Keep Your Cards Face Down
There is a tornado behind the pretty campus tour. Most families never see it, and it decides who gets in and what they pay.
The business behind the campus tour
It’s called Strategic Enrollment Management, and it may be the most important part of the college business that most families never hear about.
You see the beautiful campus. You meet the admissions counselor. You tour the dorms. You hear about the programs, professors and student experience.
Behind all of that is a sophisticated business operation built around one question:
Admissions today isn’t simply about deciding who gets accepted. It’s about managing enrollment. That’s why the college is evaluating you just as much as you’re evaluating the college.
You show them everything in about 90 days
Your grades, test scores, activities and essays tell the college about your student. But there’s another piece of the equation: how do we pay for this student? The college wants to know that too.
So between September and November, students and parents submit it all.
The college sees all of your evidence, then takes its time deciding what to do with it.
You can’t take any of it back. The college holds the whole picture, and you don’t find out what it thinks of that picture until the decisions and aid offers arrive.
The second-biggest purchase of your life
After a house, college is the largest purchase most families ever make, and the real price often isn’t clear until after you’ve applied and filed. This is the backward process the typical family goes through:
- 01Collegethe dream
- 02Pick collegesbuild a list
- 03ApplySep – Nov
- 04File formsOct
- 05Wait • Hope • Stress • Praystudent
- 06Get acceptedDec – Feb
- 07Wait • Hope • Stress • Prayparent
- 08Get aid offerMar – Apr
- 09Cryit’s not enough
The typical path ends at step 9. It doesn’t have to.
Let’s play poker
You’re the family. I’m the college. I deal the cards. You want to play.
But before the game even starts, you lay every card you have face up on the table.
Cards face up
Academics. Finances. Everything the college needs to size you up.
Then the college betsCards face down
You know your hand, and how the college will read it, before you make a move.
Then you playFace up, who has the leverage? The college. It sees everything, and then it gets to bet.
Reverse engineer the process
If the college decides last, then the work that matters happens first. What if, during sophomore or junior year, you already knew what the college would see, and what it would do about it?
You’re not hiding anything. You’re not cheating. Every form you file should be accurate and complete. You’re simply understanding your position before you make your move.
Know the game before you sit down
Work backward from the aid offer and four things come into focus. Learn them before September:
Understand what your Student Aid Index is today
See your number the way a college sees it.
See how low that number could be
Explore the legal, ethical strategies that may change it.
Learn which colleges will make you pay
Schools whose business model has no reason to compete for your student.
Versus which colleges will pay you
Schools with a reason to invest in your student.
Then the process becomes simpler and more affordable.
Would it be good to know this number now?
Two families. The same income. The same assets. The same family size, with one student in college. Now look at the Student Aid Index each one ends up with.
Family A
| Income | $100,000 |
| College savings | $25,000 |
| Other savings | $50,000 |
| Other real estate | $50,000 |
| Number in family | 4 |
| Number in school | 1 |
| SAI | $26,983 |
Family B
| Income | $100,000 |
| College savings | $25,000 |
| Other savings | $50,000 |
| Other real estate | $50,000 |
| Number in family | 4 |
| Number in school | 1 |
| SAI | $11,444 |
Same income. Same assets. A very different financial picture to the college.
Two very different questions
Not every college looks at your student the same way. Some are in a position to invest heavily in attracting your student. Others are not. So why wait until after you’ve handed over all your information to find out where you stand?
The biggest signal that a college wants your student isn’t the acceptance letter. It’s the award.
The same nine steps, engineered on purpose
- 01Discoverygoals, concerns, needconsult
- 02Understand your SAIwhere it is today, and where it can beyour number
- 03Know which schools pay us vs. make us paycolleges run different business models; the wrong one costs youtheir model
- 04Apply with a target listnow knowing their model and our SAI, we know who will actually pay usSep–Nov
- 05File forms strategicallyFAFSA and CSS Profile filed accurately, using legal strategies to optimize the SAIOct
- 06Get recruited, not just acceptedmultiple schools competing for the studentDec–Feb
- 07Compare offers, not hope for oneleverage competing aid packages and appeal where it makes senseMar–Apr
- 08Decide on dataROI, four-year cost, and fit weighed side by sideApr–May 1
- 09Graduate on time, on budgetfour years, right school, no surprise sixth-year bill4 yrs later
Don’t just apply.
Keep the leverage in your hands. Find out where your family stands before you put your cards on the table.
Schedule a Consultation Take the College Reality QuizOr call 800-533-5969
