From Nancy Goodman, Executive Director of College Money Matters
Several years ago, while serving as a volunteer mentor for local high school students, I had the pleasure of talking with Sarah, a high school senior who was concerned about her college options.
She had only applied to two schools, and while both had accepted her, there were some aspects about one choice that led her to rule it out. That left her with just one place to go to – a college that would require her to borrow $139,000 in loans.
So, drawing on my 30-plus years in banking, I sat down with Sarah and we did the math. We talked about what her likely starting salary would be if she got a job in her major, and then what her costs would be after graduating, including taxes, health insurance, living expenses and her monthly loan payments. It quickly became clear to Sarah that the college she was considering would not be affordable in the long run. But with not enough time left to apply to other four-year schools, she felt stuck.
With a little coaching, though, she worked out a solution. Sarah decided to go to a local community college for a year, and then transfer her applicable credits to a local college where she earned her undergraduate degree. Today, Sarah has a good job in the field where she majored, and the limited amount in student loans that she has to pay off doesn't interfere with her lifestyle.
Sarah obviously learned some important lessons from our discussions, but so did I. I realized that if you provide high school kids with good information, they’re smart enough to make good decisions. In particular, if you put real numbers in front of them before they take out college loans, they make smarter decisions about their future.
Yet that wasn’t the only major realization I came to. I also saw that if I kept counseling students only on a one-to-one basis, I would help maybe two or three people a year. But if I formed a nonprofit and created something on the Internet that was designed to meet today’s student needs, I might be able to reach hundreds or even thousands of people.
That’s where the idea for collegemoneymatters.org began. I wanted to create a website that college-bound students and their families could depend on for good information, but I didn’t want it to have an agenda like many college-related services have. For example, colleges need to attract paying students, so it’s to their advantage when students take out large loans. Lending companies make a good portion of their money from the interest they charge on loans. And many websites targeted to college students collect their visitors’ information to either sell their own products or to sell to other businesses that target young adults.
I don’t think any of that is in the best interests of students or their families. So with the help of a few friends and professional colleagues – plus an extensive amount of research with high school juniors and seniors, we built the College Money Matters website as a place people could trust – with honest, unbiased information and links to other sites with quality information.
Today, collegemoneymatters.org reaches over 62,000 students, parents and school counselors a year, providing easy-to-understand and engaging information about loans, scholarships, financial aid, applying to schools, and how to get a great education while still keeping college affordable.
You can help keep the College Money Matters idea growing by sharing content from our site with friends, family, schools and other nonprofits dedicated to helping students in or about to enter college.
College Money Matters is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to helping college-bound students and their families make smarter decisions about paying for college by providing free, unbiased information with no ads, no sales pitches and no hidden agendas.