Planning for college is one of the most important times in a young person's life. It can also be one of the most overwhelming.
CCCS recently launched a Pilot for its new Education Financing Services program to help guide students and their parents as they embark on post-secondary education. The program combines trusted web-based tools, one-on-one counseling and on-going support to help students figure out what they want to do and how they are going to pay for it.
Interested students can start by applying at www.cccsdv.org/college. If accepted, they will be contacted by one of our consultants and given a series of career assessments. Next, the student and parents sit down with their counselor and decide which schools would be a good fit—both academically and financially. Once the student makes his or her decision about where they will go to school, our consultant continues to provide on-going support until the student graduates.
As the program was developed, CCCS uncovered some alarming statistics about the success rates of students. For example, only 56% of those who attend a four-year school actually graduate and only half of those graduates end up in a field related to their major, a key decision maker when selecting a school.
And the choices students are making are costing them more than a promising career. In 2011, U.S. student loan debt surpassed the amount of credit card debt racked up in 2010. "We realized that a significant root cause for this increasing debt is a lack of planning in high school on choosing the right school and having a plan to pay for it," says John Roche, Vice President of Education Financing Services.
So the idea is to help students before they sign on the dotted line, allowing them to save money and have a more fulfilling experience in school.
For more information and to register for Education Financing Services, go to http://www.cccsdv.org/college.