Are you worried that your kids won’t be able to get through college debt-free? Jeannie Burlowski gives us great strategies and ideas in this episode. The good news is that debt-free college is achievable—even for kids who aren’t getting any scholarships. It’s achievable for parents who haven’t saved for college. And it’s achievable for families who make too much to get any government financial aid. (Or they think they do.)
Scroll all the way down to the bottom of this post to enter the Giveaway for a copy of Jeannie’s book, LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward. (Giveaway ends 2/12/22).
This post contains affiliate links.
Welcome to the show notes for Episode #146 of the Homeschool with Moxie Podcast!
As a former classroom teacher, now homeschooling mom of five, I love to equip and encourage other homeschooling families.
On the Homeschool with Moxie Podcast our goal is to inspire and encourage you with actionable strategies to take you from overwhelmed to confident in your homeschool adventure. Listen to interviews with amazing influencers in the homeschool world and beyond.
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About Jeannie Burlowski
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26 and their parents and grandparents. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free and move directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News and World Report, and on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Twitter @JBurlowski
Listen to the Podcast
Jeannie shared several free resources with us in the episode and you can find the links below.
- How to Get More College Scholarships (free 34 minute video training)
- FREE Debt-Free College Training
- 7 Reasons to Fill out FAFSA – Even If You’re Rich
- Want More College Money? Avoid These Costly FAFSA Mistakes
- Why Your Kid Needs a STRENGTHS Coach (More Than a Sports Coach)
Strategies for Debt-Free College
Intro to the episode
Abby: Welcome to episode 146. Today we’re talking about how to get your kids ages 12 through 18 through college debt free and even do it without scholarships. This is an awesome topic for those of you with soon to be teenagers or anyone with middle schoolers or high schoolers. I know what it’s like to be thinking, Okay, how are we going to get these kids through college for those that want to go?
And so our guest today is Jeannie Burlowski is a full time academic strategist podcast host and sought after speaker, you know, in her writing and speaking in podcasting. She helps parents set their kids up to graduate college debt free and move directly into careers they excel at and love her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post USA Today, Parents magazine, U. S. News and World Report and on CBS News.
And the best part is Jeannie has a lot of free resources for you which you’ll want to listen to the podcast episode for that. And head over to the show notes for links and we have a giveaway of Jeannie’s book. We will be talking about strategies that anyone can use. But if you really want to dig into this topic, we will be giving away a copy of Jeannie’s book which is called Launch, How to get your kids through college debt free and into jobs they love afterwards.
Okay, this is a big episode packed with tons of actionable strategies which I know you will love. So, here’s my conversation with Jeannie Burlowski.
Hey Jeannie, I am so glad you joined us today because I mean I talked to homeschool moms all the time and we do have a little bit of fear and trepidation when we think of getting our kids through college. And so, your topic is awesome about how to get kids ages 12 to 18 through college debt free without scholarships. But before we get into the nitty gritty, tell us how you even started in this field of debt free college. Like where, what’s your story behind all this?
Preventing Debt
Jeannie: Well, I’m so glad that we’re helping homeschool moms and dads here because this is so important. You’ve invested so much in the life of your kid and then you want this transition into college to go smoothly. You don’t want it to be too expensive and you want the outcome to be your child has a real job that they love, and they can support you in retirement. Anyway, you asked about how I, how I got into this. I spent 25 years as an academic strategist and that means that people come to me from all over the country and I helped them to create phenomenal applications to medical school, law school, graduate school or business school.
And in 25 years of doing that, I always have to have a debt discussion with my clients. So, I will say to them, how much debt do you have right now? If we’re looking at the cumulative just from your undergrad and sometimes I heard heartbreaking stories where sometimes I would have to say to people, you actually can’t go to medical school now because you have so much debt already that when you add on the medical school debt, you’d not be able to pay off on a doctor’s salary which I didn’t sign up for this to break people’s hearts and deliver bad news and tell him someone lied to you when they said that going to this fancy expensive school that wasn’t giving you any help would give you a better chance of getting into medical school. It just shot your chances. Now that’s the heartbreaking piece.
But the liberating, exciting pieces, I have had some of the most brilliant strategic kids in the country coming through my office. And sometimes I would say, how much student loan debt do you have right now if you’re looking at the cumulative and then they would say I have zero and I would say you have zero.
How did you do that? And then they would tell me about these brilliant ideas like dual enrollment college classes in high school or uh tuition reimbursement through employers even for part time jobs. And I would take these ideas and write them down on a piece of paper and stick them in a drawer because Abby, this is what consultants do. We take genius ideas from one client.
Then we charge the next person by the hour to hear that exact same information. So eventually I took all these ideas and I stuffed them into a book, and I think that’s why you invited me here because of Launch: how to get your kids through college debt free and into jobs They love afterward. And for anyone who listens all the way to the end of this interview. I have a great, super helpful, reassuring free resource that we’re going to be giving out to every listener here that’s going to be available online. Right. We’re still going to do that.
Abby: Yes, we are for sure. You know, and you mentioned the dual enrollment. I’ve got one in college and then a few more high schoolers. I mean, we are right in the middle of this as a family and one of our things we did was that dual enrollment. So, I think we’ll get into some strategies.
How Early Should You Plan for Debt-Free College?
But when should families start thinking about this? Because I’ll be honest, I didn’t start thinking about this probably early enough. And when I got your book and I was reading through it, you surprised me at what years you were talking about. Making some goals and making some plans. So, talk to us about this. Most homeschool families are one income families. So, we’re thinking we don’t have two incomes to be able to say one parent is going to pay for college or whatever. So, talk to us about when should we start thinking about debt-free college for our kids.
Jeannie: Okay, so the question, the kernel of the question you’re asking me is I think you’re saying we are really busy. We are one income families. We can’t mess around with wasting any time or any money. What when do we start this? And my preference if I’m talking to someone who’s got a 5th, 6th or seventh grader. In Launch: how to get your kids through college debt free and then the jobs they love afterwards there’s a whole chapter called prior to seventh grade.
No, I don’t want to scare anybody. There plenty of people never hear about me until their kid is a junior or senior in high school. And there are all kinds of strategies that I have for families who got kids that are junior or senior in high school. So, nobody is late to the party. No worries about that. But for people who have the liberty to be able to start early. I love it. If people will just read two chapters and you don’t even have to buy this book, just get it at the library. Any librarian will order it for you.
So just you just want to read about two chapters, and I don’t know for people to listen to the end today. I’m actually going to give you a resource that guides you on this. But read that chapter called prior to seventh grade because what I want to do is set your family up, even if you’re not going to save a penny to help pay for college. I want to set your family up with some phenomenal strategies lay some groundwork that are going to make everything way easier when the kid is in 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th.
And here’s an example why in the world we would want to start early. Okay, so some homeschooling families have heard about CLEP, this is the college level examination program. Now we would never do a ridiculous strategy. Like try to take a whole bunch of CLEP tests and then sew them together and try to make it seem like that’s a college degree. I don’t want a doctor that clipped out of biology, chemistry, and physics.
We’re not going to do that. However clever can be a nice little add on to get some college credits at an inexpensive, uh, for an inexpensive price. And here’s why I would love to talk to families when kids are prior to seventh grade because in 8th grade, many students study Just as a part of normal curriculum. They study us history from 1865 to the present. Well, there’s a CLEP test on that exact subject.
And so some parents will teach their kids us history from 1865 to the present. Maybe even go online and use little freak leapt prep dot com and then use that clip exam, which are given at 7000 colleges and universities across the United States. They typically cost between 100 $150. That’s it. Have the kid go in and see if they can take the club test, get 50% right and then you’ve got your eighth grader who wonders am I really college material? Because they all wondered that even the smartest off the charts ones, they always have their doubts.
So, they wonder and my college, so I already have college credits and I’m only in eighth grade. And by doing this, some families have been able to slash a whole semester off of the college experience. That is a massive cost savings. And it’s not even, uh, it doesn’t even take that much time compared to what you’re already doing, right?
Why do I want people to start early? Because I’d love them to have this opportunity. And if they just say, oh, I’m not going to pay any attention to debt free college strategy until my kids in 11th grade by then about 75% of the best debt free college strategies are gone and you can never get them back. So, we really want people to start early.
And I would say you have been with me a little bit on this journey. We make it fun. We, you talked at the beginning here about fear and anxiety and what we do is we make it into a fun adventure. So, this is going to be exciting. We’re going to do something for our kids. Most people are never able to do. And it’s just by using strategy that’s at perfectly timed at exactly the right time.
One Idea For Parents of Young Kids To Implement NOW
Abby: Now, what about those parents that have kids even before seventh grade? So, the kids still in diapers, do you have like one idea that when your kids are really young that parents can start to implement?
Jeannie: Oh yes, yes, yes. And this is in that chapter called prior to seventh grade and this probably this strategy I’m about to share with you is why some people get launch as baby shower gifts. Let’s say that you have a baby and or you’ve got, let’s say you’ve got a baby on the way, and you just brought on that sonogram from the doctor appointment, you can use a resource and I get nothing for telling you this. I just think this is a cool resource.
You go to UPromise.com. And you know, your little drug store loyalty card, it’s where you swipe it at Walgreens or CVS and they kind of keep track of what you bought and then you get little rewards points right? Or you got the similar one at the grocery store or the gas station, you can connect these cards to UPromise.com and every time you purchase diapers or cough syrup or a thermometer at the drugstore, a portion of what you paid goes into a college savings account and you can pull it out at any time and use it for anyone you like, you can use it for your own kid.
Even a childless couple can connect their drug store loyalty card to UPromise.com and guess what? All of their incontinent briefs and their wart remover medicine and there are many medications that they take as elderly grandparents. It can all of that can go for college savings and some people have been known to do this and they just pull the money out and give it to someone they just met at church.
Maybe they don’t even have grandchildren or nieces and nephews. So, when I tell people this and it’s you promise dot com, I get nothing for telling you this. And by the way, don’t get their credit card. I am not interested in helping people get credit cards. Just use this little system because it trickles in college savings when you’re not even thinking about it, you don’t have to go online and register individual purchases or anything like this. When people find out about this, they always say to me, oh I wish I had put the diapers on there. We spent so much money on disposable diapers and if a portion of that could have been going into college savings, that would have been awesome.
The Problem with AP Classes
Abby: That’s a very fun tip I that everyone needs to know that tip. That’s great. Alright, so we have done dual enrollment with some of our kids. So that’s really helped them at least once in college? That’s helped him get really cheap, you know, college credits basically because he was taking them in high school. You know, he was able to get his freshman year done during home schooling in high school and then you know, so he went as a sophomore, and it was just so much easier to pay for.
But I know you don’t like the idea of advanced placement. Is that because you actually like the dual enrollment idea better? Is that the either or that you’re talking about in your book?
Jeannie: So, when we when we talk about college credits in high school, a lot of parents, their brain goes right immediately to the Ap program. The AP program has been around for so many years that 60-year-old people did AP classes in high school and they can remember I did AP history, I did AP English. Well, the problem with the AP program is that only about 48% of students who take an AP class actually end up getting the promised college credit. I the colleges make excuses why they don’t want to give you the college credit. Sometimes students take the big test at the end and then they don’t do well enough on it.
I had a brilliant, high achieving student from Cornell who I was helping her apply to medical school and she had 13 AP classes where she had gotten really strong scores and I said, and did you get any college credit for those AP classes? She goes, nope, not a one. I still think she benefited. I like AP because for 9th and 10th graders, it builds their academic muscle, it’s something that’s a little tough and it’s a little hard and at that point you can’t really do dual enrollment anyway, you’re too young.
But what I love, what is what your family did, which is so brilliant is I love dual enrollment college classes in high school, and this is where students take real college classes for real college credit and wait, it counts For both college credit and high school credit at the same time and in 33 states nationwide, the state will actually pay for these college classes. They pay for all the tuition, all the fees, all the books, all the lab fees.
So parents who stepped into this, some of them are seeing their kids walk across the stage at high school graduation with two years of college credit, all done an entire associates degree tied up with a little bow all at state expense and people hear this and they go genius that is brilliant and kids who hear this, they feel like I would just, I would love to be able to just jump into college early.
I feel ready, especially a lot of homeschooling students who are just uber confident, they’re really confident. They just want to get going. People here, this, that, and the parents wonder am I going to handicap my child in some way, if they do that, are they going to miss out on something? You know, I’m a professional academic strategist, I’ve been helping people achieve career goals at the highest levels for 25 years and I will tell you there is nothing wrong with dual enrollment.
It can be a challenge to work in sports practices with dual enrollment classes, but students can do it, they can problem solve, they can figure it out and the students, I know who have done this and students come back to me all the time. I teach classes for students, so I get to see them and they say this was absolutely amazing, I loved it.
And when they get to their junior year at the age of 20 or they’re in their junior year of college and some of them at the age of 18, they have such confidence because they’ve already done a bunch of college classes, they know what a professor expects, they know how to write a paper. You’re in Pennsylvania, did Pennsylvania actually pay for the classes?
Abby: Well that would have been nice, but no, because he took them from a private college in another state. So probably if you would have done them, maybe from an in, you know, in Pennsylvania option, maybe they would have. So that’s an interesting thing that we maybe need to look into.
Will Your State Pay for Dual Enrollment? How to Find Out
Jeannie: Okay, so let’s talk about how families can figure this out. Well, well the parents are listening right now going, well, my state pays for that, Google the name of your state along with the words dual enrollment or concurrent enrollment, it’s sometimes called and you will get to your state’s Department of Education website and you’ll find all the rules for the state on what can be done, what’s allowed, who pays for what? And one thing I tell parents is you can’t you?
And we have a lot of homeschooling parents listening to this podcast, but there are also parents who are not homeschoolers that listen to this podcast. You can’t rely on the local school district to tell you, oh, there’s a great opportunity. You can do college credits in high school. Some staff at public high schools are told to keep this quiet and not tell anyone about it.
And why would that be? Because the money follows the student and the money leaves the school district and goes to the college if the student is not on campus for math and science, so go right to the horse’s mouth, google the name of your state and the words dual enrollment, concurrent enrollment.
You’ll find out what the rules are and you’ll also find support if you want to help your student on this journey, I, there’s another reason why Abby why I want parents to start on this journey early because you kind of have to sign up for dual enrollment courses. Pretty much. You think about it January of the 10th grade year, you’re signing up to get these rolling for the following fall.
And for parents who are thinking, I’m not even going to worry about anything until my kids in the fall of 12th grade, they lost all this opportunity and people who follow me and they’re, they’re kind of going by my step by step directions. They get notified in the January of 10th grade year. Hey, here’s the most important thing right now, let’s sign up for, they at least consider signing up for college classes in the fall of 11th and 12th grade.
Is the Local State University the Best Bargain?
Abby: Yeah, I did find that really your book is very user friendly because it could feel like an overwhelming topic, but you do spell it out step by step where it’s like, okay, this is no, this is like, you know, you can be a dummy and still use it right. Like you could just follow it. So, it’s great because, you know, homeschoolers do, we do like to plan ahead.
I think in general we do like to plan ahead because we do feel that pressure of like it’s all, you know, I can’t rely on the school district to get my kids through right. It’s a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. So, I do think homeschool parents have that sense of urgency. But here’s another thing I was thinking about when we were talking about going to a state university. Tell me if I’m wrong, you actually don’t think that going to the local state university might be the best bargain for your families. And that is so funny because that’s like the common wisdom of if you want a cheap, you know, you want to get through college cheap, you do the local state university. So why do you say it might not actually be your best option?
Jeannie: Oh, wow. And we have big gurus in the United States who have radio shows, who are telling people, oh, you’re just going to go to the local state university and that reflects a very limited understanding of how things actually work. Actually. The state university can end up being far, far, far more expensive.
And here’s one reason why it’s because the classes are so full. You hear about people going and having uh, 700 people in their chemistry course. You hear things like this? Well, what can happen is students go to sign up for classes that are required for graduation and the classes are full and they can’t get in. And so some students putz around taking classes that aren’t even going to count towards graduation, aren’t even necessary for graduation and paying for them. It’s like buying a plane ticket and walking down to the gate and getting bumped over and over and over again. On the other hand, many private universities are very well endowed.
They have a lot of money to be handing out to students. And so, if parents will help their kids to maybe apply for one public four year state university, who know who cares? Let’s let them throw their hat in the ring and see if they can wow you with a great financial aid package, apply to one and then apply to several private schools where you look at the sticker price and you think, oh you could never afford that.
That that, that I’m doing the math. I’m multiplying at times for we could never, oh the schools may very well bring that down that price for your family and this is just for typical run of the mill, upper middle and upper middle income families are getting fabulous deals on these private institutions because they have money to hand out. So you talked about how you know this whole journey could be overwhelming but Jeannie really breaks it down.
I am an overwhelmed mom myself. So when I came out to write directions for families on how to get their kids through college debt free. I made sure that I’m, I’m only giving families just exactly what they need at the moment they need it. So people read a certain chapter In launch that’s labeled January of 10th grade just simply tells you what you need to know for January of 10th grade.
And there will come a point where you’re going along, you’re following the directions. Just read a chapter every three months essentially and you’ll get to a point that says March. It’s chapter 14, March of 10th grade, something like that. And it talks about now, let’s choose colleges to apply to. And in there I walk everybody through why the private, the state university may not be your bargain option and how to pick private universities.
That may very well be. And I have an article about this. So, any of your listeners can google my last name, which is Burlowski and then the words State university and you’ll find an article I wrote on, here’s why the state University may not be your bargain option. There’s more detail in that article.
And if you’ve got someone at your house, like, let’s say the mom is listening to this, but the dad’s not here listening to this and the mom, the dad sold on, we have to do State University. I heard it from the guru on the radio. That’s what we have to do. Get this article printed out and just show it to any adult in your home that’s giving you resistance say we actually might find that we get a better bargain somewhere else.
You know, because I have, I got a free weekly email newsletter and people reply to it sometimes and they tell me what’s going on with them and I have had so many families tell me I am utterly blown away by where my daughter is going to college and how little it costs. She’s going to this wonderful private university for far less than she would have paid at the five year school or at the state university.
And I say five year because kids can’t get into these classes, it can take them five and six years to get through and that’s devastating their students can, it can cost a student $300,000 by, by the time you calculate lost wages, stunted retirement savings, uh extra tuition to stay in college for five or six years to just try to scrape up a four year degree. That’s where it gets really expensive.
Should Our Kids Try for Scholarships?
Abby: These are good insights because you have so many stories that I’m sure you’ve heard and successes now. Here’s the other thing though, we’re saying this can be done without scholarships. I think that surprises a lot of people because when we hear debt free, then we think this is like every weekend telling our kids to sit down and fill out these scholarship applications.
I know we tried to do a little bit of that and it didn’t last long because it was so like you just felt like you were wasting your time and you weren’t sure if it was going to pan out. So, you do say applying for scholarships is a great idea, but you’re also saying this is not your main focus, right? So, talk to us about scholarships. Like the pros, the cons, what should we do with that?
Jeannie: Alright. Some people have been led to believe because this is kind of how it was, you know, 30 years ago, there’s three ways to get college paid for it, right? You can uh save up money in advance and then everyone feels like they haven’t saved enough. You can apply for scholarships, or you can get financial aid and most people think we’re not getting any financial aid, we make too much money, which probably is not true. But people if you’re thinking there are only three ways to get college paid for and you’re in that little limited box.
Well, you think Jeannie Burlowski must be talking about scholarships. I talk about scholarships very, very little. I’m here for the families who are thinking their kids aren’t getting any scholarships or their kids are resistant and unwilling to apply for them.
Now, what I have found is that sometimes when parents get really on board and excited about debt free college strategies that don’t involve scholarships and the parents are talking to the kids about, hey, how about dual enrollment college classes in high school. Hey, how about you? Uh look at you’re in college. How about you get a job with UPS? They pay a bunch of your tuition even if you’re working part time and there are a whole bunch of companies that will do that for you.
And the parents start getting excited about this adventure. Then often what I find is the kids really get on board with it. And then they say, hey, you know, I think I might apply for a few scholarships and the message, I suggest that parents bring to students because we don’t want to overwhelm anybody. How about you?
Just apply for 10 scholarships a year. You can do that. If you have one scholarship application essay that you could just modify and use over and over again. You can apply for 10 scholarships in one day and some students really get on board with this. And what they tell me is I will make a pact with myself that my summer vacation doesn’t start until my 10 scholarship applications are in and I can wait until a beautiful June Day when I would love to be out on my bike, I can wait, or I can just knock them out in February and get them done for the year. And then when my school is over, my finals are over in June I am liberated, and I am on my way to whatever it is that I want to do now I have represent a resource.
Of course, I want everyone to listen to the end because my coolest resource is going to be mentioned at the end of today. But here’s a little thing I can offer. I have some 10 some 34 minute video training that teaches students and parents how students as young as 13 ages 13 through 26. 34 minutes of video training on how to write one killer scholarship application essay that can be modified and used over and over again. And this is fun. It’s funny, it has stories, it makes perfect sense to students and it gives them such an edge and in there I give you a link where I point you to an article I wrote on, here’s 1.5 million places to look for scholarships to apply for.
Some parents decide they’re going to take on the mantle of, I’m going to help you find the scholarships that you could apply for. That will just be my part of this journey with you. That really helps the kids because sometimes their brain development is not such that they’re in a great place to find them. But once you find them, they can fill the form out and they can tweak one essay and use it over and over again to apply for many scholarships. So everyone get a pen and write this down. Bit.ly/getmorescholarships. 34 minutes of training and here’s what some homeschool families do and I love this.
They say homeschool time kids sit down all of you, you’re between the ages of 13 and 26 we’re going to watch this 34-minute training and then we’re going to do what she said and we’re going to write an essay according to this interesting structure And the structure I prescribed is very different from the typical introduction body conclusion. It really works for persuasion. And so, then the students right at one scholarship application essay as a homeschool project and then they kind of feel excited about, well let me try to apply this. I want to try to apply for 10 scholarships a year.
And there is a story that in this 34-minute video, I’ll relate this right now. I was speaking about this at a packed high school auditorium, White Bear Lake Minnesota. And I had gone there two years in a row to talk about this second year. This dad waits in a long line to shake my hand and he goes, I just have to tell you I came here my son, and I came here last year to hear you speak about how to write one scholarship application essay and use it over and over again. And on the way home in the car, my dad’s on the way home in the car. My son turned to me, and he goes, she’s ridiculous, This will never work. This is idiotic.
And the really smart dad, he turned to his son, he goes, yeah why don’t you just prove it to her? Why don’t you just prove to her how ridiculous she is? And we get her email newsletter. We can just hit reply on it, we can tell her how bad her ideas are. So, the sun goes, I’m going to do it and I’m going to not just apply for 10 scholarships. I’m going to apply for 20. So, this kid with his heart not even being in it, he’s just trying to prove me wrong. He applies for 20 scholarships, and he got eight of them!
And his dad was standing in that line to shake my hand and say my son got $20,000 in scholarship money from this little insincere project. And then you add that onto everything I’m doing for the dad with the step-by-step directions that I provide, where I’m helping him with non-scholarship strategies, right? This kid is on a fast track to being able to accomplish the huge things.
Abby: I’m so glad you shared that story. I was going to ask if you had any. And my other question that you answered was do you where do you find the scholarship? So that will all be in the training?
Jeannie: Bit.ly/getmorescholarships And for some people who are involved in homeschool co-op or you’re in a group at church or somewhere other where people gather, you can, this is free, you can feel free to say to people, hey come, we’re going to all watch a video about how to write one scholarship application essay, use it over and over again. And I love that because then the people who are present can bounce ideas off of each other?
Well, I could use, I could talk about this and then, and then the body will say, oh, you know which one you should really talk about, you should really talk about that time you fell off the wall and broke your leg. That would make a great story for a scholarship application essay. So, I love it when people come together to do this together.
Advice for Filling Out FAFSA
Abby: Now I’m in a lot of homeschool Facebook groups and one question that comes up over and over that there really is a lot of anxiety over specifically is the FAFSA, Everyone is just like, what’s the deadline? When do we do it? And everyone is like, you know, it feels so hard, can you just give us a quick overview run down? When do we need to be thinking about that? Do we need to fill it out? You know that kind of thing? What what’s the overview of the FAFSA?
Jeannie: I’m so sorry that this is anxiety for people, but when you submit it did change. When Barack Obama was the president, he changed the date and now people are still throwing their hands up in the air about it. Here’s when you fill it out. The earliest date it’s available is October 1st when your kid is in 12th grade, that’s your oldest kids in 12th grade October 1st that’s the first time that you fill this out.
If you find anything online that says you’re submitting it on January 1st. That is old news. So, it’s October 1st you fill this thing out and then you get some response that says okay we got your stuff and then schools that your son or daughter’s applying to, they get these this information that you put on the FAFSA form and by the way this is considered to be very safe. We don’t worry about people stealing your information. We’re not hearing back that there’s that it’s that it’s diabolical in any way.
It’s really a system built to help students. So, schools take the numbers, they crunch the numbers and they come back and they try to wow you with a it’s called a financial aid award letter and they say to you, if you come here, we’re going to give you this much an aid and this much scholarship money and we’re going to give you this and this. And of course, they’re going to try to give you some loans and people who are following me have a strategy after they get that letter in their hands and they have got a strategy for going back and using some certain wording to ask for more money.
But the FAFSA is not a difficult thing and for free, anybody can use my FAFSA resources. I have, I have got an article online on why you should fill out the FAFSA form. Even if you’re rich, you can find it by Googling Burlowski Rich because too many people are leaving money on the table because somebody told them, oh, you make too much money to get anything, You’re not going to get anything anyway. You might as well not fill that out. And sometimes people with great authority are saying this and it’s truly misinformation.
So, you, everybody fills it out October one when your kid is in 12th grade and then every year after that you refill it out every year that there’s even a chance you will have a kid in college or technical school the following fall, you never know what could happen. And in the event that that your family does have to take out some kind of loans and it could happen because there’s divorce in the family or there’s a house fire or whatever if you have to take out a loan, which then of course we want your kid to try to pay off by the heist by the college graduation. We want you to have the best terms loan, the best term loans with the best repayment options.
The ones where if there’s a pandemic, they’ll say you don’t have to pay for a while. You hear that in the news. That’s the federal Direct student loans that come from filling out the FAFSA form. It’s not from the private loans that you get from the local bank. Students were grinding away having to pay on those even when they were under unemployed during a pandemic.
You, if you have to get alone, you want it to be the best one that’s coming through the FAFSA form. So, to resources Abby one is Google Burlowski Rich. It’s a beautiful article that explains why you need to fill it out. And then there’s another one FAFSA Burlowski mistakes and I have an article on typical mistakes that people make that caused them to not get as much money as they should.
Here’s an example. People would want to be really honest because they’re just good ethical people. It asks you how much, what’s the amount of your investments and a lot of people look at the home that they live in as there as an investment Silly, put their home on there, you’re not supposed to put your home on there. And so, boom, it looks like you now have $275,000 more laying around than you actually do. And that diminishes how much your kid gets to go to college.
So, if you have two parents who google this is a good thing to put in Facebook groups when people are asking uninformed questions. If they say don’t fill out the FAFSA form, you go, here’s this link on, why should fill it out, even if you’re rich if they say uh like they’re wondering about what to put on the thing google Burlowski mistakes and I actually have in that article, a free downloadable resource that people print out and they have sitting right by their computer while they’re filling it out and it gives you the biggest mistakes people make and said, don’t, don’t do this, make sure you don’t use any decimal points.
Don’t write in in the margins if you’re filling it out on paper, which is still possible. Don’t write in the margins what your individual situation is. So there’s, there’s just really, really help available and then I know you know this because you’re kind of walking through the steps, I provide Where you hear from Jeannie every three months and it says, here’s what you do right now in May of 9th grade, That’s a really important benchmark place to stop and take a breath because between May of 9th grade and December of 10th grade, there’s this little window of opportunity where you can reposition your assets, you can just change around your money a little bit, this is safe, it’s legal, it’s ethical, there’s nothing wrong with it.
And what it does is it sets you up. So, when you do go to fill out that FAFSA form, everything works to your advantage. Now Abby now, you know why I want parents with me when their kids are in 7th and 8th grade. Why? So, they’re following getting Jeannie’s help every three months through the ninth grade year.
And when it gets to May of ninth grade parents are going, oh, reposition assets, I think I might go talk to a financial advisor and show him Chapter 10 of launch how to get your kids through college debt free. And then the jobs they love afterwards and say here, we’ve got this, some of this really applies to us, help us reposition our assets. So, we’re in the best possible position. Parents want to preserve as many of their own assets for their own retirement as they can. And that’s how we help with that.
Abby: That’s awesome because I tell you, we don’t think of these things unless we have someone like you telling us, okay, you know, you have to be aware of this. So that’s amazing. We’re going to put all these links in the show notes because these links sounds great. I’m going to look them up when we’re done too.
So, as we wrap up, go ahead and tell us in addition to, I know we save something for the end to go to tell people about a really great freebie, but also just give us that final encouragement if we missed anything that you really wanted to stick in there for parents who really want to get their kids through college debt free. So, give us some final encouragement and then also tell us where to find that awesome resource you were talking about for the listeners who stuck around to the end.
Jeannie: So, if I can, if I can wrap up with one last plea For as an academic strategist who sees your kids when they’re 26 years old and they’re applying to medical school, what we really, what’s so important is, yes. The debt free part that’s so exciting. That grabs parents’ attention.
But here’s the important thing. We want to get them through college debt free and into jobs they love afterward. And that’s going to take some strategy. And that’s, that’s my, that is my, my passion and my mission. I want to see kids confident and ready to step into real jobs that they excel at and love because think about what would be the most nightmare thing for wasting money.
The kid doesn’t know what they want to do with their life. So, they get a political science degree and it cost $180,000 then they get out of college and they go, I don’t even like political science, it’s boring. I don’t even want to work for the government, I can’t even find a job. I looked on craigslist political scientist and there weren’t any even any jobs. I don’t want to go to a university and teach.
And so, then the student goes, I know what I’ll do, I’ll get a two year nursing degree because nurses actually really do make money and I can become a registered nurse in two years. So, then they go back to two more years of college but they have the two year degree plus the four year degree and they’re making the money of a two year RN nurse. This has happened, this has, this has happened a sickening number of times.
So, what we want students to be able to do is to clarify the bull’s eye on the target before they take aim and shoot. They have an idea. So, this is what I want to do. This is what I’m wired for. This is what’s exciting for me. And then they go like an arrow straight towards the bullseye. Not one wasted dollar, not one wasted class and this is so important. It’s such a huge, huge money saver.
We can’t just rely on kids guessing because they don’t know what the what’s out there in the world, their brains only half-baked at the time they’re making these decisions. And so, I want students to take assessments and not the assessments typically offered at the high school. Those are scored by a robot that are notoriously inaccurate. I am a huge proponent of three assessments, and I get nothing for telling you this. I don’t even give these myself, I have to refer out for these, three assessments that help students to clarify, oh, here’s my greatest strengths. Here’s what I’m really naturally good at and talented at. And here’s what I’m naturally interested in.
Here’s where my personality type just lines up and intersects with the other two. Here are some just really logical cool careers that would come out of the convergence of these things, my interests, my strengths and my personality type. So, I got another article to offer and this isn’t even the biggest thing I brought to your listeners today. But if a person will go to this link, this is going to be in the show notes, Bit.ly/strengthsandinterests.
There is a beautiful article I wrote there about how parents can get this in the least expensive possible way and again, I don’t do it. I refer out for it, but I tell everything right there. And then also in Chapter 13 of Launch: how to get your kids through college debt free and into jobs they love afterward. That’s where I really make this clear about the bull’s eye on the target and the arrow straight there and there’s a section of that that’s written, directed, directed straight at students.
How would you like to have a job where every day you go to work and you are highly respected because you do an extraordinarily good job at whatever it is that you’re set to do and then you are constantly moving up and you’re getting promoted and you’re making more money because you’re just in your sweet spot and students read that and they go, okay mom, I’ll do it, I’ll do this stuff that Jeannie really loves. He’s asking us to do.
So my plea, you asked me what’s my last minute plea to parents? I really want them to take this very seriously about deciding where the students going, what’s the destination before they start signing up for a bunch of classes they may never need. It’s a huge money saver and it’s a lifesaver because kids end up in jobs they love, and they thrive and that’s what we want.
That’s what we all want for our kids, not just dream colleges, but dream lives. That’s what we’re shooting for.
Okay, now the free resource I want to extend. this is what the best thing I have when I’m on TV. I, this is the number one place I direct people to, I have free 10-minute video training based on the age of your kid. So you watch a little happy video from me, it’s fast paced and engaging and and it says here’s what to do right now if your kid is in seventh or eighth grade here and there’s another one for ninth and 10th and there’s another one for 11th and 12. And it’s very reassuring and it essentially says no matter the age your kid is right now, you can jump into this process and here’s exactly what you do and then skip all of this. Don’t worry about this. Focus on this and it is very reassuring and helpful.
And if you are thinking I have friends and people in my home school co-op need to know about this debt, free college and career thing. This is the number one place to send them free 10-minute video training. And here’s the link. It is Bit.ly/easylaunchinstructions, I want everybody to go here and watch 1 10-minute video that’ll make you feel better. And then Abby, you’ve got something else that’s of high value that you’re going to be doing today.
Abby: Absolutely, yes, because you sent me a copy to give away of your book and we’ll have links in the show notes so everyone can enter to win that book.
So, Jeannie, you have shared just so much with us and I know it can feel really overwhelming, so I’m really grateful you gave us some links to just go and get a little, get our toes wet in this a little bit and then also check out your book. So, thanks for taking the time out and just trying to make this not so scary to those of us walking through this and thanks for sharing your wisdom with us.
Jeannie: I am so glad to be here. I have such a heart for homeschooling families because really everyone in the world should realize guidance counseling is not what it was 30 years ago. Everybody needs help with this process. It’s not like public school people are getting all kinds of help, they’re not but I love the homeschooling families because they realize this is us, we have to step in, and we have to do this journey and I love to be a partner on that journey.
And I specifically made every single thing I have is extremely low cost or it’s free and we’re doing this because we want to see people at all income levels be able to get their kids through college debt free and into jobs they love afterwards. So, Abby, thank you for having me.
Abby: thank you and this link will be great to drop in those Facebook groups when everyone is nervous and they’re talking about what do we do the FAFSA coming up. So, I hope everyone will remember this link to share with everyone and we’ll be able to help a lot more people to feel confident going through these planning years and getting our kids set up for success. So, thanks again, Jeannie, it was great talking with you.
Jeannie: Oh, glad to be here.
Abby: I hope you’ve been encouraged by this episode to know that getting your kids through college debt-free is really achievable. So, Jeannie gave us a ton of resources and freebies that we can get to remember.
Enter the giveaway for Jeannie’s books and be sure to share this episode with all your friends who are also, you know, like fear and trepidation over the FAFSA or over dual enrollment or all these other things we think about when our kids are in high school and getting ready to launch off into college. So, I hope you’ve gotten a lot of encouragement and actionable strategies today. Thanks for joining us. And in the meantime, happy homeschooling!
LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward
Our listeners have an opportunity to win a copy of Jeannie’s book, LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward.
In her book, you’ll find exciting, specific, little-known strategies for getting kids ages 12-26 through college debt-free and into jobs they love afterward.
Enter below or click here to enter the giveaway.
