Parents & Teens Rising: Practical Tools for Raising Confident, Connected Teens
Welcome to Parents and Teens Rising, the podcast where we dive deep into the challenges and triumphs of raising teens and young adults in today’s world. Hosted by Teen and Parent coach Jasmyne Chandler, this show is all about empowering parents, teens, and young adults to step into confidence, connection, and courage.Through practical tools, real conversations, and inspiring stories, you’ll learn how to build stronger relationships, support your teen’s authenticity, and navigate everything from anxiety and self-esteem to purpose and independence.Whether your teen feels stuck, stressed, or simply different from the “norm,” this podcast will help you show up with more clarity, compassion, and confidence—while giving your teen the tools they need to rise.
Parents & Teens Rising: Practical Tools for Raising Confident, Connected Teens
Ep 50. How to Send Your Kid to College Without Losing Your Mind (or Your Money) with Shellee Howard
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In today's episode I'm joined by Shellee Howard, founder and CEO of College Ready, and named the 2026 Global Educational Consultant of the Year. Shellee is a two-time best-selling author, has been featured on Fox, NBC, CBS, and US News and World Report, and over the past 18 years she and her team have helped more than 3,000 families secure college acceptances, including 327 Ivy League placements and over $80 million in scholarships earned. She's also a mom of four whose own kids have graduated from schools ranging from Harvard to the University of Alabama, most of them debt free. This conversation was so illuminating for me, and honestly could not have come at a more perfect time as I navigate this exact process with my own kids.
Here's what we cover:
- The story of how a painful conversation with a high school counselor turned Shellee into "the mom on a mission" who started College Ready
- Why getting into college and getting out without debt are actually two separate goals, and why families need a plan for both
- The number one thing colleges want to know about your teen, and why so many teens genuinely can't answer it
- Why college should be thought of as a stepping stone to adulthood rather than the end goal, and how that reframe changes everything
- Why picking a major before picking a college (not after) can save families tens of thousands of dollars
- The four "buckets" of college money, including one of the most overlooked sources of funding
- How independent scholarships work, why kids as young as fourth grade can start applying, and how this strategy can help close the "gap" even after a student has already committed to a school
- What one step to take this week if you're feeling behind or overwhelmed about the college process
This episode is for any parent who wants to help their teen find their best-fit college and walk away with real scholarship money, without draining their own retirement to get there.
Shellee Howard Links
Free 30-Minute College Clarity Call a gift to listeners
www.collegereadyplan.info
Free Resources — 7 tools you can use at no cost, including help finding your child's core values and calculating your student aid index
www.collegereadyplan.com/resources
Nonprofit: Empower Education
www.empowereducation.world
Books:
How To Send Your Student To College Without Losing Your Mind or Your Money
amazon.com/dp/1546749624
The College Admissions PLAN Simplified: A Busy Parent's P.L.A.N. to a Debt-Free Degree
amazon.com/dp/B0DQ48NLLV
Connect with Jasmyne:
Instagram: @jasmyne.guidedpassages
I had a student this year with a 3.8 GPA earned $427,000 in scholarships. She make money while attending college. Oh my gosh. Think about 3.8.
SPEAKER_00That's amazing. I would think that it would be like a 4.5 student getting that kind of money, you know?
SPEAKER_01Right? And so that's what's so important. It's not necessarily only the smart kids get this kind of thing. It's really what have you done to stand out.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Parents and Teens Rising, the podcast that bridges the gap between parents and teens and helps families thrive. I'm Jasmine Chandler, Teen and Parent Coach, Wilderness Rights of Passage Guide, and founder of Guided Passages. After over 16 years of working with young people, I know how challenging and rewarding these years can be. Each week we'll explore real conversations, practical tools, and fresh perspectives to help you connect with your team, support their confidence, and navigate the ups and downs. Let's rise together. Hey everyone, welcome back into the podcast. Today I have such a treat for you. I am interviewing Shelly Howard, who is the founder and CEO of College Ready, and we had such an amazing conversation about how to really prep our young people for their college pathways. And she talked about how we can start as early as middle school with this preparation process and how the earlier we start, the easier it is, and the more readily we'll get these college educations funded without having to pull from our very own retirement funds to do it. So this conversation was so illuminating for me. I feel so blessed that I got to meet her and learn all of these gems and hear all of her amazing resources because I am absolutely going to be utilizing all of this information for my own kids. I have one kid that's heading off to college in a month and another one that's heading into sophomore year. So I am right in the thick of it myself. And so learning that I don't have to stress and feel so overwhelmed by the enormity of college costs and even thinking about how they figure out what they want to study and all of those things, she really simplified all of that today and made me feel so much more hopeful for the future. So I'm so excited to introduce her. Want to give you just a little bit more information about Shelley Howard. She was actually named the 2026 Global Educational Consultant of the Year. She's also a two-time best-selling author of how to send your student to college without losing your mind or your money and the college admissions plan simplified. Shelley has been featured on Fox, NBC, CBS, and U.S. News and World Report, and she's appeared as a next-level CEO alongside Damon John. Over the past 18 years, Shelley and her team have helped more than 3,000 families secure college acceptances with 327 Ivy League placements and over $80 million in scholarships earned. She's also a mother of four, and her own kids have graduated from schools ranging from Harvard to the University of Alabama to AAU in Europe, and most of them debt-free. Shelly is known for helping families get their teens into their best fit college and walk away with real scholarship money, all while helping students build the kind of confidence and clarity that carries them well past their acceptance letter. I'm so excited for you to meet her today. So let's go ahead and dive into the episode. Hey Shelly, welcome into the podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to share some great resources with your families.
SPEAKER_00Yay. I mean, what you offer and what you bring to the world is something that I personally am so interested in just because I have a college-age student who's heading off to college. And so I'm so excited to hear all of the resources that you're going to share. And hopefully I can even access them now, even though he's already heading off next month. But maybe for next term or whatever, I can hop on board and learn a little bit more about what you have to offer. So just to start us off, maybe you can just share with our listeners, I've already shared your bio, but just a little bit more about you and the work you do and what you're passionate about.
SPEAKER_01So good. Absolutely. So College Ready was started 18 years ago. We're in our 19th application season. And that just seems so crazy to me how fast it went. It all started with my firstborn coming home from middle school and saying, Mom, I know exactly what I want to do when I graduate from high school. And I was like, what happened at school today? Because you know I changed my major five times and I didn't really have a great plan. He goes, I know, but the lady came from the high school and said we need to pick our first classes and that we need to know what we're gonna do so we don't mess up. And so I decided I'm gonna be a brain surgeon. I want to go to one of those ivy things. And that's the look I gave him. Absolutely. Yeah, it was a moment of did he just say that?
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01So good. So we had a little conversation in the kitchen, and basically I found out that he had these big hopes and dreams. And we had we had visited colleges, we had talked about it, but he never really articulated what they were. And so when he walked out, I panicked. I don't know about you listeners, but when your child asks you, will you help me? There's like something that just goes off in a mama or a dad or is like, I guess it's up to me, right? Because they they're asking for help. And so I uh took him to his high school counselor prior to starting his freshman year. And I said, Hey, my son has big hopes and dreams. I was wondering if you can help us. And I said, Will you tell her what you told me? Because I don't want to be that parent. And he just said, Yes, I want to be a brain surgeon, I want to go to an Ivy school. And she said, Why would you waste your money doing that? They don't make money anymore. That's way too much school. And I know, and it crushed him and it crushed me. And we look at each other and we're like, now what? That's the moment college ready was started. Because I knew I had to be the mom on the mission. And I would love to tell you the rest of the story, but you maybe you have other things that you would rather hear about.
SPEAKER_00I actually I'm so intrigued. Uh yes, carry on. Please tell me more.
SPEAKER_01All right. So as the story goes, if you have multiple children, they're also unique. Even if you have nieces and nephews, right? There's just no two of them the same. Well, that happened. I have two daughters and two sons, and they're all unique. Well, my firstborn was a self-starter, and he was very determined, still is, and he actually did everything I suggested, which I know that's not always common. And so I mentioned all of those because the story is very important to the story. So for four years, he did exactly what I recommended him to do. He applied to 12 schools, got accepted to 11, he had seven full ride offers, ended up getting a full ride at USC, the presidential scholarship, and Harvard matched it. So off he goes to Harvard, pre-med, and I didn't pay a dime and he didn't go into debt. And so once that story got out, College Ready was now on the map. And just this last year, 2026, I was named Global Consultant of the Year. And so that is such a long way to come from just a mom on a mission to now having a podcast and two best-selling books and having the accolades. But my story is still the same. I just want to help families get into their best fit college and graduate without massive debt. So incredible.
SPEAKER_00I mean, I love that you used your story, your family's experience, and you didn't just keep it isolated in your own unit, but you have created something that now has spread all over the place and you've served thousands of clients, is what I saw on your website, which is just amazing that so many different young people have had these opportunities that they wouldn't have been able to figure out had you not created this program.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And the interesting part is my first book, How to Send Your Student to College Without Losing Your Mind or Your Money, really came from that's what I felt. The title is how I felt going through the process. I know you're going through it right now. So you may be able to be like, yeah, sure, that's kind of how I'm feeling. And so I wanted to share that with the world that you know what, it doesn't have to be like that. If you know the rules of the game, if you know how it all works, it actually is an enjoyable experience. So with my firstborn, it was incredibly difficult. I was navigating and teaching at the same time. And this is before AI, this is before Google. Now that makes it even worse because you get so much wrong information. But still, it was really frustrating. And I learned at that time that I wasn't alone and that other families were struggling as well. And that's why I wrote the first book, because when my son crossed the stage at Harvard, he handed me his diploma like we had both earned it. And as much as I would like to take credit, I did not earn that diploma. I earned several others, but I didn't earn that one. And so I want families to know that it was a reach for us. And it was a dream for him to graduate without debt. He just finished 15 years of graduate work since the day he graduated from high school. He's now an orthopedic surgeon doing hips and knees, and he only has a total of $100,000 of loans, which he'll make up in the first year of work. So that's the ROI that we're talking about. That in another family could be well into way over six figures. And that could strap a child to not be able to buy a home, a new car, to start his life. And so that's why I'm on a mission to get this word out there.
SPEAKER_00Amazing. That's so amazing. I mean, yeah, my husband and I were literally just last night crunching numbers, and we're like, oh my goodness, how are we gonna do this? And my kids go into community college, you know, with partial scholarship and still it's a stretch. It's like, and so many families are going through that, especially with the state of the economy and everything and the grocery prices. It's like all these things add up. And so any little bit of help that families can get to still provide these opportunities for their kids, because of course we all want our kids to be able to follow their dreams and go after what they want and not have to be held back because of a financial barrier. And so that's just so incredible. I can't wait to read your book. I'm gonna, I'm gonna dive right in for sure. And I'm just curious, after writing the book and after serving so many thousands of young people, do you have some little tips and tricks, just some really tangible things that you could pass along to our listeners today that they could look into or work on right now as far as getting their kid ready for college?
SPEAKER_01Sure. And I'll touch on getting in as one and then getting out without debt as two. So they're really two separate things, right? I mean, you can get into college and take on massive debt, but if you don't get into college, you won't get into debt. So it really is a two-pronged approach. The first is getting into college. This is so important. This is what colleges want to know. Who is your child? What have they done to prove who they are? Think about that for a minute. Who is your child? Have you ever asked your child, who are you? Because I promise you, they will look at you with the weirdest look on their face, like, you know who I am. And the problem is they really don't. It's an unfortunate situation because they live every day looking at everybody else's best day. They're not pretty enough, they're not tall enough, they're not fast enough, they're not strong enough, that they live in I'm not enough. And so when you ask them, who are you? they don't want to tell you because they they really have a hard time articulating that. And that's the number one thing colleges want to know because will they be a good fit at the college? Well, if they can't figure out who they are, how will they know if they're a good fit? So I always tell families try not to think of college as the end game. College is the stepping stone to adulthood. So if you start to think of raising your child as a great adult, it's the same thing they need to get into college. They need to understand who they are, they need financial literacy, they need to understand empathy, which is community service. They need to understand tenacity, that's failing forward. They need to understand the soft skills of making an appointment and sticking to it. That's going to college classes. So I love to reframe for families instead of them thinking we're oh, college is so hard and we're doing all this to get in. I want you to think about we're just parents raising kids. We're just getting them ready for life. And college is just a part of that. Not every student who goes through my program is heading off to college. We do what's called CR Future Now, where I can help a student figure out what are their gifts, their talents, what do they advocate for? Then I can show them here are careers that are a great fit. Do they need to go to college? Do they need two years, four years, six years, eight years, twelve, fifteen years, or do they not? Do they want to go to trade school? Do they want to be an entrepreneur? You know, there's not one right way to adulthood. And I want families to really lean into that and think about well, what does that mean for my child? We need to help them figure out who they are. And that's step one. So if you miss step one, they are gonna have a really hard time picking their major. And without a major, they can't pick a college because colleges don't have every major. And this is the first thing families are like, what? It seems so what? You mean not every college has business majors? That's a fact. Not every college has engineers, that is correct. And so if you are hoping that they're gonna mature and figure it all out while they're in college, that is actually a plan to get into debt because they're gonna just stay in this hamster wheel of trying to take classes to figure it out. And every class costs money. And so if that class is not moving them further along to their return on investment of their career, now you're really talking debt. Do you see how the two go hand in hand?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yes. And I love what you're saying as far as like this is not a one size fits all approach, that college is not the answer for every kid, that some kids are really gonna like thrive in a trade school or starting their own business or whatever it might be, that you're not a cookie-cutter approach to this experience, that you're really helping them to define who they are and what they want and what their gifts are and how they want to be of service in the world versus, you know, maybe the outside pressures or any of that. But actually, what do you want for yourself?
SPEAKER_01Right. And it's really their first time that they've never got to pick where they live. A lot of kids will say, Well, I want to go to UC Santa Barbara. And I'm like, that's a great school. Why? Have you seen the view from the dorms? It's amazing. And I'm like, Yes, but why do you want to go to college? And they said, I just told you. And I'm like, Oh, you're on you're going on vacation, not an education. And then all of a sudden the parents are like, What? Wait a minute. And so there's a lot of disconnect. That the young teenager, the financial literacy they're coming out of high school with, they have no idea how much $100,000 or $400,000 worth of debt is. And that's the scary part when you leave it up to a young person. If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask your teenager tonight if I gave you a million dollars cash, you had 24 hours to spend it, or you gave it all back to me, what would you do? And I promise you, it gets really scary. What they think dollars can buy them is quite scary. And that's really the first glimpse of wow, we have some foundational work we need to do because those parents were trying to raise them well and not have them worry about money. And now we're sending them out into the world and saying, okay, figure it out. And they're like, I don't know how to do this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That's the chance.
SPEAKER_00Totally. Yeah. So I imagine that as parents and young people are starting to navigate this process and try to figure out their next step, that a lot of anxiety can come up for both parties that it can be a really anxiety-producing situation.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And it doesn't have to be. That's the thing I think that I want families to understand. This is your last four years. Think about it. It's your last four years. These are the memories they're gonna recall the fastest. And if they're not great, they're not coming home for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Isn't that kind of unfortunate when it doesn't have to be like that? Yeah, totally.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. You're you're creating a different paradigm, really. It's like, how can we envision this to be a really amazing life-transforming experience for this person instead of something that is a setback or something they're recovering from or paying off for years with no results that actually served them?
SPEAKER_01And I believe that's what happened to the generation prior to this generation. And that is people just said, go to college and figure it out. That was kind of the mindset because the generation before them, not everybody went to college. It was 50-50 back then. And so sometimes these first generation students were like, I don't know what I want to do. And then they just go to college and then they, like me, change major five times. And I just I really struggled to just figure out what I am doing here. Luckily, I didn't take on any debt. I got very fortunate because money meant a lot to me. I didn't like spending it frivolously. But a lot of families just took on the debt and hoped their child figured it out. Well, then they graduated with a major and they couldn't find the job. So now they're not using the major. And now they're saying college is stupid. And I'm like, college is not the thing that's broken. Process is broken. And that's my mission is to help families understand. One, there's so much money out there. Scholarships are abundant. You just have to know where to get them. Two, if you don't have a plan, it's like planning for retirement when you're 75 years old. It's a disaster because all of a sudden you realize I have no plan and it's now. And that just doesn't feel good. Everybody's emotions get lifted. So we start families as young as middle school: seventh grade, eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade, and then college transfers. For students who think it's gonna be easier to go community college and transfer in. I'm sorry, it's not. It's just prolonging the inevitable that you still need to figure out who you are, you still need to figure out what you want to do, you still need to figure out how you're gonna do it. And so it doesn't get any easier. It just hopefully the student matures a little bit in that process, and that could be the difference, but it's not the foolproof plan of getting it done because not every community college class transfers to a four-year institution. So now the students super frustrated that they just took more schooling that didn't count, and it cost them time and opportunity costs. So it just is really understanding the rules of the game and how college admissions works.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, totally, which most of us don't know at all. I even worked in community college for 10 years and I still don't have the first idea how that stuff works on the admissions side and and whatnot. So yeah, having an expert that's able to just walk someone through it just seems so, so valuable. Wow. I'm so excited to again learn about you. I have a 15-year-old daughter too. So, I mean, she's got high hopes for the future. So getting her connected to this kind of support in advance and really thinking about these things ahead of time and getting the information just sounds really, really amazing. So, what do you think? So, we talked about part of what you do is helping young people figure out what it is that they want to do and the path that they want to go down. And then once they have that figured out, what is the next step as far as getting funding for that and finding scholarships? How do you guide them through that next part of the process?
SPEAKER_01So the next part is how will they stand out? Because if they're an average student, it's like being an average employee. There's no raise, there's no promotion. You just kind of like there. That is not what you want because there's no money attached to that, right? It's just kind of like more just doing the same old thing. So, what I like families to understand, again, we're getting them ready to adult. College is the stepping stone. They need an academic plan. Are they a student that is gifted in academia? If so, they better prove it. Why not use their gift of academia, right? Put it to use. There are academic scholarships worth, I mean, hundreds of thousands of dollars. I had a student this year with a 3.8 GPA earned $427,000 in scholarships. She will make money while attending college.
SPEAKER_00My gosh.
SPEAKER_01Think about that.
SPEAKER_003.8. That's amazing. I would think that it would be like a 4.5 student getting that kind of money.
SPEAKER_01Right. And so that's what's so important. It's not necessarily only the smart kids get this kind of thing. It's really what have you done to stand out. And so for her, she had a really incredible story of where she was tenacious. Like a lot of her physical limitations, mental limitations, she didn't let any of that get to her. And I don't mean she had a terrible story. She had a wonderful family and a very normal upbringing, but she found herself that she had some of her own challenges and how she was able to battle through, wow, it really showed I want her to work for me. Like if I was hiring, I'd be like, that's the employee I want. That's what colleges are looking for. So if your child, I always say, think of college as a business. And so if I came to you and I said, I really want to work for you. And you say, Well, can I see your resume? And I say, Well, I've been at the beach a lot and I've been shopping and, you know, I spent a lot of time on TikTok. I just haven't had a chance to get the resume together. And you're going to say, Well, no, thank you. And number two comes and they say, Well, I really want to work for you. And you say, Can I have your resume? And they say, Well, I've worked really hard to get it down to four pages. But to be honest, I can do your job. You can go on vacation. I just, I really believe in what you're doing. Are you not going to hire them and give them the biggest check that you possibly can to keep them?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01That's what college is. That's all it comes down to. They just want to see the student work for being the best. Whatever that is. So think about it academically. Then there's testing, right? The SAT, the ACT, AP, IB, dual enrollment. Like there's a lot of opportunity. Every test equals dollars. If your student does well on their PSAT, their junior year, they can earn a free education. Free. One test score. Again, it's just not knowing. Then it comes down to how will they stand out? So here's where many students really struggle. They just want to check boxes. So I fed the homeless. Check, I did tutoring. Chuck. I handed out water at race for the cure. Shaq, that tells colleges nothing other than they know how to check boxes. But they don't know if your child is tenacious, determined, sweet, kind, thoughtful, compassionate. They didn't learn anything at all. So you just wasted all that time. Hopefully, the student got something out of it and learned that community service can be pretty awesome, but not really because they probably were not passionate about it. So we help families create a standout strategy. What does that look like? We learn their core values. We want them to do things that they deeply value. Then we see what do they advocate for. This generation is huge advocators. I mean, they will stand up for what they believe. Now we just need to match the two. What are they good at? What do they want to change? Let's go change it. If you're if you want to see what I'm talking about, I have a nonprofit. It's called empowerededucation.world. It's an international nonprofit where my students lead other students to be the change they would want to see in the world. We have built two schools in Uganda, an orphanage in Oaxaca, and a blind school in India. These students have raised over $50,000 in two years and they are change makers. They do this all one hour a week online. For everybody who says, My child doesn't have enough time. I really want you to put a tracker on their cell phone of how much time they spend on it. Right? My child, I don't want them to travel to a third world country. Guess what? They don't have to go anywhere. I bring my director, who's an attorney from Uganda, to speak to the students about the impact they're making in real time. They get to see photos and videos and see what it really looks like to have impact. And so every excuse that everybody has, I can't, I don't know how, I don't, that whatever, I got rid of all of them. And while they're doing it, they can earn eight national awards and four leadership certifications. That's impact. Wow. One hour a week from home. So I just want to inspire families to be careful not to say they don't have time, we can't, they don't want to. I want you to say, we've got this. We just need to learn how. I have two best-selling books you can find on Amazon. The first one is how to send your student to college without losing your mind or your money, because that's exactly how I felt. And the second is the college admissions plan simplified. Because that's what I want you to understand. It doesn't have to be complex. It could be so enjoyable and so simple. And then finally, we help them with their essays. But think of this everything they've done is like baking a cake. The essay is like putting the frosting on the cake. It's really just enhancing and helping sweeten the story. Because if you're just listing stuff, you can't really show impact. But man, an essay can make somebody laugh, make them cry, make them smell things, make them experience. That's a good essay. And so we have professional essay editors that help polish. We don't write. That's the student's responsibility. But that's what it takes to do it with clarity, do it and enjoy it as a family, and spend those last few years without going into debt. And so I hope that inspires families to lean in and say, all right, let's get this done. This sounds amazing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Wow. Shelly, I'm inspired by you. Oh my goodness. I mean, author of two books, founder of this amazing organization, and this nonprofit that's making all kinds of change across the world and helping young people to connect to being of service while helping themselves in their future is just absolutely incredible. What you have created here is just mind-blowing. And I just hats off to you because yeah, I am so inspired just by what you have put your energy into and created and the impact that you're having on all of these young people. So I thanks for sharing your story.
SPEAKER_01I I love them all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I can tell. I mean, you have the passion. It's like you had this calling and this passion, and you put your heart and soul into it. And that's it. You know, it's like that's what we're trying to help all of our young people do is really find their own passion and pour themselves into what they love in the same way that you're doing. Because what we find when we do what we love is that we're creating a life that we love and we're helping other people at the same time. And so that's true impact. So thank you for doing that work and for the way it's spreading and rippling out too. That's so cool.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. The second part of it was the scholarship. Do you want me to still talk about that?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I would love to hear more.
SPEAKER_01So there's four buckets of money, and they're deep buckets, they're not shallow buckets, they're not baby buckets, they're like troughs of money. And here's the thing: if you don't know where to get it, it's impossible. If you know where to get it, the floodgates open and you're like, why doesn't everybody know about this? So I'm gonna tell you how to tap in. First bucket if you make under $200,000 as a family, you are need based. That's the foundation. Most families don't fit into that if they live in a populated area. It just is difficult to survive on that. But if you do, that's need-based money and you want to complete the FASFA and you will have so much opportunity. If you get into an Ivy, you go for free. Okay, like there's a lot of inspiration that goes into that. But that doesn't really sit with the majority of the students. So I'm going to talk about the three other buckets. So the second bucket is called the merit bucket. That is where a student earns it. That means they are a lead in the drama, their first chair in music, their ASB president, they're a scholar athlete. You know, that they're really working hard to do great things. And there's a lot of money for that merit. And so we want students to be able to tap into that. So that's for a student who's working hard. Doesn't matter what their GPA is, there's so many ways that they can work hard. The third bucket is the institutional bucket. This is probably the number one most untapped bucket there is. And this is where I found where all of the juicy money was. What it is is picking the right colleges for the right student. So first figuring out who they are, then picking a major, then figuring out the right school for them. Then we have the dream school, we have the target school, and we have the safe school. The dream, if they get in, it's just wow, they got in. Probably won't get a lot of money because it's a little reachy for them. Maybe not high enough GPA, maybe not high enough test score, but they got in. It could be their merit, right? And so then we talk about the target. These are the schools, these are the ones these kids belong in. Now, here's the thing: some are incredibly generous and some are insanely stingy. How do you know which one you're applying to? You call me. That's it. After 18 years of doing this, I can show you students who've gotten in and gotten massive scholarships, and you're like, they didn't give me a penny. And I'm like, exactly. And we need to do some financial negotiations, some financial reconsiderations. And so again, college is a business, treat it as such. Then we get into independent scholarships. There's a scholarship right now, $10,000 if you're a vegan.
SPEAKER_00What? Oh my gosh. Okay.
SPEAKER_01You could be a vegan for $10,000. I really could do that. Right? And so I tell students all the time, I go, how much do you want to go to college? Just be a vegan. Um, in all sincerity, there's also a scholarship right now for $15,000. I just read this morning. If you have two different color eyes.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Wow.
SPEAKER_01Pretty unique. But if you do, you do. It didn't, it didn't take much effort, right? My son won his junior year, the Coca-Cola Scholarship for Leadership. And it was $25,000 a year. He never had to pay that back. It's a gift because he was a leader. Well, guess what he loved doing? Being a leader. Was there any problem with that? He's like, I'm gonna do this anyway. I might as well get money for it, right? That's a good independent scholarship strategy. It's tapping into what makes your family or your child unique and then going after that money. And that's the important thing. Kids can start applying as young as fourth grade. And yet everybody says, I've never heard of this. And that's the tragedy. Now you can go get that money you deserve. All four of my kids have gotten into their dream school and without me spending a penny, and they're not in debt, and my kids are no different than your kids.
SPEAKER_00It's so hopeful. I know there's a lot of parents listening right now, just with their minds blown, kind of like mine are, thinking, oh my gosh, I just thought that we would be paying out the out the arm for four years of college and just going into debt ourselves and having this huge stretch. But just to know that there's so many options out there and that you can start early and that you can get support from an expert and have all these different resources to reach out to is just, like I said, so hopeful. Like, okay, it's not, it's not as scary or as overwhelming as I've been feeling about it myself. And you've really, you know, helped to demystify that today. So that's so awesome. Thank you so much for spreading hope to all of us who are in desperate need.
SPEAKER_01You got it. So for your listeners, I would like to offer a clarity call. If they go to college readyplan.info, so college readyplan.info, 30 minutes with me, I can give them this clarity. The personal, well, what about this and what about that? And my kid has this and my kid has that or my family has this. And it's for your listeners. So just know that that's my first gift. And I want everybody to take advantage. If you're more of a do-it-yourselfer, you want to figure it out, I would say go to college readyplan.com slash resources. And I have seven things that you can utilize at no cost. You can calculate your student aid index. That means you know how much college is gonna cost. It's important. You can help your child find their core values. What an eye-opener that is. You're like, I had no idea that that was part of them. And it goes deeper than that. So just know that I do these podcasts, I don't get anything for them other than what matters to me, and that is inspiration and impact. And so please take advantage of those resources and just know that you've got this.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, you'll be hearing from me for sure. I'll be your first recipient of that call for sure. Do you feel like even for those that have already started their college path, that there is still opportunities for them for like future years of college and things like that too, or that it has to be done prior to college?
SPEAKER_01So here's the limitation is once you tell a university, yes, I've accepted what you've sent me, you've locked into a contract. So they're not going to give you any extra money now. You've already laid all your cards on the table, and everything is exposed. The only left opportunity is independent scholarships. And so I absolutely tell every family your child should have skin in the game, in my belief. And I had all four of mine applying to independent scholarships one hour a week. That is it. All the way through college. That allowed them so much free money that I didn't have to come out of pocket. I didn't have to worry about using my retirement to pay for that. And they can do it all the way through. And so every student should be doing that at the minimum. And that should help ease that gap. That's what I call it. It's the gap between what you said yes to and what you really want to pay. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Amazing. Well, that's that's hopeful as well. Like, oh no, is it too late for my for my oldest? But yeah, definitely. Yeah, okay. Wonderful. And so, what would you say if a parent is listening to this and they are feeling behind or overwhelmed right now, what would the one step you would want them to take be for this next week? Like, where could they start?
SPEAKER_01So I would say sit down with your teenager and have a really adult discussion about what it is that they want for their future. Most of them are pretty content. They're pretty happy with the life they have right now. What they don't know is at 18, they become an adult and life can change. For a lot of families, it does change. And so I think it's fair to give them a runway, right? Don't just skyrocket like, okay, you're 18, goodbye. That's pretty terrifying. I would say that adulting conversation, keep it where you're saying very little and they're doing all of the talking and you're just being curious. Well, tell me about that. Wow, that's a really interesting perspective. I'd like to learn more about what you're thinking on that. Versus, I'm not paying for a botanist degree at NYU. You have to be really careful because you can get pretty lit up with some of the interesting things they will say. That would be step number one. Step number two is if it goes well, get one of my best-selling books. I have them on sale for your listeners for $4. It's cheaper than a Starbucks. And it gives you the framework of do this, do this, do this. And that's great. As long as your child's on board, it's a great roadmap. What happened if your child's not on board? I had two. I hired somebody to tell them what I would have told them because they thought I didn't know anything. They thought that I knew nothing about college admissions, and they absolutely listened to every word of my mentor that I hired for them. And so sometimes it just takes an outside mentor to be able to get into what is really bringing them stress and overwhelm and frustration and all of the things that you see, but you don't understand why it's there. Remember, did you know what you wanted to do at 17? I want you just to pause on that. They're being forced to figure this out like nobody has ever done before. And if you think it just happens naturally, it didn't for me. And I wish I would have had this when I was going through the process.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, totally. Me too. You're here. Yes. Okay, those are beautiful next steps. And I'll put all those links for your website and your books and the call in the show notes so that parents can access that really easily too. What a wealth of resources. I'm so happy that everyone that's listening today or into the future, they just have all of this information at their fingertips now. And they don't have to have the same kind of stress that so many families go through when they're thinking about the future of their kids. And so thank you for all the work you've done to make it so transparent and accessible and easy for families to get this information. I so appreciate you. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_01You're welcome. Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for being here. I can't wait again to dive into your books and just to learn more and to talk to you more about my own kids and their college path. So thank you so much, Shelly. Did you enjoy the show? If so, would you take 30 seconds to subscribe so you don't miss an episode? Leave a quick review so more parents can find these conversations and maybe even share this episode to your stories. And if you want to connect, please send me a DM on Instagram. I'm at jasmine.guidedpassages, and that's jasmine with a Y. Thanks so much for being here, and I'll talk to you next week.