Breaking the Small Business Code

Social Media Simplified Event 10-27-08

      My personal expertise in college planning is helping small business owners during these critical cash flow years.  I help the whole range of small businesses - entrepreneurs, self-employed, home-based, solo-preneurs, and companies with less than 25 employees, and even multilevel and network marketing associates.  One of the most critical things is connecting with your target prospects and staying connected with your clients and customers.

     In the 21st century, much of the marketing dialog is taking place in Web 2.0 using social media, social networking and social networks.  Your clients and prospects are living on Facebook, reading blogs (hopefully like mine!), using Twitter, and optimizing their results with tools like Google AdWords.  You need to know about Web 2.0!

    That's why I am so excited about the upcoming "Social Media Simplified" Mastermind event happening on 10-27-08.  Because I am also a BIG supporter of nonprofits, it is being hosted at the Ventura Adult & Continuing Education (VACE)'s Technology Development Center with a share of the revnue going to the TDC!  Here is the press release about the event.  THINK about joining us but ABSOLUTELY order the DVD set with bonus CD.

On Monday, October 27 from 9AM to 5 PM, the Technology Development Center (www.TDCTraining.com) in Ventura is presenting a powerful Mastermind event for small business owners and nonprofits who want to understand and profit from the rapidly growing Web 2.0 Social Media phenomenon. The seminar will feature 5 of the nation’s leading experts who will share their insider information on how to use social media tools to prosper in a tough economy.

 The Mastermind event will feature the 4 most powerful social media tools and their expert:

· Mari Smith on Facebook for small businesses (www.MariSmith.com)

· Deborah Micek on using Twitter to build loyal customers (www.RPMSuccess.com )

· Denise Wakeman and Patsi Krakoff AKA “The Blog Squad” on blogging for business profit (www.BlogSquad.biz)

· Simon Leung – Insider from Google AdWords!

The event is hosted by Linda P. Taylor, (www.LindaPTaylor.com ) an expert in college planning for small businesses including LinkedIn. She will present the “blueprint” to help small businesses take the information they will receive to build a successful social media program for their special needs.

“We are excited to host this first ever event at the TDC” said Teresa Johnson, TDC Director. “Not only does the community get to learn from these 5 fabulous social media experts, our students will get see first-hand how their training can qualify them for jobs in the Web 2.0 world.”

Program host Linda P. Taylor agreed. “I have spent over 30 years helping small business owners with college-bound children or grandchildren use marketing to increase their revenue to pay for higher education. Most wanted to try using social media but had no idea where to even start! So I invited these international experts to come share their insider knowledge.”

Director Johnson continued, “If you’re like me, you probably don’t know a Twitter from a Pownce much less how to use them. You wonder if you should blog, use Facebook, do podcasts or YouTube, and how to fit it into current operations.” She then encouraged EVERYONE who is interested in this rapidly growing set of marketing tools MUST be at this event!

For those that can’t attend, the entire event is being filmed and will be available on DVD with a bonus CD for pre-order for $149 – a 25% discount from the $197 price. 

Reservations and more information can be found at www.SocialMediaSimplified.com.

The NEW Scholarship Scam

     Just got a nice eMail from a mom who had purchased my Linda P. Taylor's Insider Secrets to Scoring Scholarships eBook and video system.  She said was SHOCKED to learn about the "dirty little secret" about internet scholarships "harvesting" data and reselling it!  She had always thought the scams cost money and didn't realize a free site could be a problem!  She had also gone to my blog posting about about hidden traps and was really concerned about her son searching for money they desperately needed for college.

     I shared with her (and want to share with blog readers) how to fight these NEW wolves in scholarship sheep's clothing!  As the market melts down, more and more families are going to the internet looking for scholarships.  And I want you to be prepared for the good, the bad and the ugly of FREE scholarship search sites!

    In the good old days, a scammer would send you a letter and promised you a list of scholarships and maybe financial aid for a small fee.  They "covered" themselves by sending you a virtually useless printed list of scholarships and maybe some free information on how to find and write letters.  Most of those wolves were pretty much run out of town by  FTC enforcement and by the proliferation of free internet search sites that made them irrelevant. 

    But the wolves didn't go away.  The word "scholarships" is just too juicy as a marketing tool to give up.  So they moved to the internet and changed their focus.

   What I call the "new wolves" are companies that offer a scholarship or may offer nothing from their pockets but are aggregating everyone else's scholarships into their website.  The applicants are asked for large amounts of data so their "search" can be more successful.  But what the students don't know is their INFORMATION IS BEING SOLD over and over again to anyone and everyone who pays for it if they don't actively opt-out.

    Like the old wolves, the new ones cover themselves legally.  They will ask you to opt-out of "third party offers".  But most ask applicants to unclick  a box that says you have read the Terms and Conditions or the Privacy Statement.  They are NOT obvious in what they are going to do with your data if the box stays clicked.  I know they will claim it is your responsibility to read these pages and I agree BUT . . .

    I DO read these as part of my research on safe sites for my clients like the College Leadership Foundation's College eCoaching Program.  Most are in 9-point font, legalese and when they reveal the truth about what they do with your information, it's 5 or six mind-numbing paragraphs down and is fuzzy-wuzzy about what you will allow them to do by not opting-out.

     So how do you know the good ones from the bad ones?  READ the Terms & Conditions and/or Privacy statements before you hit enter!  Sorry, you do need to do that to protect yourselves.

    So you can know what to do, here is an example of a GOOD one from www.CollegeSurfing.com's Privacy section.  It is in PLAIN English and clear.  I have added the color for emphasis.

"As a general practice, we do not sell your personally identifiable information to third parties or mass marketers. However, on particular pages where we ask for your personally identifiable information, we may explicitly tell you that the data we are collecting on that page will be provided to third parties, in which case those disclosures shall override anything to the contrary in this policy. We would also have the right to sell this information as part of a sale of all or substantially all of our assets.  [It's that phrase "explicity tell you" that makes them good guys in my opinion! LPT].      

In some situations, we provide your personally identifiable information to third-party service providers to enhance or expand the functionality available to you as a user of the Site, but this will only be done when you specifically ask us to by responding to a survey."

 Here is an example of one of the a quasi-wolf (in my opinion), www.Scholarships.com. 

"We will not share, sell, rent or otherwise transfer this information without the user's permission, and then only in accordance with the terms set forth in this Privacy Policy. Our website provides users the opportunity to unsubscribe (opt-out) from receiving email messages from Scholarships.com and its marketing partners or from having their information shared with our marketing partners. [you have to opt-out - LPT]"

     Is Scholarships.com actually providing scholarship searches?  Yes.  Are they a scam? No.  Are they doing anything illegal? No.  I don't really have a problem with Scholarships.com selling the names and related information.  What I resent is the fact they are not clear about how they "get paid" for offering all these information to applicants for free!  I get marketing magazines as part of my job to help clients with their marketing needs.  One of them recently featured a FULL PAGE ad that specifically pointed out to interested list buyers all the data they get from the opt-in Scholarships.com eMail list! 

    And here is the site for that I feel is the worst example of the marketing wolves: ScholarshipExperts.  Here's what it says in their Terms & Conditions in small buried print (I added color and bolding for emphasis): 

"When You submit a profile or application, ScholarshipExperts.com may access, store, and use all information included therein for any purpose. Additionally, if You provide permission to do so, ScholarshipExperts.com may sell, share, distribute, or disclose to third parties all information You provide, including scholarship providers, educational institutions and others."

    So how do you protect yourselves?  Follow some of the suggestions in my Scoring Scholarship system!  Get a new eMail address JUST for scholarship searches.  NEVER give out personal information like Social Security numbers or parent income.  And think twice about giving them your telephone numbers.  AND PLEASE READ THE TERMS & CONDITIONS and PRIVACY STATEMENTS!  And when you see the words 'may sell or share', avoid that site!

    Anyone seen their SPAM or junk mail go up after searching for scholarships online?  I would like to backtrack with you how that may have happened.  Send me a comment on this blog OR go to my website and contact me at www.LindaPTaylor.com.

Paying for College When Your 401K becomes a 1K

     Good morning.  You just woke up to yet another bank being bought out, news of the bailout plan being used as a political football, your house value (and your home equity) has fallen another 10%, and your 401k has been reduced to a 1k.   And tonight's dinner table conversation will be about which $20,000 to $50,000 a year college your high school senior should be applying to. 

     Welcome to the new American nightmare -  paying for college while the financial world you were planning to use seems to be falling apart before your eyes.

     So what is a college-bound family supposed to do in today's chaos?

     First, slow down, take a deep breath and focus on what you can control and create a plan.  The reason firefighters seem so in control during an emergency is they have plans for what to do in various situations.  Families who have a plan will not react in panic when something outside their control happens -- they move onto plan B and then plan C.

     I am counseling my families to think of college planning in these turbulent times as a road trip.  You know you want to get from New York to California for a particular budget.  You decide to drive and begin the trip.  You get 30 miles away from home when traffic stops and the radio tells you about a crash on the main highway ahead.  You can choose to wait it out OR take an alternative route.  You probably wouldn't turn around to go home and decide to fly would you?  If you don't know an alternate route you may pull out a map or pull off the highway and ask someone.  College planning in these strange financial times is the same way!

     Have a TRIP (College) PLAN!  Know where you want to go, how much you can afford to spend to get there, and alternatives in case of an emergency.  If you don't know the alternative routes, find someone who does!  And like driving across the desert, I wouldn't recommend listening to advisors who aren't experienced in that dangerous part of the journey.  I often end up fixing college plans that were based on heresay from friends, family and "professional" advisors who are well-meaning but have never successfully created college plans.

     So where should you turn for professional help on your "road trip"?  You can hire college financial planners like me to be your personal chauffer and take over the trip.  But that's an expensive option and not for everyone.  Instead, I would suggest you consider joining a  "AAA" for college planning.  That's why  I am suggesting that all families learn more about the not-for-profit College Leadership Foundation's College eCoaching program. 

     I am proud to be one of the Technical Advisors to the CLF's eCoaching Club.  I feel they are the most cost-effective way I have ever seen for getting help for the college journey for virtually every college-cound family.  They are unbiased and independent so there is no risk that they will send you down a "road" that only benefits a lender or a mailing list company!

     If you can't find or afford a local "Linda" to be the chauffer, I suggest looking into the CLF eCoaching program to help you on your journey.  For a modest monthly fee, you get the information you need sent direct to your family's inbox several times per month. Compared to the ultimate cost of the trip you and your student(s) are about to take, having a college planning "AAA" will be a small but valuable investment.

     In the meantime, if you have questions or concerns about your college future in today's economy, respond to this blog or contact me through my webpage at www.LindaPTaylor.com. 

    

SPAM Can Destroy Your Blog

A quick comment on the evil of blog SPAM.  I consider these people the equivalent of graffitti taggers selfishly destroying the property of hard-working blog owners.  I want to share a warning with all my readers!

You may have noticed that as of today, my blog is now at a totally different web address and hosted by Typepad instead of Wordpress.  I was forced to move because I had accidentally allowed  2 comments on student loans to be posted to my original Wordpress blog.  Turns out those comments were posted by well-known SPAM and Frankenblog IP addresses.  Those SPAM comments got my previous blog blocked as malicious by Google and other search engines!

This morning I was sent a notice by Typepad that someone had commented on a student loans blog I just transferred over yesterday.  Yup, it was from SPAM slime trying to direct readers to his website.  And to make it even MORE evil, the site sold a program that taught people how to use this SPAM technique to generate internet income! Good news is  Typepad allows me to report his IP address as SPAM and captured his eMail so I sent a reply to him sharing my opinion on his actions.

So if you have a Blog or other social media site, do NOT set your blog to accept comments automatically.  Make sure you read them first and maybe even track them back to their source. 

Today's experience is another reason I am so excited about the nonprofit College Leadership Foundation's College eCoaching program that delivers neutral and unbiased college planning information direct to the end user.  You minimize your time searching on the web and reading contaiminated, inaccurate and Frankenblogs.  To learn more, go to www.CollegeLeadershipFoundation.org.

RESOURCING - The Ugly Scholarship Truth NO ONE TELLS!

ORIGINAL DATE: 08/30/2008 11:58:19 AM

     I just got a Tweet from someone who works at a student loan company that also operates a "scholarship" site (Twitter me at LindaPTaylor).  Good news is this company is open about the connection between the two sites! Sadly, most sites are nothing but fronts for lenders or marketing companies and they don't tell the searchers who register what will happen to their registration information. (Feel free to go to www.LindaPTaylor.com and send me an eMail through my "Contact Me" page and I'll share who these good and bad guys are!)

     Bad news is the information provided by even the good guy site is NOT complete!  It has good content but neglects to share the dirty little secret of "resourcing". This is also known as "Outside Scholarship Policy" at most colleges.

The site talks about focusing on finding and applying for at least 1 scholarship a week (and recommends 1 per day - ouch). They also recommend several YouTube videos that perpetuate the tall tale that "millions" in scholarships go unclaimed every year.  They demonstrate the excitement of a student "finding" a perfect scholarship to apply for (but not winning!). But they DON'T tell you anything about this student and his potential to be resourced right out of that money at the colleges on his list!

     The key to this is to understand you are not supposed to receive more money than you "need" for college.  Most college-bound families know the equation COA - EFC = need which determines how much aid a student needs for a college.  The REAL equation is COA - EFC - OUTSIDE RESOURCES = aid!

     So after you know that your scholarships will be absorbed by this equation, the next question is what part of the aid package the college will apply the scholarship to! UPenn promises it applies to loans and work-study first.  Others, apply it first to federal and state grants. But the nasty ones apply it to their free money.

     I met with a family last night who will be needy at every school on their senior son's list. I showed them the probable structure of financial aid at these schools including loans and free money but noted that regardless of the school their son finally chooses, they will end up paying at least their EFC of $14,000. So the talk immediately turned to finding scholarships for that $14,000.  I then explained the practice of resourcing at the schools.

     I showed the family 2008-2009 financial aid offers I had from several schools including Stanford, Columbia and Northwestern that clearly show the outside scholarships were "absorbed" or resourced by these colleges leaving the family's EFC totally intact. So for needy students at most colleges, outside scholarships don't do ANYTHING to help pay the family's direct costs!

     I explained that most scholarships are co-addressed and the colleges have policies to absorb or resource all such scholarships.  So in the case of a needy family, finding outside scholarships is usually a waste of time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Unless you are receiving no free money at all from a college, scholarships are not the salvation most families have been led to believe.

      When I think of all the time wasted by hard-working families trying to find scholarships, registering at sites that sell their information to lenders or other marketers, and knowing what happens to them emotionally when they have the money snatched out of their hands --- I could scream!

       The RIGHT way to pay for college is to learn to play the game THE RIGHT WAY!  Learn to fnd scholarships the SMART way.  Don't buy into these myths and half-truths.  Find a source you can trust like the College Leadership Foundation.    

       I feel so strongly about this whole SCHOLARSHIP RESOURCING issue that I am GIVING AWAY by complete Insider Secrets to finding scholarships (worth $149) when a family joins the nonprofit Foundation's ecoaching program! You get everything I have including the eBook, video of the 1-hour workshop, PowerPoints, and bonus materials.  I make NOTHING from the sale because I have had it with meeting with families who had thousands of scholarship dollars snatched from their pockets by resourcing!

   

If you have been "RESOURCED", PLEASE let me know! I want to share real life stories with other scholarship seekers.

Which Survey Category Will You Fall Into?

ORIGINAL DATE: 08/25/2008 09:54:01 PM

SallieMae recently published a very extensive survey done for them by Gallup on how the 2007 Freshman Class paid for college.  The information is both encouraging and discouraging at the same time! 

First, the good news is that nearly 90% of low income families (less than $50K in earnings) filed the FAFSA. And 97% at the lowest income levels filed!  This means that all the outreach to lower income families is paying off!  This means the maximum in aid should have been available to the most needy families.

Sadly, the numbers filing the FAFSA falls off as income rises. At over $150k, the number filing the FAFSA is about 40%.  The survey also shows that the higher the income the more expensive the college they attend.  And the more expensive the college, the more likely you are to qualify for financial aid at higher incomes!  This past year Elite Ivies like Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth offered free tuition to families earning up to $150,000!  So 60% of these higher income families left money on the table! And many of these higher earners are business owners who have many options for reducing the cost of college but don't take advantage of them - just like they don't take advantage of the FAFSA!

The next thing that grabbed my attention was that 61% of parents BEGAN discussing how to pay for college when their student started high school.  Most began thinking about college funding in the junior year or after the first admissions test like the PSAT!  This explains the survey results that most families use loans and cash flow to pay for college and not savings. 

The survey has lots of details that will help me and organizations like the College Leadership Foundation better serve our college-bound families.  One thing that became clear was college is really a parent CASH FLOW and lifestyle problem.

So where do you fall?  If you reading this blog you are probably aware of the upcoming costs of college.
So what grade level is your student?  Are you planning to file the FAFSA?  Do you have a plan in place to handle the impact of college on your debt and your lifestyle?  Do you know whose input on college planning you can trust?

May I suggest you visit the nonprofit College Leadership Foundation's website and sign-up for their free eNews that provides neutral and unbiased information for college planning.  www.CLFeCoach.org/eNews.

Scholarships that Don't Help

ORIGINAL DATE: 08/22/2008 10:49:05 AM

I recently wrote an article on Scholarship resourcing for the College Leadership Foundation's eNews (sent at no cost, so go to www.CLFeCoach.org/eNews to subscribe now).  What was cool was an eNews subscriber sent me an eMail through my website www.LindaPTaylor.com to let me know that resourcing was not always a sure thing which I had inferred in the article.

Here are 3 quick things to set up the story.  First, most scholarships are "co-addressed" which means they are awarded to the student but sent direct to the college on behalf of the winner.  Next, "resourcing" is when a college applies the scholarship money to the financial aid being given to the student - both free money and loans. Lastly, colleges have complete freedom to apply the scholarship any way they wish to aid and expenses as well as let you "keep" the money.

Apparently the subscriber's son had received several co-addressed scholarships.  The college he had selected did NOT resource the scholarships and had actually allowed him to add the scholarships to the aid he was receiving.  This meant the scholarships actually reduced the costs not being met by the college's aid package! This was UNUSUAL but became very understandable when you looked at the scholarship totals, the student and the college.

First, the total amount of the scholarships was modest and absorbing them would not really have changed the total free money he was getting from the college.  So there was not much incentive to absorb the money. Second, this student was highly desirable and allowing him to "keep" his scholarships was a good idea both tactically and politically to make their college more "attractive".  But the most important thing was this college is ranked in the fourth tier by US News & World Report.  That means they are not considered a popular or well-known college.  By not resourcing the scholarships they stood "out" from the other colleges that did both!

So does this change my position that most scholarship searches are a waste of time financially?  No, not really. As I say in my "77 Secrets to Winning Scholarships" system, you should search for scholarships SMART! Decide whether or not the money you would get is worth the effort it will take for the schools on your list. You need to know whether or not the colleges on your list will resource your scholarships based on their  policy posted in their catalog.  You need to know what your family's Expected Family Contribution (EFC) will be at the target colleges on your list so you can estimate the amount of free money you'll get. And you need to know whether or not the work to get them is worth the money and the flood of marketing materials you will get when you register on-line for most scholarships.

A REMINDER -  If you join the College Leadership Foundation's College eCoaching program which provides you with the best in neutral and unbiased college planning information, you get my ENTIRE COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP SYSTEM as a free bonus!  That's everything - the book, the video of my 1-hour scholarship workshop, workshop PowerPoints, and lots of bonus items.  To learn more, go to www.CLFeCoach.org.

How Students Are Really Picked by Colleges!

ORIGINAL DATE: 06/11/2008 10:34:55 PM

Graduation is when many high school families learn where fellow students will be going to college this fall.  Traditionally high schools list colleges in their graduation handouts and it is often announced from the stage.  This is a form of "bragging" by the high school to show their students can gain admissions to name brand colleges.

Graduation is also when I get get the most calls asking why "so and so got into Ye Olde Ivy" when their child who had better grades, better SAT scores and tons of community service did not!  Admission of "less" qualified students is always hard for parents and students to understand.  Everyone seems to think that not being admitted meant a student was inadequate or less qualified than other applicants.  So it's a shock to learn that a classmate who is academically less qualified got in.

There are currently a number of lawsuits by students denied admission to prestigious Ivies where "lesser qualified" students were admitted.  Here is the  challenge faced by colleges. Studies have shown that when admissions are 100% blind to everything but grades, scores and extracurricular activities, the percentage of minorities decreases by up to 50%.  Yet when "other" criteria are used, more highly qualified students are often not be admitted.  This seems to conflict with the popular image that only the best are admitted.

The reality is the most qualified student that the college wants or needs is admitted.  Admissions is NOT blind.  Admissions is a balancing act between the needs and wants of the college and the desire to admit the most academically qualified. If a college wants left-handed students, then a 3.8GPA leftie may get in whereas a 4.2 GPA right-hander will not if the college does not need anymore righties.

So what do you do to ensure this doesn't happen to your student?  Members in the College Leadership Foundation's College eCoaching Club (www.CollegeLeadershipFoundation.org/InsiderSecrets) learn how colleges accept the most qualified of the TYPE of students they want.  eCoaching members learn how to balance their qualifications with the needs of the college.

If you have any questions about admissions and how to maximize your admissions, please comment on this blog or go to the Contact Me tab on my site!  I am always glad to answer college family questions!

Scholarships As Marketing Tool

ORIGINAL DATE: 05/12/2008 06:41:43 AM

Scholarships.  The magic marketing word.  If you want lots of people to attend your seminar, read your article or now days - register at your website -- offer a scholarship. I have always been lukewarm about scholarships because I did the math and if every college student found the maximum available, it calculated out to about $900 per student.  Assuming that 10% found everything, it equated to an average of about $9,000.  And most of the money is ONLY for the first year.  With the cost of college being $18,000 to $50,000 per YEAR, that's not much of a dent. Per the scholarship aggregation site FastWeb, they have scholarships worth over $3 billion dollars.  Again the math is not so good.   If you dig around, you'll find that there are 38 million registered users of the site!  If every registrant found every dollar, you get $86 per registrant!  Assume 10% get everything and it jumps to $857 (whooppee)!  Not what I call good odds to find big bucks. Can scholarships help relieve the pressure on paying for college?  ABSOLUTELY!  But NOT to the extent people think. It is ONE part of the process.   So to maximize your odds and your total, go after them in a smart way. Sadly, the easy way is NOT the smart way.  Registering at a scholarship aggregation site like FastWeb is easy - too easy.  Anyone can register and the site does all the work  matching key words.  Sadly, this has devalued scholarships! Scholarships before the era of the Internet were different and seemed to have more meaning.   It took time and effort to dig out these scholarships.  It made them more impressive.

Today scholarships at sites like FastWeb are mostly marketing tools!  You have to give them tons of personal information which is then used for marketing and resale unless you opt-out.  And out of fear of missing a new scholarship, most don't opt-out!  for example, to get this year's CocaCola-Chuckee Cheese scholarship, you were asked to register for their "Club".  The opt-out was buried in the process but most students skipped it.  The $25,000 SINGLE scholarship offer generated 1.6 million new club members.  That put the odds of winning at 1 in 1.6 million!  I think there are better odds in MegaBucks lotto! And this is also an example of what I meant as "less impressive".  The "Target Community Service" award sounds much better than "Chuckee Cheese" on a resume and college application. The most prolific scholarship provider on FastWeb and other aggregation sites is "BrickFish" which is small $500 scholarships for endorsing consumer products for which Brickfish is paid a marketing/advertising fee! The total money available for scholarships always sounds impressive until you realize how many people you are competing against!  So focus on ALL the ways to find money - not just the easy way.  That's why I wrote my book and recorded my video on scholarships.  I want people to know all the ways and places to find the money they need.  There are good scholarships available but it takes more effort and a different approach than most people think. You can get my book and video AND a bonus athletic book all delivered "green" via the Internet by clicking on the products page of this site.  It's normally $29.95 and I guarantee results.  BUT if you join the College Leadership Foundation's College eCoaching Club for $14.95, I am giving their new members the entire system for FREE!  That's how much I believe in the eCoaching Club!  Go to www.CollegeLeadershipFoundation.org/InsiderSecrets to join now AND keep my system for free! Please feel free to ask questions in my contact me page or in comments to this blog. I know people are always looking for the latest information on college scholarships and college planning. I am glad to help where I can! -----

I APOLOGIZE!

ORIGINAL DATE: 04/27/2008 10:52:38 PM

It’s All My Fault And I’m Apologizing!

Here is a recent conversation I had with a mom I met at a birthday party for a mutual friend this past weekend in Orange County, CA.  After I introduced myself, she wanted to know more about what I did for a living.  Being passionate about my work, I spent about 5 minutes telling her how I help college-bound families with cash flow planning, tax capacity and minimizing debt – things she said she had never heard applied to college planning. I then asked her about her family. She told me that their daughter was graduating from UC Davis this summer after 5 years. She told me that her husband had had to postpone retiring because they had accumulated nearly $100,000 in PLUS Loans for the direct college costs as well about $18,000 they had borrowed from their home equity line of credit for the “incidentals” that kept popping up.  She had over $1,500 per month payments that were not tax-deductible. She was quiet for a minute and then asked me where I had been for the last 5 years! She was actually angry that she had never heard of people like me. I told her that fee-based college consulting is a very specialized occupation and sadly, very few “players” in the system really know how to help families in the right way.

She informed me that all she ever saw was all about either selling her something (529s, books, insurance, even the colleges) or telling her to borrow (students, parents, home, private loans).   She looked for the "free ride", did the FAFSA, read a "free report" on the "9 Secrets" from an insurance salesman, and attended every college night and seminar she could!  They spent lots of time searching for scholarships and found about $3,200 all 4 years. I then made a MAJOR mistake. I did some quick mental calculations based on what she had told me and gave her a couple of ideas that would have cut her costs in half. But before I could share some things she could do now, she told me it was MY FAULT she had all that debt and walked away, clearly upset. I was stunned but after thinking about what she had told me, she was absolutely right to be mad!  She had never been given the information I had shared!  She had told me about all the places she had gone for information – the colleges, the high school, her financial planner, her tax professional, the internet – and got nothing that helped her!  I was just a handy target for her anger. Good news is she came back later in the evening and she will be meeting with me to see if there is anything we can do now. Her husband works in law enforcement and he can retire anytime but he is still working because of all their college debt. Good news is there are ideas we can use. Then I got an eMail from Chuck Moore – one of the masters of college financial planning!  He had had an almost identical situation with the head of Human Resources at a company where he had been referred! The person he was talking to had massive debt for two children who were out of college and was angry at him for failing to let people like her know they had options! Chuck said it had really made him stop short! He felt it was partially ALL our faults in the college planning field.  We were not getting our information out to enough people!  No one knew they had options! I hate to keep repeating myself, this confirms that the College Leadership Foundation and their revolutionary College eCoaching Club is the right thing for families NOW.  Families who join the Club will have choices and options based on KNOWLEDGE that is unbiased and immediately useful.  Visit www.CollegeLeadershipFoundation.org.