The Parents in Your Firm Are Awake at Two in the Morning. The Tuition Bill Is Only Part of It.
College planning is one of the heaviest sources of stress a working parent carries, and it comes to work with them every day.
They’ve run the numbers again. They’re also wondering whether the school their kid is excited about is the right place for what that kid actually wants to do, and how hard to push on that, and whether pushing is the wrong move entirely. There is a whole category of things they don’t know they don’t know. And underneath all of it sits the question nobody outside the family can answer for them: how will we know we chose well?
That last one is the real work. Paying for college is the part you can put a number on. Choosing well is the part that decides whether the number was worth it, and that is where I spend my time: one student, one plan, and 10+ years of watching how these decisions turn out.
This is a preferred provider listing rather than a benefit you fund. It costs the firm nothing, there is nothing for your team to administer, and they get two live sessions a year.
What a parent in your firm actually gets
What happens when one of them calls me, in the order it happens.
It starts with the kid, not the college list
The first conversation is not about where they want to go. It is about what they are trying to build, and whether they know yet, because plenty of sixteen-year-olds do not and that is normal. The list gets built backward from that answer. Ninth grade or twelfth, earlier just means more room.
I hired, and I built high-performing teams
25+ years in engineering and program management at Lockheed Martin, MITRE and Mathematica, running teams of three to forty people and doing the hiring for them. So when a family is weighing two programs, I can tell them which one turns out graduates who get the offer, and which one carries a name that stops working the moment the interview starts.
Forty campuses, walked
That is how I know where nursing is direct admit and where it is apply-later, which schools finish a bachelor’s and a master’s in five years, and which honors colleges change what a family actually pays. None of it is on the admissions page.
Merit money is a placement decision, not a qualification
Two students with the same transcript apply to two schools. One reads that transcript as middle of the pack and offers nothing. The other reads it as the top of its incoming class and puts real money down to get them. Same kid, same record. The only thing that changed was which list they were on. Over 10+ years, that work has come to more than $25 million.
Where the work concentrates
Comprehensive College Advising is built around one student. No two engagements look the same, because no two students want the same thing. It runs multi-year, rates lock at enrollment, and payment plans are available.
It is also not the only way in. Every family starts with a complimentary Discovery Session, and several of them never need more than a lighter engagement. The full range and the rate card live on the Families page, where they can read it before they ever speak to me.
There is no separate employee rate, and that is deliberate. More on that below.
$25M+merit aid secured for families since 2015
100%college acceptance rate
65+of the top 100 schools with students admitted
98%graduated on time
100%of graduates fully employed or in grad school
No two of these students wanted the same thing
I start with what a student wants to achieve and the goals behind it, long before we talk about a major or a list of schools. That is why the next sixty-four campuses read like a set of good decisions rather than a ranking.
Students I’ve guided have been admitted to:
Admission to these institutions reflects student achievement and strategic planning, not guaranteed outcomes.
What the families say
A parent who went through it, in her own words.
My son applied to a large number of schools because so many were incredibly competitive. My time became consumed with reviewing essays, and I knew there were major gaps in our understanding of the process. Learning about the FAFSA, Net Price Calculators, and the CSS Profile was eye-opening. Had we known this information earlier, our son’s college list might have been very different. This guidance not only helped us this year, but also gave us a plan for our younger children. I would tell other parents to meet with her well before they think they need to — it still won’t be early enough.
Why me and not a national program
They get me
You won’t get a matched advisor or a rotating case manager. The same person runs the sessions, takes the one-to-one meetings, and reads the essays. If you want to know who is standing in front of your employees, the answer is one name and it does not change.
The engagement belongs to the family
The agreement is with the family, not with your firm. If a parent leaves the firm, their student keeps their counselor and the plan keeps running. Nothing a family has built depends on where a parent works next year.
I will tell them no
A school is sometimes not worth what it costs, and I say so. A test is sometimes not worth taking, and I say that too. You are putting your name on advice, so it had better be advice that can disappoint someone.
What the arrangement is
Short version: you point them at me, I show up twice a year, and no money changes hands between us.
It costs the firm nothing
No budget line, no enrollment file, no renewal, nothing for your team to administer. What I ask for is a listing wherever they already look for wellness resources, with written content I provide rather than a name and a link, and two mornings a year with your employees. For your team, this is wellness support that addresses the cause of the stress, not just the symptoms.
The sessions are what your people use
Two live sessions a year, virtual or on site, open to any parent on your staff. The employee with a sixteen-year-old and the employee with a sixth grader both leave with something they can use that week. Most wellness resources get opened by a handful of people. This one is built to be used.
There is no employee discount, and that should reassure you
A provider who cuts rates to win a partnership was charging someone else too much. Every family here pays the same published rate, which is how you know the number is real. What they get instead is access, and a rate schedule that freezes at signature and does not move for the life of their engagement. Published rates are reviewed every two years. A family already under contract is not affected.
I take a limited number of families at a time
That is not a sales tactic. It is what one-to-one attention actually requires, and it is the reason the work holds up. Employees of partner firms get first call on those places.
What a benefits lead usually asks next
How is this a wellness offering?
Because the stress is real and it has a source. A parent who knows the plan, the timeline and what it will cost stops carrying that question into every meeting. The two sessions a year reach every parent on staff, and the families who want one-to-one work get it.
What does one-to-one advising cost a family?
Every family pays the same published rate, listed on the Comprehensive College Advising page. Rates lock at enrollment, payment plans are available, and in most cases the monthly payment is $500 or less.
What if a lot of our people want this?
Most of them will not want the same thing, which is what makes it work. The two sessions a year hold a room of any size. One-to-one advising is the only piece my calendar limits, and I take a set number of students a year rather than overextending. If a family wants that and the year is full, I tell them directly.
Do you do SAT and ACT prep?
No. Test prep is its own discipline and I refer it out to people who do it properly. What I do is tell a family whether testing is worth their time and money at the schools on their list, which is a different question, and usually the more expensive one to get wrong.
Is this only useful if someone has a senior?
It is least useful then. Junior year is where the decisions that set what a family pays actually get made, and families who start before it arrive with options rather than constraints. The parents with ninth and tenth graders have the most to gain, and they are usually the ones not yet thinking about it.
Watch me work before you put your name next to mine
I run every session myself, live. Two Cornell Engineering degrees, a Certificate with Distinction in College Counseling from UCLA, and the PMP, and no bench behind any of it.
Sessions are open, there is no cost, and nothing is asked of you afterward.
Start a conversation
Tell me about your firm and the families in it. You will hear back within one business day.