Hi, friends!
I have a three-part blog post for you:
Part 1 (for my fellow parents of the Class of 2023)
Contextualizing the commitment
If you have ever bought a house, you know how much information you are provided en route to the closing. I read recently that the average home purchase requires at least 100 signatures from both buyer and seller. Those signatures, of course, represent acknowledgements of information provided.
PLEASE, parents, recognize that, despite the six-figure cost of a bachelor's degree, the college choice is not yet regulated with the kind of due-diligence documentation we experience with real estate transactions. There are no disclosure or inspection counterparts which are communicated directly to families. The burden of scrutiny lies on you and your student.
Colleges are served by a multi-billion dollar predictive analytics industry. I founded Moore College Data to provide a consumer-side resource characterized not only by data but also by the insights and calculations which make it singularly unique and help you understand the college landscape.
Almost all of my customers are counselors (school-based or independent). I am humbled and delighted that they find the information helpful. At this particular time of year, though, I want to reach families. It is not about selling subscriptions; it's about helping people avoiding the kinds of landmines which lead to transfer, to excessive debt, and often an extra year or two en route to a bachelor's degree.
To avoid overwhelm, I've created the College Tipsheet 2023 as part of the one-year subscription to Moore College Data. It contains the information my husband and I targeted with our own kids. In the absence of a formalized disclosure or inspection, consider these facts "the least you need to know."
Avoiding cost landmines
Certain pieces of data can be--perhaps should be--game-changers. Take the 4-year graduation rate: do you know why it's particularly important? Because most scholarships are limited to 4 years. The student entering a fifth year faces a double whammy: 1) the scholarship goes away; and, 2) tuition has likely risen by 8% a year.
Multiple colleges in our dataset will likely surpass $100K (tuition only--room and board not included) in the fall of 2027--that is, when current high school seniors might be entering a fifth year of college. You need to know what you and your student are facing when it comes to costs.
The demo
Click on the screen-grab below to access the tipsheet demo. (As an aside, you can see that none of these institutions may reach 6-figure tuition in four years, but a couple sure come close.)
Already a subscriber?
For those of you who have already subscribed to Moore College Data, the link to the paid version of the tipsheet can be found at the bottom of your spreadsheet page as shown (in green) next to the red "Data" tab.
Part 2 (for counselors)
Moore College Data, Professional Edition
In other news, I've been crunching data like crazy, building out a professional-grade data tool while keeping all of the data you purchased as current as possible. As you may have read in my previous blog post, I'm moving to a subscription model for the simple reason that I want you to be as current as I am. You will never lose access to the particular data I provided at purchase, and I'll even keep updating it into the summer. At that point, however, staying current and accessing the new interface will require a subscription. You will receive a notice when pricing and a demo of the interface is available.
Part 3 (for all)
I've begun posting some of my visualizations to a Tableau Public page. They tend to be of the niche-topic variety, so click on the image below to check it out. The tuition-projection tool is eye-opening.
Finally, I'd love to hear from you! Please drop me a line if you have any college data-related questions or input--or if you just want to commiserate about how much our kids might have to save for their own kids' education. :)
All the best,
Leigh
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