The Tuition (& Admissions) Blues

Getting Into College Is Harder And More Stressful Than Ever

(CBS)  "Too many of the stressed out parents are the ones who care more about being able go to the country club and brag about their daughter getting into Princeton than whether their daughter really should go to Princeton," he said.

For their part, kids are trying every trick in the book to market themselves to the nation's top schools — not only with good grades and good college board scores, but joining clubs, and participating in sports, anything to help them stand out in the crowd.

The application process has gotten so competitive an entire cottage industry has sprung up around it and some parents are dropping up to $10,000 or even $20,000 on coaches to teach their kids how to best market themselves to schools like Harvard.

College Coach is one of the largest of these companies and not the most expensive by far. It charges $3,000 to $4,000 for help in navigating the college admission maze.

Lloyd Peterson, who worked in admissions at Yale before coming here, says half the families he counsels walk in the door with visions of Ivy.

"If the kid's done their homework for three or four years, captain of the tennis team, you know, I'm looking at Harvard, Princeton, or Brown, absolutely, five out of 10," he said.

Peterson says his job is to find the right match for college and kid.

"I think a lot of what we do around here is really help families manage expectations," he said. "My child is bright. My daughter's very bright. We don't know if she's admissible To Harvard, or Boston University. We help them weigh through that."

For Primmer, whose company offers College Coach counseling as a corporate perk, the experience was eye opening.

"It really is a lot more competitive than I anticipated it being," he said.

At the top end of the scale in college coaching, Michele Hernandez says her objective is simple: to get kids into the school they want.

"Every year, 90 to 100 percent get into their top college choice," she said. "Last year, I had seven out of seven kids get into Dartmouth, three out of four got into brown, three out of three got in to Princeton. I spend 50 to 100 hours per each student before they apply, doing applications with them."

Hernandez has admissions experience at Dartmouth. She's written a best-selling book. And she has a success record she boasts about on her Website. Hernandez charges $40,000 for her services and starts working with kids in eighth grade. The only thing that could go wrong, she says, is college admissions officers finding out that an applicant is using her; but that, she says, has never happened.

[czlawrence]

As with much of the reporting from the media, this article misses a very important point: the higher education community does not end with Harvard,Yale, etc. There are more than 2600 four year colleges and universities in the U.S. Only 25 reject 80% or more of applicants. Another 110 or so reject more than 50% of applicants. That means there are literally THOUSANDS of schools that accept more applicants than they reject. Here's the other fact the media fails to report: you can get a GREAT education at most of those "other" schools.

Parents and the media are measuring educational quality by the wrong thing. Selectivity does not tell you a thing about the quality of education of an institution, nor does its relative prestige. Truly SMART students and their parents know this and are looking beyond the media hype, finding a wide variety of wonderful schools that are NOT impossible to get into.

Stop the insanity folks. Schools like Beloit, Lawrence U, Southwestern U, Rhodes, St. Olaf, Earlham, Hobart & William Smith and hundreds of others should be on every student's "must see" list.

[newsjeff-2009]

It is commical but said but only in America that a few high school dropouts can become entertainers or celebreties and make millions of dollars per year by singing loud noise called "rap music" "pop rock" etc., in there underwear or panties and swimsuits or with there pants hanging down a foot below their hips. Then a high school graduate like myself with a few years work experience is told by some employers I am an unskilled,or too inexperienced to get into a better paying job. Third an immigrant who came to America can go to an aviation school in Oklahoma who probably was not a legal or safe immigrant to be here in the first place, one guess: one of the terrorist who flew one of the airplanes on Sept.11,2001 went to flight training school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Fourth we have so many illegal immigrants going to or trying to get admissions to colleges in this country that "legal American citizens have trouble getting into college". Of course illegal immigrants work for cheap wages so illegal immigrants who graduate from college here in America provides American employers with a lot of cheap,college-degree eduated labor. Yes I am accusing some Americans of supporting illegal immigration if it will supply employers with cheap skilled or unskilled labor, and I know at least a few American workers would agree with me.

[balto_babs]

The REAL stress of sending kids to college is figuring out how to pay for it. I work for the federal government (I'm 55) and my husband is disabled (he is 58). With an adjusted gross income of about $73,000 the FEDERAL financial aid formula specified that I must pay the first $14,000 before our daughter qualifies for ANY financial aid. That's just not possible with mortgage, 401K savings, car payment, insurance (auto, health, long-term care & life), gasoline, utility bills (electric & phone), non-covered medical bills, not to mention food & clothing for the 3 of us.
Right now she is going to community college at $3000 tuition yearly plus $1500-2000 for books, etc. Lord knows what will do when it comes time to transfer to a 4 year school.

[cathaleen]

What we will have are very neurotic overachievers
unless parents calm down and let their kids enjoy their childhood and teenage years.

Not all lawyers went to Harvard or Yale, not all doctors went to John Hopkins, not all business
men and woman went to Wharton and not all children
are genuises. There are many successful and happy people who graduated from state and local colleges.

[jerry_in_va]

It's amazing how may parents and students alike are being duped into believing all the hype regarding "name famous" colleges. Unless a student is going to pursue a handful of careers (e.g. law or medicine) where alma mater matters, it is ridiculous to waste all that money on college tuitions, admission tutoring, ...etc to attain a degree. In most states, an excellent education and degree can be attained by attending any number of the accredited state public universities and colleges at a fraction of the cost of attending those "name famous" schools. Besides, a degree from a famous school may help you land and influence the salary in your first job. (And I say MAY). After that, it's your performance and accomplishments that will speak volumes about you, not that fancy piece of paper.

[ralphj53]

September 24, 2006

Hello;

I don't know why going to college should be any more of a STRESS for parents.

The end result in our lives is largely determined by Almighty God anyway.

You don't think so?

Want an example?.... How about BILL GATES?
He's a college dropout. Yet, he's the richest man in the world.

So, what's the big deal about going to a prestigious school? Like I said before, those colleges REALLY want to be your FINANCIAL partner when you are ready to earn money.

Nobody has to brainwash me on this. This GREEDY world will ALWAYS be about money.

Unfortunely.

Stop, look and listen!!

ralphJ53

[sharncedar]

"One must not forget that higher education is not to prepare the way for the perfect job or career. Rather, it is to train young minds to become free independent thinkers and critically reflect upon issues of this world so that whatever career they are attracted to they will be able to think beyond their 6x8 cubicle."

My G*d, what is this nonsense. Who wants workers to think beyond their walls? Who wants slaves and drones to think at all? College serves the purpose of enslaving little fools into debt before they've even worked, and making them fearful and desperate to take any kind of abuse from corporate America.

That is the sum of what it does, no more, no less. Everything has a purpose, and the purpose is created by those who rule. We are ruled by corporations and banks. Acknowledge your rulers and bow to them, little slaves.

[sharncedar]

"The second thing a business needs after having a product is a market for it."

Good comment, basic old capitalist theory from before globalization and what some are calling neo-capitalism In the modern era, the key to any business is special rules or powers that limit competition. Because in a global economy free markets and products become unprofitable commodities as profit margin drives to zero. Colleges prevent free competition by several means one of which is "accreditation" which limits the number of businesses allowed to operate as colleges. They manage the supply to be a little less than demand at all times, leading to a steep rising price curve. Classic, textbook (if such textbooks were written) neo-capitalism.

College is ironically the first place most people learn about business, but it is a fantasy world like Disneyland, where they teach dumb little kids to believe in a type of capitalism and free market economics that went out 30 years ago if it ever existed at all.

In the world ecomony, those forced to compete freely on equal terms are known as one thing - "losers". Welcome to your first education. That will be $200,000, thanks.

[lifercbs]

College is a for profit business. The second thing a business needs after having a product is a market for it. The college business has been very successful in marketing their product to corporate America, hence you will not see a whitecollar job advertised without a degree requirement. Yet how much higher math or exposure to great literature is needed to teach a child to read or to program a computer? College functions as a quality control system that is free to employers but very costly to degree seekers. Name brand colleges like Harvard produce a product like a Maserati, extremely expensive and unsuitable for ordinary use. Do you know any Ivy League graduates you would like your kid to emulate? The few I have met were well educated in one thing - that they are superior to the rest of the human race.

[kidnykid]

I agree with some of both dmartarch's comments, as well as some of those posted by jerrybert. College - particularly the undergraduate period - is a time when we are exposed for perhaps the only time in our lives to certain topics, like great literature and certain forms of science and higher math. We are to use those skills for critical thinking, and the undergraduate years are to prepare us to become educated citizens fully participating in our culture.

However, some people are suited to other careers - vocations which do not require undergraduate degrees (such as gourmet chef or administrative assistant). Many people suited to these jobs can be trained for these jobs in high school, rather than being forced to go to a vocational school after they receive their high school diplomas. Those who get such jobs after they get a bachelor's degree have really wasted four years' worth of their (or their parents') money and a great deal of time on the part of their professors (not to mention their own time).

Yet high schools brag about the percentage of graduates they send off to college, rather than in trying to convince parents that maybe Johnny (with an IQ of 180) is better off training as a nurse's aide or administrative assistant.

[jerrybert-2009]

One must not forget that higher education is not to prepare the way for the perfect job or career. Rather, it is to train young minds to become free independent thinkers and critically reflect upon issues of this world so that whatever career they are attracted to they will be able to think beyond their 6x8 cubicle.

[tlwc3]

I hope the parents are looking at "best fit" for both child and school and not at the status it will give them. I would not presure my children to go to the school in which they would be a legacy if I knew they would not be successful. Also as said by one of the other comments posted, college is not for everyone, but for those who are striving to do better than what their families or their situation has dealt them should not be discouraged by these games that these schools are playing. That is unfortunate that this the game that we are faced with, especially the parents of first generation college material.

[dmartarch]

My name is David Martin. I am an Architect who spent five years in college pursueing my degree.

The American public has forgotten one important factor. College is not for everyone and has never been intended for everyone. Unless the aplicant is intending to pursue a specialized career such as medicine, engineering, science or a similiar arena then college is not the place to be. Furthermore, if your child has no idea of what he wants to do "when he grows up" then he should not be going to college yet.

My final comment involves paying for college. I paid for my own college tuituion, every penny. College is for the childs future, not the parents. If the child pays for it the dedication and drive to finish and succeed goes along with it. Two many children spends years partying at their parents expense.