Episode 59: The Realities of Paying For College

🎧 From financial fears to college dreams - Jennifer Ledwith reveals the truth about paying for college that every student needs to hear! In this essential episode, the founder of Scholar Ready breaks down how to make higher education possible regardless of your family's financial situation.

Through practical wisdom and real-world examples, Jennifer exposes the critical pathways to college that most people never hear about.

This game-changing episode explores:

• The three types of families navigating college costs and how to succeed in each situation
• Why elite private colleges might cost less than state schools for some students
• The hidden opportunities most families miss when seeking financial aid
• Real strategies for maximizing merit scholarships and test scores
• The journey from "we can't afford it" to "how do we make it work"
• How to get support when your family isn't on board

Perfect for: Students worried about college costs, families seeking financial aid guidance, young people facing unsupportive parents, and the counselors, teachers, and mentors helping youth pursue higher education. Plus: Essential advice on turning test scores into scholarship dollars and finding creative ways to fund your future.

For more about Jennifer Ledwith, please click on the links below.

http://www.scholaready.com/

https://www.youtube.com/scholaready

http://eventbrite.com/o/jennifer-ledwith-scholar-ready-13299883017

Transcript

00:09.18
fatimabey
And welcome, everyone. Today we have with us Jennifer Ledwith. She is out of Houston, Texas, and she is the owner of Scholar Ready. And in today's episode, we're we're going to talk about the realities of paying for college.

00:24.16
fatimabey
And we're going to talk about real situations that everybody finds themselves in, not just the ideal ones. Because often when we're having these conversations, we're talking about ideas that half of the people can't even fit into. And we want you all to be able to really relate. We want to give you real, real, real, real advice today. So if you're getting ready for college or if you're a parent or guardian, no matter what your situation, this is for you. How are you today?

00:54.03
Jennifer Ledwith
I am well Fatima.

00:54.30
fatimabey
um

00:55.31
Jennifer Ledwith
Thank you so much for welcoming me to your podcast.

01:00.78
fatimabey
Well, I'm looking forward to this conversation and I want to start off with allowing you to tell the audience what we had a conversation ah that you said something to me that I thought was so well said that it needs to be said on the air.

01:13.98
fatimabey
So tell me what you were talking about ah when you said you when you were talking about looking at long term benefits of a degree.

01:21.29
Jennifer Ledwith
Okay. When we think about a degree, often people, first of all, people go to college for different reasons. One of the primary reasons people choose to attend college is for vocational training. Or in other words, to develop the skills, to acquire the certifications and know how to get a quote, good job, a good paying job after college. And people often focus on the majors that pay really well when people graduate from college. For example, petroleum engineering, computer science, things of study think things of that magnitude.

02:05.62
Jennifer Ledwith
And that's it i mean yes, that's great. that's that In the short term, those students are going to make really good money. Those graduates are going to make really good money right out of college. But people need to think of a college degree as a tool to give people options throughout a long career.

02:24.37
Jennifer Ledwith
For example, some students may think of may they're like i don't you know they may be discouraged from majoring in, say, communications or sociology or journalism because people may say, well, what are you going to do with that?

02:25.59
fatimabey
Mmhmm.

02:38.95
Jennifer Ledwith
You're only goingnna make you're you're you're going to make a small amount of money with that degree. I mean, you why did you even go to college? Because you just could have gone and you know got taken on a job that didn't require all that education.

02:54.29
Jennifer Ledwith
Didn't require all those student loans, maybe didn't require that expense and you could be making the same amount of money, but people need to think about the long-term gains of it. I mean, Oprah Winfrey has an undergraduate degree in journalism and she's Oprah.

03:09.87
Jennifer Ledwith
When you look at the people who are orchestrating these political campaigns and they are orchestrating the messaging and helping to influence who will elect for the next president or senator or congressperson or what have you, those people have degrees in these so-called majors that don't make a significant amount of money when graduating college.

03:38.87
Jennifer Ledwith
And I would be willing to bet that at this point in their careers, they're making a significant income. And they also have um this, theyre they because they have those degrees and because they've been making these connections all along, they have significant choices in their lives.

03:58.19
Jennifer Ledwith
And when we think about getting a degree,

03:59.41
fatimabey
Right.

04:01.53
Jennifer Ledwith
We want to think about the long game. Think about sometimes students feel like they have to pursue something in STEM, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, because it's that's the path to a high paying job.

04:06.44
fatimabey
Right.

04:14.72
Jennifer Ledwith
But that's not the only path to a high paying job. And of course, there are reasons why.

04:19.20
fatimabey
right

04:19.69
Jennifer Ledwith
people it's great if you're passionate about those things but you can you can study something that you really really like and if it fits into an overall plan and if the student is able to use that degree and work it and parlay it into a worthwhile career the degree is worthwhile it it has value some people say oh well why did you get a degree in that particular major and you should have just gone and done that one because it pays more, of the job's tied to it, pay more, but don't listen to that. Come up with a long-term plan, work your plan, and you're going to see it's going to pay off.

05:02.89
fatimabey
Yes, I think that you I think that's so such a big deal. A lot of times people are thinking about oh they're thinking about one position and then and they're narrowly focused on that so they go to school based on that and not really look at okay what else can you do with that degree because maybe you decide that you want to do you want to deliver babies and then you you get go through all this medical training and you Get there and you finally start delivering babies you like i can't freaking stand this i'd rather work with brain surgery or something else in the medical field. Okay there's nothing wrong with that you can do that but ah but yeah i think i thought that was a really really important point to think about the long term benefits of your degree what can you do with it because you can do more than one thing with it.

05:45.39
fatimabey
Um, now I said in the beginning that this is for everyone. If you're going to college or if your parent or guardian of someone going to college, no matter what your situation is, this episode is for you.

05:57.42
fatimabey
So right now I want you to state what are the three primary different, uh, kinds of teens, uh, that we're talking to, um, that this episode is really for that everybody fits into one of these three categories.

06:09.70
Jennifer Ledwith
OK, so everyone fits in one of these three categories. You have the students whose parents are who can you have parents who are um who have the money to send their kids to college.

06:23.39
Jennifer Ledwith
They have the resources to to pay for the kids to go to college.

06:24.21
fatimabey
Mm hmm.

06:26.90
Jennifer Ledwith
And they're also very engaged in the process.

06:28.02
fatimabey
Right.

06:30.83
Jennifer Ledwith
And then you have those students whose parents don't have the money, don't have the resources, but the parents are very engaged and very supportive.

06:31.37
fatimabey
Mm hmm.

06:40.49
Jennifer Ledwith
And in that third group are students whose parents are not supportive. The parents are, when I say parents, I really mean the adults at home, whomever the adults are at home.

06:51.01
fatimabey
Yeah. Right.

06:52.83
Jennifer Ledwith
they're not supporting that student in his or her journey to college.

06:52.93
fatimabey
Right. Good point.

06:56.83
Jennifer Ledwith
So three groups, you have supportive parents with the resources to send their students to college. You have supportive parents who do not have the resources to send their kids to college.

07:10.36
Jennifer Ledwith
And then you have that third group of students whose adults at home do not are not supporting them in their pursuit of a higher education.

07:10.50
fatimabey
Mm hmm.

07:21.56
fatimabey
With or without money.

07:23.05
Jennifer Ledwith
with yeah with or without money yeah with them yeah yeah

07:24.21
fatimabey
to

07:27.05
fatimabey
And that that lack of support um is, I just got a comment on it because i've I've seen that. ah that lack the Because people think that people assume when they're giving out information about how to pay for college and and just all the other advice that goes around it, people assume that everybody has supportive parents.

07:45.98
fatimabey
And I'm here to tell you, i have I have actually seen where parents try to sabotage their own kids.

07:49.04
Jennifer Ledwith
Yeah, with or without money.

07:51.16
fatimabey
Can you talk about that a little bit more? Because you've seen it more than I have.

07:52.88
Jennifer Ledwith
I've seen parents sabotage their kids. um i've seen parents sabotage their kids and when And sometimes there are adults who are looking from the outside in trying to understand, number one, why is that parent doing that? And number two, how can I help that student? Because the student has so much promise, but the student is not receiving the support that he or she is receiving.

08:19.84
Jennifer Ledwith
So first of all, when you think about, you ask yourself, why is the parent not being supportive?

08:21.29
fatimabey
yeah

08:25.94
Jennifer Ledwith
Well, you know as human beings, we do things that benefit us.

08:32.52
Jennifer Ledwith
Think about why that might benefit that parent. Maybe that parent has other children, has younger children, and that student who is college bound is providing childcare.

08:37.07
fatimabey
Yeah. e

08:46.08
Jennifer Ledwith
is is a chauffeur, is is cooking, is maybe maybe the student has a job, which we know a part-time job in the short term will pay more than, or beg your pardon, working full-time in a job outside of high school, right out of high school, is gonna pay more than what a college student can earn in the short term.

08:47.18
fatimabey
Yep.

08:50.01
fatimabey
Yep. Mm hmm. Right. Right.

09:08.98
Jennifer Ledwith
um So, that parent is benefiting from that student being there. Also, the parent may be jealous. ah There are some parents who are jealous of their students, and they're jealous of them, and they don't want their kids to do better than them.

09:20.17
fatimabey
Bingo. Bingo, yeah, for real.

09:26.81
Jennifer Ledwith
there There are parents like that.

09:27.22
fatimabey
Mm-hmm.

09:28.09
Jennifer Ledwith
So we if you so if you're ah an adult on the outside looking in, wanting to help this student who wants to go to college, you have to figure out how you can.

09:40.86
Jennifer Ledwith
It's a tricky balance because you have to show respect to that parent. And at the same time, you still want to guide that student to

09:47.44
fatimabey
Right.

09:51.03
Jennifer Ledwith
um to going to college. So if it were me guiding that student who doesn't have that support from that parent, I would say I would try to make it to where because and often parents like that have control issues and they, you know, in some instances they really, really want to control their kids.

10:10.90
fatimabey
Yep.

10:13.40
Jennifer Ledwith
for they like power and control.

10:14.18
fatimabey
Yep.

10:15.16
Jennifer Ledwith
That's why they had children. So they could have power and control over somebody because they can't control or they don't have power in their own lives. So, but one thing is, I mean, one thing that's good most likely is that the parent is allowing the student to go to school.

10:31.06
Jennifer Ledwith
So what you wanna do is you wanna make sure as the adult on the outside looking in, maybe you're a neighbor, maybe you're a family, maybe you're a relative, maybe you are a an educator at the school, got make sure that student can get what he or she needs at the school.

10:51.87
Jennifer Ledwith
make makes sure, and and if you and and maybe and you as the care as the caring adult, maybe you can show up to the events at the school to support that student in pursuing an education. But I would try to make everything As an adult on the outside looking in, I would try to make sure that that student gets everything he or she needs from the school. Maybe there is a um ah counselor or another teacher at the school who ah who favors the student.

11:25.61
Jennifer Ledwith
And you can talk to that teacher, you can talk with that educator and say, hey, you know um you know while you're after school hosting tutorials, you know can so-and-so, can this young person come sit in your room and and work on some applications?

11:44.16
Jennifer Ledwith
That's the main thing. The main thing is making figuring out a way to make sure that they get the resources at the one place that the parent is going to be okay for him or for him to go, for for him for he or she to go.

11:45.61
fatimabey
Mm-hmm. Yeah, actually.

11:56.79
Jennifer Ledwith
because after school, the parent is not going to want the student to do that. the the The child is probably working or providing daycare or helping to run that household. And you have to think of ways to help them to get it done in school because if you can get that student to, you know, if you can get the student to have all of the get get all of the paperwork in and and get to high school graduation. I mean, after that, it's a wrap. The college acceptance is in and and the student can go, you know theoretically, the student the student can go, I don't know how to address that if the parent says, oh no, you can't leave here. I don't i don't i don't know how to, now I don't know how to address that part.

12:51.03
fatimabey
Well, i since you're talking about that, I did want to bring up a subgroup within the unsupportive parent group. um And I just think it's so important to talk about this because there's so many kids sitting out there with unsuppared unsupportive parents and they think they're the only ones. And they're discouraged. It's very easy for them to get discouraged and some of them do end up hurting their lives and not pursuing further education because I think they don't have to.

13:21.15
fatimabey
Some, there are parents out there who are just straight up je just ignorant.

13:23.38
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

13:26.07
fatimabey
Ignorant, and when i ignorant when I say the word ignorant, I don't mean that as just an insult.

13:29.06
Jennifer Ledwith
who

13:30.75
fatimabey
I mean that ignorant means lack of knowledge.

13:32.15
Jennifer Ledwith
and Correct.

13:34.14
fatimabey
So if you have a parent who never finished high school, they work hard and they provide, but they don't believe in further education because they never received it themselves.

13:45.93
fatimabey
though To me, those are the hardest ones to deal with. Um, sometimes, and because they have this mentality of you don't need education, you just need to work and pay bills. And that's your, existence that's your existence, which we both know is that's not what we're put up here on earth for. But, um, but for people like that, it's hard. Now what you were just saying about, you don't know what to say to someone whose parent is like, I can't go. I have actually, uh,

14:15.56
fatimabey
seen that and helped talk someone through that um where it's similar to what you're describing. I think if they are under 18, it's hard because you're technically still a minor. It also depends on the state that you're in because we're, you know, this podcast is for the US and Canada. um I don't know the rules in Canada, but I know in the US uh in most days if you're 18 you are technically an adult legally you can do what you want now just because you can do it legally doesn't mean it's still easy because you still have ties at home so this is where i and i'm talking to the audience right now this is where i think jennifer's advice is so dead on is so extremely important that we who are on the outside looking in who are want to be the uh supportive adults

14:42.82
Jennifer Ledwith
and

14:47.21
Jennifer Ledwith
Correct.

15:05.18
fatimabey
This is where we can step in and be creative with how we do it. As she said, there's a fine line because you want to respect the parent. You don't want to just go all in there all bullish. You're like, I'm taking your child because you ain't doing right by her.

15:15.88
Jennifer Ledwith
but

15:17.46
fatimabey
La, la, la, la, la. There's some people who do stuff like that. And that is a foolish way to handle things. ah You might be well-intended, but that's not a ah good way to handle things. Um, use some wisdom and be creative and figure out how can I help them to get out of their juvenile prison and get into, you know, the, a better future for themselves.

15:38.65
fatimabey
Once they get out, how can we keep them out?

15:40.43
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm hmm.

15:40.89
fatimabey
You know, you really have to think about that. And I'm not saying that I have all the answers either, but I'm saying that we have to get it. Think outside the box in those situations, there are answers, but those answers aren't going to be the same for everyone.

15:52.24
Jennifer Ledwith
quick.

15:53.21
fatimabey
And I have actually helped someone with that. And I did it without talking to the parent. i walked the child through how to handle it, what they can do.

16:03.37
fatimabey
I coach them through it, basically. And what can you do in a situation like that? There are there are answers, but those answers, like I said, are not going to be the same for everyone. And I just i really wanted to speak to that because I know that the child that I helped, it wasn't just them.

16:17.65
fatimabey
There are so many other kids out there who have unsupportive parents ah out of either general ignorance or jealousy. I really think that jealousy is is at least 50% of them.

16:27.09
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm-hmm.

16:28.45
fatimabey
And it's a big big one and the parent might not recognize that that's where it's coming from.

16:28.53
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm-hmm.

16:33.17
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm-hmm.

16:33.30
fatimabey
It's a whole psychological game. um But it's at the end of the day, it's really selfish to try to sabotage your child in the future.

16:37.35
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

16:41.11
fatimabey
um But if you if you have a parent like that's like that and you are listening to me, you can get out of it. You just got to find the right adult to help you walk through it. Now you just gave some advice of of what to do when you have unsupportive parents. What advice do you have for the teenager who has supportive parents, but they ain't got no money.

17:03.83
Jennifer Ledwith
Okay. That's okay. They have supportive parents, but they don't have any money. So that's a good, um, and that's, and that's, that that's a large number, significant amount of people.

17:08.62
fatimabey
Right. Yeah.

17:13.83
Jennifer Ledwith
What they need to do is they need to look at what they have to look at what resources they have available. For example, they they need to have a con everybody needs to have a conversation about, so they have supportive parents.

17:30.45
Jennifer Ledwith
That's great. So everybody who's sending the kid to college needs to, they they need to sit down and have a conversation. It could be, I know when I went to college, um I was, aside from my scholarships, I was supported by family members and not just the people in my household, but people beyond my household. And it would be beneficial for everybody to sit down and have a conversation about who is paying for what.

18:00.76
Jennifer Ledwith
with what and when. And when I say that it could be, well, who is taking out a loan for how much how for how much money and when are they going to do it? And what is that repayment plan going to be?

18:16.54
Jennifer Ledwith
um they need to They need to start with going to a college's net price. and so Once they have an idea of what they're willing to spend, that's the first thing.

18:27.10
Jennifer Ledwith
People need to start with what they're willing to contribute. like what What is the budget? ah don't Don't look at what these colleges are telling you that that the price is.

18:32.26
fatimabey
Right.

18:36.47
Jennifer Ledwith
like you know what what it What is the budget? what what do you have so For example, with you know if you go and buy a house, um you know you're not gonna go to the When you go buy a house, you should have a dollar amount in mind of what you can afford.

18:51.33
Jennifer Ledwith
um and and then so what you but Don't let the high price high sticker tech high price tag of a school discourage you from applying because there are wonderful, fantastic universities that are some of the most expensive colleges to attend, yet if a student has the right kind of, um ah apple they if they say the right things on their application, then that school will probably grant them enough money to where it's cheaper for them to go to that elite college than it would be for them to go to a state school.

19:29.41
fatimabey
You know what, i I have discovered that that is true. I i was surprised because I just assumed state school was going to be cheaper because and in some situations and often it it is.

19:42.10
fatimabey
ah But that's when you're looking at the initial price tag. When we look at the assistance you can get at each school, my God, is it different?

19:48.90
Jennifer Ledwith
It is, it is.

19:50.53
fatimabey
And it is, oh my God, is it different? And um I could think about a young lady right now. She got a better deal um going to the private school she's going to than she had gone to a state school, which surprised me.

20:02.14
fatimabey
But it is but I can tell you it's true. Now I'm in New York state, so I know it's not the same in in every state. But yeah, look for the programs that are out there, people.

20:10.72
Jennifer Ledwith
but And that ends...

20:12.45
fatimabey
And I want to add to that.

20:12.55
Jennifer Ledwith
Go ahead.

20:13.45
fatimabey
I want to add to that i want to piggyback off what Jennifer just said. Do not, and I'm gonna reword it, don't assume that the answer is no and that there's no way to pay for it.

20:26.39
fatimabey
Try, try, try, try, try, because not trying guarantees you definitely don't get in.

20:31.16
Jennifer Ledwith
Yeah.

20:32.22
fatimabey
And it might be, to you know, it's like, oh, I'm gonna guarantee failure if I don't try.

20:34.19
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

20:36.17
fatimabey
Well, of course, of course you are. You gotta try, you gotta try, you gotta try. Apply, apply, apply. And don't sit there and just wait for stuff to fall in your lap.

20:47.20
fatimabey
If someone tells you no, fine, go find it somewhere else. You gotta be like that in life, and if you might as well start with college.

20:54.33
Jennifer Ledwith
have

20:55.08
fatimabey
Your college search.

20:55.57
Jennifer Ledwith
Absolutely. they They need to look, and and that, Fatima, you bring up a good point. They need to try and try and try, which means they need to have a broad selection of colleges that they are pursuing.

21:06.83
Jennifer Ledwith
When they think about, when they they need to run the net price calculator, and you can go to a school's website and find the net price calculator, and that's going to help, go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

21:08.25
fatimabey
Yes.

21:16.41
fatimabey
Right. They all have.

21:19.64
fatimabey
Oh, no, I just said, yeah, they all have them.

21:20.11
Jennifer Ledwith
yeah And that'll help them to understand what an estimate of what the cost will be. And so once you go, after you get that price tag for the Net Price Calculator, then start looking at the school's a scholarships list, look at the school's financial aid office information, and start looking at the scholarships. For most students, most students' largest source of scholarships will be their college or university.

21:51.34
Jennifer Ledwith
not I mean, I know that people are applying for the little small ones, the ones that are 1,000 here, 500 there, and that's great because there is more, I mean, okay, yeah, that's more than you had before you started, but the main focus should be on the scholarships from the institutions.

21:53.40
fatimabey
Yep. Mm-hmm.

22:08.48
fatimabey
Mm-hmm, okay, yeah.

22:09.29
Jennifer Ledwith
because eight because I'm going to tell you something, that $1,000 scholarship is that that that community organization offers. and I'm a part of a community organization that offers $1,000 scholarships and we do great work. and I'm very pleased with what you do. At the same time, you know that scholarship is not going to keep up with tuition inflation.

22:30.29
Jennifer Ledwith
that isn't that Yeah, because the colleges you know and community organization can give you $1,000, but a college can say, oh, we're going to give you we're going to pay for your your tuition, your fees, your books, your room, your board.

22:32.13
fatimabey
Right, right.

22:46.36
fatimabey
but There you go.

22:46.63
Jennifer Ledwith
They they have the power to do that. Who else has the power to do that? they so Go ahead.

22:52.06
fatimabey
Yeah. And also there's programs that some colleges have programs, um, that you have to get into that help you specifically. I know in New York state, um, I know you're in Texas, but I i i can only speak to New York state.

23:02.24
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

23:06.98
fatimabey
They have EOP equal opportunity program.

23:09.14
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm hmm.

23:11.75
fatimabey
I think you have equal opportunity programs, what's it called, an H-E-O-P, higher education opportunity program, I believe is what it stands for. But somebody can correct me if I'm wrong, if I have the acronyms wrong, what the acronyms stand for wrong. But those programs are amazing in New York State. They were created to help people of color primarily to get into school systems that would otherwise, they wouldn't get into. And they have a very good track record of creating some of the most productive members of society.

23:39.43
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm.

23:40.16
fatimabey
So I believe very strongly in the program. And I've seen, I know people work in them and I've seen people, you know, go through them and be very successful in their careers. But it's that's that's a New York state thing.

23:52.26
fatimabey
There are other states out there that have similar type of programs.

23:54.77
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm hmm.

23:55.30
fatimabey
They may go by different names. I don't know what they're calling in every state, but people look for them. Don't ever accept anything as, well, no, this is all we can do for you. That's bullshit. Try harder. Look for more. There's programs out there that there's so many programs out there that are not always well advertised um in every state. ah There's something out there in every state that will help people pay for college that aren't always well advertised. And I want to add to the piece about scholarships. So many I've preached about this before. So many people think that scholarships aren't for them or only got C's in in school. So I'm not going to qualify for scholarships.

24:36.57
fatimabey
That's crap too. Try. And if you try for a hundred, you get rejected for 90, you might get 10, but you're guaranteed to get nothing if you try for nothing.

24:41.57
Jennifer Ledwith
Yeah different that's right.

24:45.74
fatimabey
So it just just try. And I just feel so strongly about this because I've i've just seen people make just such dramatic, important, intensely important decisions.

25:00.07
fatimabey
based on what they think they can get instead of actually trying. And it hurts them. And I hate to see that because I want to see everybody successful. um Do you have any other advice for people without money?

25:12.24
Jennifer Ledwith
So people with without money, so first, so run the net price calculator, look at the scholarships from the colleges and universities. Also, take the PSAT, SAT, and ACT seriously. the The schools are, many of these colleges are test optional. I think i think a a good number of schools. in and

25:33.46
fatimabey
Yeah, a lot of them have been changing.

25:33.80
Jennifer Ledwith
and and over and And over time, they're changing them um to require the test for admissions. But all a lot for many of these schools, they have been requiring the SAT and ACT for um when it comes to offering um scholarships, like, you know, significant money.

25:58.51
fatimabey
Oh, okay.

25:59.47
Jennifer Ledwith
And usually people who, and there are many people who fall into that category of not having money for, like, they may not have money for college, but the federal government may say, whoa, whoa, whoa, you do have enough money for college.

26:12.74
Jennifer Ledwith
And we think that you can contribute, you know, tens, you know, $10,000 a year to your students' college education. And that parent is looking at the, at the at the federal government and thinking, where am I going to get this money from every year?

26:27.64
Jennifer Ledwith
so and those people Those people who make too much money to qualify for financial aid, need-based financial aid, but not enough money to

26:34.65
fatimabey
Hmm Actually pay Ah,

26:38.41
Jennifer Ledwith
pay, actually pay, they really need to look at merit based scholarships. And so many of the merit based scholarships are tied to the exams.

26:45.39
fatimabey
okay Okay Okay

26:48.02
Jennifer Ledwith
And the thing about, but what people don't realize about the exams is that you need to start early preparing for them. And when I say early, you need to start as early as 10th grade paying attention to the PSAT scores because the PSAT scores are going to, yes, they do lead to um scholarships tied to the National Merit Awards, but that's only for the top 1% of our students. For the other 99%, that other 99% of students

27:19.62
Jennifer Ledwith
need to look at those test scores to see where they are in terms of being on track to do well on the s SAT and ACT. Because those scores and and one of the biggest things that, so there's there are a few things that I could talk about here, um but I'm going to say

27:30.63
fatimabey
Okay.

27:39.22
Jennifer Ledwith
um don't wait until the last minute to prepare. I have parents call me all the time right before their student senior you year and they tell me this all the time. They say my student scored this on the exam and it just doesn't reflect their potential because my student is getting A's and B's in all you know all her classes and all her teachers love her and And all of that.

28:07.90
Jennifer Ledwith
But the thing is, like there is a big gap between what the students know and what their grades are. Students in high school often are not getting grades based on the mastery of the material.

28:18.25
fatimabey
yeah

28:21.29
fatimabey
Yeah.

28:24.38
Jennifer Ledwith
they Their teacher could be given a grade to them because maybe the school district will not allow the teacher to fill the students.

28:31.29
fatimabey
Mm hmm.

28:32.30
Jennifer Ledwith
Maybe the school district doesn't allow the teacher to give homework that the students complete at home. Maybe the school district isn't honest about the reading proficiency of its students.

28:44.06
Jennifer Ledwith
Maybe maybe that student is in advanced classes and and rightfully so, but then maybe Johnny's mother wanted Johnny to be in the advanced classes to boost his grade point average, but Johnny has no business being in there because he doesn't have the

28:45.14
fatimabey
Oh, my God, yeah.

29:02.50
Jennifer Ledwith
the he doesn't have the fundamentals of that subject matter to do well in that class. So what happens is you have this teacher who has 20 or 30 students in one classroom and that teacher is teaching students across multiple reading levels. So if you're a teacher and you have 20 or 30 students and you have students in multiple reading levels, how are you going to help lift the students who should be in there?

29:30.19
Jennifer Ledwith
It's not realistic. so that so that and that has a And that has an effect on how well the students do on the SAT and ACT because those tests are knowledge exams. They're about background knowledge. They're about reading. Often people will say, oh, well, my child has test anxiety. Well, okay, well.

29:47.42
Jennifer Ledwith
that Yes, that's a true thing, but guess what? when i And I'm from Texas, I'm from a community with a school um that's a perennial contender for the state football title, okay? You can't tell me those young men aren't nervous when they get out on that field to play.

30:05.01
Jennifer Ledwith
You can't tell me they don't get a little anxious.

30:05.43
fatimabey
True.

30:07.33
Jennifer Ledwith
These are the same, you know, but guess what? They go out there and they perform and they get the job done. So it's, I know that test anxiety is real and I do believe that there's a segment of the population who just cannot perform.

30:20.12
Jennifer Ledwith
Just like you have people who have stage fright and they just have so much stage fright, they can't go out and perform. But you have, the rest of us can can manage our anxiety and do well.

30:30.59
Jennifer Ledwith
And we manage it through preparation. Sometimes people say, oh, well, you know, she's just not, he's not good at taking tests. She's not good at taking tests. No, they are not good at preparing for the tests. And, and that's what's happening. Like you show me a kid who you say is not good at taking tests and you show me the preparation. You show me the process.

30:53.09
Jennifer Ledwith
And I will guarantee you that that student is not fulfilling his or her capacity.

30:54.57
fatimabey
Mmhmm.

30:57.75
Jennifer Ledwith
So parents need to start very early with looking at the tests because I'm going to tell you what these tests can do. I have a student who um came to me to prepare for ACT and the highest that a student can score on the ACT is a 36.

31:15.81
Jennifer Ledwith
that student we prepared for, I prepared him for his exam and his ACT score went from a 24 to a 27. Consequently, his college gave him $20,000 additional dollars for scholarships.

31:33.59
fatimabey
Wow.

31:34.06
Jennifer Ledwith
So I want people to think about what that means. That means that this young man is going to, is has $20,000 that he doesn't have to repay. because $20,000, a 20,000 scholarship is worth way more than $20,000. Because when you start talking about repaying it and paying interest on that money, you're looking at, I mean, depending on how long he pays it off. I mean, that that that could be, that $20,000 scholarship could be worth $40,000.

32:05.37
Jennifer Ledwith
because he doesn't have to repay that whole thing with respect to the, when you add the interest on it, his parents are educators and they want to retire at some point.

32:15.94
Jennifer Ledwith
Think about that. That's $20,000 that they don't have to pull from their retirements that they can contribute to their retirements that they can contribute to their own future because that baby school moved from that baby school moved three points.

32:23.48
fatimabey
Yep.

32:31.25
Jennifer Ledwith
That's the, and that's transformative. And, you know, people can sit and they can say, oh, we're just going to pray for a good score and all that. That this is not the lottery. This is not again. And I come from ah ah a background. I come from a, I went to a football high school. I went to a football college.

32:49.39
Jennifer Ledwith
And, you know, the preparation I admire in my career, some of my favorite students have been football players because they understand what it takes to meet a goal. They don't sit around and just pray that the Hail Mary is going to work, which I actually did go to one of the state football games and we did win the game by a Hail Mary pass. That's something that they practice. Oh, that's a scenario that they ran in practice over and over and over and over again.

33:19.73
Jennifer Ledwith
And if they can do that on a football field with all of the danger and all of the risk and all of the heat and all of the unpleasantness, you can do that sitting in a classroom studying.

33:33.95
fatimabey
So I wanted to ask you about the third group of people which are supportive parents and they have money.

33:37.21
Jennifer Ledwith
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

33:41.82
fatimabey
I think that you are you some of what you just spoke about ah definitely applies to them um because I still think that even if they have the money. they should still seek out scholarships if they can and reduce their input um so that they can take that money and put it towards something else for the future and not just everything for the education.

33:54.66
Jennifer Ledwith
here who

34:04.59
fatimabey
Do you have any other advice for people in that situation?

34:06.02
Jennifer Ledwith
i Okay, so you're talking about the the advice for the people who can pay, the the the parents who can pay, in the parents and and they're also supportive. Yes. um So I wanted, so when I, I'm also a certified financial planner and when I was studying to become a certified financial planner, I remember asking my professor to teach us more about social security.

34:16.32
fatimabey
Right.

34:29.05
Jennifer Ledwith
And she said, Oh, don't worry about that, Jennifer, because your clients will be affluent and they aren't going to worry. They're not going to be concerned about social security.

34:39.57
Jennifer Ledwith
They're not going to be concerned about that. Okay. Let me tell you something. Every time I had met with someone who was getting ready to retire, who may a significant who had very hot who made a significant amount of money and who had a significant amount of assets already set aside in retirement, every last one of them wanted to know about Social Security.

35:07.53
Jennifer Ledwith
They wanted they wanted to know. they Oh, they all wanted to know.

35:09.48
fatimabey
Oh, wow.

35:11.32
Jennifer Ledwith
They all wanted to know. even i mean so that I mean, so ah so that's the thing. With people with scholarships, people, parents who have the wherewithal to pay for college, they're looking for a way to save money as well.

35:24.47
Jennifer Ledwith
How do you think they got all that?

35:26.44
fatimabey
Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that.

35:26.75
Jennifer Ledwith
No, how do you think they were able to save all that money?

35:28.09
fatimabey
yeah Yep.

35:31.66
Jennifer Ledwith
like How do you think they were able to get all that money? And so with those parents, those parents need to um need to have real... What they should do is they should envision the kind of adult that they want to have raised by the time that, you know, that young person is like 25 or 30. How do you want this student to be? Do you want this student to be an independent, productive member of society and and happy and thriving? So then you have to think about, well,

36:10.46
Jennifer Ledwith
What are the things that I can do to make sure that my student, that my child can can understand that through this process? Because the college admissions process, college going process, college financing process, um these processes are great in building character in young people.

36:31.39
Jennifer Ledwith
so when when you think When you think about what you want that person to have, you think about, okay, well, and then you also need to think about what you want for yourself and think about, okay, yes, you can pay the full cost for your student to go to college.

36:33.02
fatimabey
You're right. You're right.

36:47.50
Jennifer Ledwith
Congratulations.

36:50.42
Jennifer Ledwith
Do you want your student to have skin in the game? So maybe you're going to require, maybe you're going to decide, you know what? Yes, I have the ability to pay for all of this, but I would like for my student to be able to contribute something to the process as well. Maybe it's helping, you know, maybe that student has to get a scholarship and keep up the scholarship, or maybe that student has to have a part-time job or something.

37:18.65
Jennifer Ledwith
to ensure that that student has skin in the game. But with the folks who can afford to pay for it, congratulations. And instead, before you write a check for everything, think about some creative ways to use this process to create that adult. you want hey twenty that The adult is 23 years old and is no longer on your health insurance. Isn't that going to feel great?

37:45.63
Jennifer Ledwith
or

37:46.69
fatimabey
That is excellent advice.

37:46.92
Jennifer Ledwith
you know Or, thank you, or are this, hey, hey, this 27-year-old is getting ready to buy a house and ah you know and and is and is is ready to buy a house, is is responsible, is starting a family, is is married, is is is doing is is just um joyous and engaged with life. So what can you do, besides writing a blank check for college, to help that student get to that part?

38:19.21
fatimabey
Excellent advice and excellent i love the i love I love everything you just said and getting them to think differently. And and so with that, I want to tell the audience what is Scholar Ready and what are the services you offer.

38:34.59
Jennifer Ledwith
All right, so Scholar Ready is a business. We have been open for 20 years and we prepare families financially and academically for college. We help parents to um to to really be able to prepare financially for college. So those are the different things, tools you can use to pay for college and not just 529 plans, but reasonable ways to work with your budget,

39:00.92
Jennifer Ledwith
to make sure that your student is able to get that education that he or she desires. On the academic side, we create the conditions to allow our students to have choices.

39:13.30
Jennifer Ledwith
So what what what what helps students have choices?

39:15.02
fatimabey
Oh, yeah.

39:19.04
Jennifer Ledwith
Being able to read well.

39:22.72
Jennifer Ledwith
Being able to um do math well. Scoring well on PSAT, SAT, and ACT. Another thing is writing, knowing how to write an excellent essay. We create the conditions because I'm gonna tell you, there are students who, I have students who choose the full rides that are offered to them. And I have students who forego the full rides and go do something else. They go take out tens of thousands of dollars in debt to go do the same thing.

40:00.21
Jennifer Ledwith
and and they had the same choices. So at Scholar Ready, we create the conditions to help families, so the parents and the students to have the options, and then they have to choose accordingly.

40:14.63
Jennifer Ledwith
We also, oh, thank you.

40:15.10
fatimabey
Okay. I love that.

40:16.54
Jennifer Ledwith
We have the, we have, if you go, I think you'll put it in the show notes, there's there's a link to the the the classes that I offer through Eventbrite. And we're offering classes to help students to understand how to start essays.

40:33.29
Jennifer Ledwith
We have seminars, how to go to college for free seminars for student athletes, for students of ah first generation. So when I say first generation, I mean, maybe they the parents may have attended schools and graduated from colleges in their original countries and they immigrated to America. And now they're having to help their kiddo make the leap from K through 12 to college. We have seminars for those families.

41:02.25
Jennifer Ledwith
We have how to go to college for free seminars for people who want to attend historically black colleges and universities. And we have seminars for people who are interested in planning financially for college in the last few years before college.

41:19.29
fatimabey
OK, sounds like you are doing a lot. um i I really love this. Oh, my God, I want this conversation to go on longer because there's so many bits and pieces that you talked about that I feel extremely passionate about. um i I love to see people succeed and I really want to see more of our youth make the right decisions for themselves, um not the right decisions for everybody else, but for themselves and go for the things that they think they can't get.

41:49.07
fatimabey
um Because some of your best inventors in the world are the people that do that i'm Well, thank you again Jennifer led with for coming on today and For all your listeners there the links will be in the podcast episode description um And once again, thank you Jennifer

42:06.78
Jennifer Ledwith
Thank you Fatima. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast.