Tyler and Ken: It’s a different world

Key Takeaways

• College is too expensive for guesswork. CBRG helps families avoid costly mistakes by matching students with schools that are right academically, financially, and personally.
• CBRG simplifies the process so students can stay focused. With deadlines managed and forms handled, students like Tyler enjoy a less stressful, more successful senior year.
• Marketing your student is as important as schools marketing themselves. CBRG teaches families to position their student effectively for admissions and aid.

Video Transcript

It’s a different world. It is flat-out a different world.

When I went to school, the education was darn close to free. Now, you’re spending major, major money—you’re spending the kind of money that makes you stop and think: Is this affordable? Is this doable?

And if you don’t use somebody like CBRG, you could be spending immense amounts of money sending a child to a location that’s not the right school—not the right money, not the right major—nothing that works for the kid. Because it’s so expensive, you can’t afford to make big mistakes.

Knowing how much money all the schools are makes you really look into the school as best you can. And having CBRG to have the profiles of each school—it makes you put the two together.

You don’t want to be in a school that’s not good academically if you’re going to spend $50,000 on it.

A Plan with CBRG

We had known that we weren’t going to try and do everything on our own. I had heard enough stories. I have enough friends who have older children that have gone through that “Oh my God, what are we going to do? How are we going to do this? What tests do we take? When do we take them? How often do we take them?”

And when I met with Steve and Dave, it was: “Oh, here’s a plan.” And CBRG educated me about: here’s where you start, here’s where you want to end up, and here are all the little steps in between that you need to follow.

The biggest thing is to make sure that you don’t forget something. I didn’t want to get through the whole college application process and say, “Darn, if only we had done that, we’d have made a better choice.” And by working with CBRG, I don’t have that apprehension.

Peace of Mind for the Whole Family

To have the support of my parents and to have CBRG to help us and make sure we know what we’re doing—it’s so much easier. It makes you so much more relaxed about the whole college process.

They talked about education—educating me, my wife, and my daughter about what the schools were marketing. The colleges are marketing: their courses, their location, their buildings, their teachers, their class size—anything to make you want to send your child there.

At the same time, they taught us that we had to market our child—her skills, her talents—and present that back to the school and see if we could find the right fit from a marketing perspective.

And since I have a business background, all of that just totally made sense to me.

Purpose Over “Experience”

When we had the first meeting with CBRG, they asked: “Why do you want to go to college?” And most people’s answer is “the experience.” They put it in your head—it’s not the experience, it’s the degree.

And when you realize what your ultimate goal is, all the other stuff comes with it.

CBRG Handles the Paperwork

Particularly when it comes to dealing with things like FAFSA, EFC, CSS—these are terms that everybody’s going to pick up on as they start going through this college experience.

And because I’m working through CBRG, I don’t have to worry about filling out FAFSA. I don’t have to worry about the EFC. I don’t have to worry about the CSS—because they’re going to do it for me.

If I go out on the website that’s available, all the dates are listed—when those forms are going to be prepared. And I sat down with an interview person, and I gave all the appropriate financial information. And when I was done, that’s it.

The next thing I have to worry about is doing my taxes for 2010 and getting that information uploaded to that site. But once it’s up on that site—and CBRG has it—they take care of all that reporting. I don’t have to worry about it, and I’m not stressed about it.

A More Enjoyable Senior Year

When she started her senior year, our whole approach as a family was: enjoy it.

This is your last time through. When you start college, it’s a whole different world. You’re on your own. So enjoy that last year—do the sports. She’s been involved in the clubs and everything else. Do all of that—enjoy all of that.

And she has been so relaxed this senior year. She’s never had higher grades than she’s getting right now. She is off the chart this year. And I think part of it is because she was relaxed.

Ahead of the Curve

In terms of my whole grade, I’m so ahead of the curve compared to everybody I hear about—everyone who is so stressed out about not having their college applications done, or people who haven’t even started them—and I was already accepted into my first college.

She’s done that. Now she can concentrate on going forward.

My name is Tyler, and I’m a senior in high school on my way to college.

Related CBRG Blog Resources

• Finding the Right College Fit
• CBRG Simplifies Financial Aid for Families
• Why College Planning Specialists?

Schedule Your Free Consultation

Like Tyler, you can stay ahead of deadlines—and the competition—with expert help from CBRG. Don’t leave one of the biggest investments of your life to chance.

Book your free consultation today and let us help you plan the smartest, most affordable path to college success.