaker 1: I p A. I dug it. So this is an

1073
00:54:02,000 --> 00:54:03,719
Speaker 1: instance where you and I are going to disagree a

1074
00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:06,279
Speaker 1: little bit, Okay, bring it, because yeah, like this is

1075
00:54:06,320 --> 00:54:08,040
Speaker 1: a West Coast IPEA. But for me, I felt like

1076
00:54:08,080 --> 00:54:10,400
Speaker 1: that this one actually was, like, was really juicy for

1077
00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:12,200
Speaker 1: a West Coast I PA. Like to me, it wasn't

1078
00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:15,879
Speaker 1: really resonie and like overly bitter, and so I felt

1079
00:54:15,880 --> 00:54:18,080
Speaker 1: like it had some of those New England style I

1080
00:54:18,120 --> 00:54:21,520
Speaker 1: p A characteristics. Really Okay, certainly it had that hot presence,

1081
00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:24,360
Speaker 1: but it felt really juicy to me, and so because

1082
00:54:24,360 --> 00:54:26,400
Speaker 1: of that, I like this a little more than I

1083
00:54:26,480 --> 00:54:28,719
Speaker 1: tend to like West Coast I pas from. Yeah, West

1084
00:54:28,760 --> 00:54:31,759
Speaker 1: Coast ips aren't typically my go to, But maybe that's

1085
00:54:31,760 --> 00:54:34,799
Speaker 1: why you felt that this one was refreshing and delectable.

1086
00:54:34,880 --> 00:54:36,799
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe maybe because this one kind of met me

1087
00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:39,000
Speaker 1: somewhere in the middle. Although it did, I did feel

1088
00:54:39,000 --> 00:54:41,520
Speaker 1: like it was kind of more abrasively bitter, a good

1089
00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:44,919
Speaker 1: bit more abbrasively bitter than a typical juicy style I PA.

1090
00:54:45,400 --> 00:54:47,040
Speaker 1: And just because I don't drink it's very often, it

1091
00:54:47,080 --> 00:54:49,040
Speaker 1: was nice. Yeah, it definitely was nice. And we're really

1092
00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:51,520
Speaker 1: appreciative of John for doting this beer to the show

1093
00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:53,759
Speaker 1: and Joel, that's gonna be it for this episode. If

1094
00:54:53,800 --> 00:54:57,760
Speaker 1: you want to find a link to Alicia's website, College Insights,

1095
00:54:57,800 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 1: you can head over to our show notes at how

1096
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:02,440
Speaker 1: It's of Money dot Com. Yeah, man, we we've actually

1097
00:55:02,440 --> 00:55:05,040
Speaker 1: had some questions in the Facebook group recently about how

1098
00:55:05,080 --> 00:55:07,000
Speaker 1: people can find the right credit card for them, and

1099
00:55:07,040 --> 00:55:09,360
Speaker 1: we wrote a piece on our website. You can go

1100
00:55:09,400 --> 00:55:11,480
Speaker 1: straight to how the Money dot Com slash credit cards

1101
00:55:11,480 --> 00:55:14,160
Speaker 1: and you can find our favorite credit cards for how

1102
00:55:14,239 --> 00:55:17,080
Speaker 1: you spend, because we all spend money differently, and the

1103
00:55:17,120 --> 00:55:18,839
Speaker 1: best credit card for you might not be the best

1104
00:55:18,840 --> 00:55:21,000
Speaker 1: credit card for somebody else, So check that out if

1105
00:55:21,040 --> 00:55:23,120
Speaker 1: you're interested, and if you sign up for a card

1106
00:55:23,320 --> 00:55:26,240
Speaker 1: on our website, it does support the podcast Our Buddy.

1107
00:55:26,320 --> 00:55:29,319
Speaker 1: Until next time, Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,