Creating a College Ready Plan. Shellee Howard

[00:00:00] Bob Wheeler: There is no way to sugarcoat it. Getting a college degree is expensive between tuition, room and board, and other associated costs. The price of higher education can be daunting, however, there are more ways to make it more affordable. Scholarships, grants, and work study programs can help lessen the financial burden.

In this episode, I talked with Shelly Howard, founder of College Ready Plan, where we discussed some strategies on affording college without taking on larger student debt and potentially attend college debt. We also dive into some of the common mistakes parents and students encounter when applying for colleges.

Is college the right option? What is the potential return on your investment if college is an option? I’m Bob Wheeler, and this is Money you should ask, where we explore why we do what we do when it comes to money.[00:01:00]

Shelly is a certified independent college strategist and c. She helps middle and high school students and their parents by preparing them for the college admissions process, helping them create a standout strategy, get into their best fit college without going into debt and even how to succeed. Once admitted, she’s also an author and has published several valuable resources for students and parents, and today Shelly has a valuable free offer for our listeners, especially if you’re a parent or a student thinking about applying to a college.

Stick around as you won’t wanna miss this incredible free. Shelly, I’m so happy to have you on the show. Thanks for joining us today.

[00:01:44] Shellee Howard: Oh, pleasure to be here.

[00:01:45] Bob Wheeler: I just gotta start off right off the bat, college readiness. It’s not just about graduating high school and getting good grades on your S A T and all that stuff, but can you tell me what an independent college strategist does?

[00:01:58] Shellee Howard: Absolutely. [00:02:00] So I have been an independent college consultant or strategist, is what I call it, because what we’re really looking to do is helping a student and an individual student come up with a standout strategy to stand out in college admissions, because there’s always somebody who’s gonna have a higher GPA and a lower gpa, higher test score, lower test.

More service hours, less service hours, the list goes on. So what colleges are looking for is for students who are not the same as everybody else. Mm-hmm. , but somebody who will come to their school, graduate, be an alumni, and bring more students in. So getting in, you don’t wanna do everything somebody else is doing.

So I’ve taken it to a very different position than a typical independent college consultant because we help our students look for the academic fit, the social fit, the athletic fit, [00:03:00] and the financial fit.

Yeah, I mean that’s also important because I’ve met people that are super book smart, can’t have a conversation with anybody, no fault of their own, right.

They just may be lacking some social skills and maybe they don’t wanna be at a college where everybody’s like conversing and it may be really uncomfortable, or everybody’s paying, playing sports and you’re great at book reading and there’s no right or wrong, but like having some of those skills or being well-rounded is gonna be a better fit for certain college.

For sure.

So our goal is to first find the best fit colleges, the reach schools, the comfort schools, the safety schools, but really help the family get quite clear on are finances a big concern? Are they not? Are you looking to graduate at the top of your class or are you just looking to graduate? So helping families get crystal clear.

What is the major, what is the career? College is a stepping stone into life. It’s not [00:04:00] the end.

[00:04:01] Bob Wheeler: Right. So let me ask you this. I’m not student body president. I am not a member of 32 clubs. I’m okay. Socially. I’m not that interesting. , like I’m just average. Am I gonna be able to get into college and why should I even go?

[00:04:17] Shellee Howard: I love all those questions. Let me break it down a little bit. You don’t need to be all that to get into college number one. Number two is colleges really wanna know who you are and why you matter. So if you don’t know that, the number one thing we do to start out is what are your core values? What are your passions and what are you an advocate for?

If you can answer. Then we need to spend some time helping you figure that out because that’s what’s gonna serve you in life. Forget about college if you don’t know your core values, your passions, your annoyances. We have a lot more work to do. But once we’ve figured that out, absolutely you can get into colleges.

There’s so many [00:05:00] wonderful schools that fit every student. The second part of your question, I love the most , because this generation is challenging. Why do I need to go to college for those parents or students who are dealing with that? I ask you this question. If not college, what? That’s okay. Yeah. But if there is no what we have a problem.

I have a lot of students who say, I wanna be an entrepreneur. I wanna be that self-made rich person without going to college. Where’s your business plan? Oh, no business plan. Hmm. So there’s some unrealistic things that are going on. I don’t believe every student has to go to college, right? I think there’s some great plumbers, some great electricians.

I think there’s some great journeymen. That’s not the question. The question I ask the student is, let’s just talk about your future. If you wanna be a CPA or going to law or medicine, guess what? You gotta go to college. [00:06:00] But if that’s not part of your plan, if you wanna be a mechanic for a race car driver, awesome.

Let’s go map that.

[00:06:07] Bob Wheeler: Right. So a lot of kids these days, like I wanna be an influencer. I mean, I guess I could influence when I’m at college, but like I just wanna be, you know, in Port of Vallarta and I wanna be on the south of France and everybody should just love me and like all my videos and. I don’t really need anything else but being famous,

[00:06:26] Shellee Howard: proof of concept, please,

That’s all I have to do is help them understand. I want that for them too. If that’s what they want. I want that for them. But the difference between dreaming and reality is proof of concept. Yeah. And so I’m happy to help a student to live that dream, but I’m not gonna just let them at 17 just flounder trying to figure out how they’re gonna be an influencer.

Yeah,

[00:06:57] Bob Wheeler: so either a blueprint, a [00:07:00] strategy, proof of concept, actually have a tangible game plan that may or may not work, or that may work a lot and you can make some corrections rather than just wishing it to be so.

[00:07:11] Shellee Howard: Absolutely. And that is the beauty. I have students who say, I want to be a dancer on Broadway.

Outstanding. How long will you have to work waiting tables before you get that break? And then they’re like, well, what do you mean? They’re very used to just looking right in front of them versus looking at if you go into $70,000 in debt times four. To go in, be a Broadway show person, good on yet, but that’s a lot of tables to wait until you make your break.

So helping students really think it all the way through. And I call that financial literacy. Yeah. And unfortunately, our high schools don’t teach it. .

[00:07:52] Bob Wheeler: They do not. And it’s interesting, you talked about being a CPA and people say, you’re so lucky that you’re a CPA . And I was like, well, [00:08:00] actually, I had to do a few things.

It didn’t just happen. Like I didn’t just walk into the market and they were like, you’re a CPA for me. Actually, I didn’t want to go to college . I was like, you know what? There was a lot of stuff going on at home. There was just crazy. But I knew that I needed a college degree to get me a little bit further, and I actually didn’t even wanna be a cpa.

I wanted to be a lawyer until I met a few lawyers, . All my courses were legal law and everything. I was taking accounting to help my grade point average because it was something I did well in. So it wasn’t my blueprint of I can’t wait to be a C P A now. It’s been awesome and no regret. But I did not want to go to college, but I went to a really good school on purpose because I figured if I was gonna drink and party, I might as well do it.

in a very nice accredited college than doing it at a community college. At least it looked good on the resume, and again, no regrets. It was a life changer for me, but I think it’s 17. It’s hard [00:09:00] for a lot of people. I knew at like eight or nine I wanted to be an attorney, and so many people, even at 25, don’t know what they want to be.

It’s a big commitment financially and.

[00:09:10] Shellee Howard: Absolutely. I can speak to that in so many ways. I’ve started seven businesses. I’m a serial entrepreneur, , both of my parents are entrepreneurs. I didn’t wanna go to college. I went to my dad and said, I’m just gonna start my own business. And he said, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Why don’t you go, I think it’s a good idea. Learn business and marketing and accounting and finance. And he goes, then go work for a Fortune 500 company. Learn on their dime. Then go start your business. And that is exactly what I did. And every one of them have been successful because I had a solid foundation.

I didn’t just have a bunch of ideas. So I teach students the same idea. We have a program at college ready called See our Future now. And what we do is I meet [00:10:00] with the student one-to-one, and I meet them where they’re at, and I help them to get really clear what is the five year plan, what is the 10 year plan?

And they’re like, what? And I talk to them, do you wanna have the same financial lifestyle as your parents have brought you up? Whoa. That’s the first time they thought about that. Yeah. I play a game with them called The Millionaire Game, and I asked them, if I gave you a million dollars cash and you had to give it all back to me in 24 hours, if you didn’t spend it, what would you do?

And they would buy yachts and airplanes and trips around the world and I mean like five, 10 million worth. And then it becomes very apparent to the. They have no concept of how much money college tuition is, right? That is how we help them to really get clear on what are your top three majors? What are your top three careers?

And. How much money will they provide your family? There’s nobody else doing that, and [00:11:00] so I have taken it upon myself to help these students who are 17 and 18 having to make this big decision on career and the cost of college way before they get there, which will save them time, money, and energy. How

[00:11:15] Bob Wheeler: many students and how many parents do you think maybe end up thinking college is not gonna work because finance is a problem, or they’re not sure they can take on student debt?

[00:11:25] Shellee Howard: I talk to so many different families I have from complete need base. I have foster care kids that I grant into my system, and then I have multimillionaires and I have everything in between. One common denominator is nobody wants to pay for college. That’s very common. I mean, I have a few parents say, if you can get ’em in , I’m happy to pay full price.

But getting them in might be challenging. So I really think it comes down to return on investment. So we break it down in a different way. If you wanna be a social worker, do [00:12:00] you need to go to USC to pay $75,000 a year to do that? I’m not saying don’t, I’m just saying ask yourself that question. Right? And I ask students, this is the one that gets ’em every time.

How long do you wanna work for? And they’re like, well, I don’t wanna work for free. And I’m like, that’s called a student loan. You have to pay it back. And they’re like, oh no, my parents are gonna do that. And I say, well, how long do you want your parents to work for free? Well, I don’t want my parents to work for, that’s where I know there’s something lost in the equation.

Because there’s that disconnect from here’s a college, here’s how much I’m gonna go into debt. Then I marry somebody with debt. Now we’re double debted. We can’t buy a home. And I teach in my program. Does it make sense? So my son went to Harvard. Mm-hmm. , then to uc, San Diego, then to ucla. He’s now an orthopedic surgeon and he owes $30,000 total.

He’ll make that his first year [00:13:00] out. Right. That is a good return on investment, right? Yeah. So that is more important than let’s just pick a brand name school and force the kid into. And then figure out the major and then figure out the debt. That’s what’s happening right now, and that’s what my mission is to

[00:13:17] Bob Wheeler: stop that.

So, for example, with your son, cuz I was about to bring him up, does everybody just have to get a scholarship and hope because not everybody’s going to have the highest grade or somebody might not fit the profile, right? So maybe he’s just really lucky or he’s really got resource that nobody else has, maybe.

Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe. How did he pull that off? How can other people pull that off? And is it part of these questions you’re asking? I would imagine. But is there more? Well,

[00:13:46] Shellee Howard: first I will say he came home in eighth grade and said, mom, I wanna be a brain surgeon, . So let’s just start and bring it out very quick.

He was clear. , I was the first to go to college. I changed my major five. So [00:14:00] there was a serious disconnect, but I had raised all four of my kids. I’ve raised them to always be focused on who are you? Why does it matter? What are your gifts and your talents, and what do you advocate for? That helps children get really clear.

Who am I? And a lot of people, we raise our families, our children, in this beautiful, safe bubble. I allowed my kids to mess up a lot. I allowed them to be the slow kid, to not be the great soccer player, to not be, I allowed them to fail because as an entrepreneur, we gotta pick ourself back up and we just dust ourself off and we learn from our lesson.

That is the number one thing that students are missing right now. They’re so focused on being the best, the best, the best. The. And unfortunately it’s not teaching them the skills of tenacity and determination. So my kids, my son, I was a single mom when he was going through this [00:15:00] process, he did not have the bougie lifestyle, right?

He truly was being raised by a single parent who owned her own business. We are not the Rockefellers. So he didn’t have the gift of do this, do this, do that. What he had was determination and tenacity. Yeah. And so every time somebody said he couldn’t, he said, oh, my mom said I can and I’ll figure it out.

And that is why he was able to do that. And. You know, my second child, four years younger, she’s a registered nurse in pediatrics without any college debt. And her path was, she wanted go to University of Alabama. I said, honey, we live in California. Why Alabama? And she goes, duh, mom, the football .

[00:15:45] Bob Wheeler: All right, that’s fair.

That’s fair.

[00:15:48] Shellee Howard: Are you gonna play football? And she’s like, mom, really? And she’s. I want that school. I want that vibe. I want that. So guess what? She [00:16:00] went to University of Alabama and she loved it and she enjoyed it and she got a great degree and she graduated with no debt. Yeah, that’s a good thing. That’s a good thing.

So it really isn’t all about that magic pill or that one thing. It’s really about the individual child and how they step up and to be real, my son was a s B president. He was salutatorian of his class, but it wasn’t given to him. He fought for it. Right. And that’s the magic that every student can achieve if they.

[00:16:36] Bob Wheeler: Yeah. You have to be proactive in your future .

[00:16:39] Shellee Howard: Absolutely. And really, I tell every student who comes into our program, and we don’t take everyone, if we get a student that crosses their arms and rolls their eyes and like, Ugh, that sounds like a lot of work. I don’t. Bye-bye. Right. No, thank you. Have a great day.

Because the student has to want this. We can lead. In [00:17:00] the right direction, but if they don’t drink the water and do the work, it’s just a really cool idea that Shelly has. Right. So in the last two years, we had 51 seniors go through our program. They earned over 17.6 million in scholarships. Wow. That’s better than the stock market.

So why is because I have really great students who work really hard for what they get and they achieve greatness because of their hard work. Yeah. That’s really the magic of our program is matching up. I have intellectual property that can get any kid into any place, but if the kid doesn’t want it, it’s not gonna happen.

[00:17:45] Bob Wheeler: That is so awesome, and I’m wondering with these students, I’ve got the tenacity, I’ve got the determination. I’m gonna probably have to go into debt. When is student loan good debt? Is it good debt? You know, some people think it is. Maybe [00:18:00] I can’t assume that next year they’re gonna maybe forgive the debt again, because that just happened.

So I’m like, darn it, I was born three years too late. It’s a daunting thing to have to make this decision. Mm-hmm. , where do you stand on student? I mean, I know it sounds like awesome that your son only has 30,000. Your daughter had no debt. Some people may need to take that on. When does it feel appropriate for you from your perspective?

[00:18:25] Shellee Howard: So for the parents listening out there, this is the best thing you can do. Take the emotion out of the name of the college. Mm-hmm. , put on your business hat and think of it like this, return on investment. Would you walk up to a home, pull out the flyer and go, that’s the price I’m gonna pay. No negotiation.

Maybe in California, yes, but nowhere. You would never do that or even going up to buy a car, would you go to the window of the car and go, oh, sticker priced. Let’s do it baby. It’s so worth it. No. [00:19:00] Why would you do it for college? Just think about that for a moment. I tell people all the time, you could do your own taxes or you hire a CPA who knows tax code, who can save you thousands of dollars.

I’m a huge proponent of knowledge. So why would you try to do your own college planning, not knowing anything about this world, and expect that you’re going to go at a reduced rate? You hire a professional who can get your student there. So what we do is we help families understand the FAFSA looks at the second semester of the sophomore year and the first semester of the junior year.

If you need money, get your financial house in order. The FAFSA looks at this and they don’t look at this. It’s spelled out if you wanna read the fafsa. Yeah. Really. I mean, you’ll fall asleep, but it’s spelled out ethically, legally. I can tell you what it is. I’ve done it for [00:20:00] 10 years for my kids. Get your financial house in order.

Then have your student build their resume. Not what Johnny’s doing, not what Susie’s doing, but have them build their own resume. The worst that could happen, they turn out to be a great kid. . I mean, that’s how you have to look. Don’t do it for college, do it for Johnny. Do it for that child who yes, wants to learn about life, wants to learn about serving their community.

Every student in my program does at least 200 service hours or I won’t take them. Why? It is Shelly’s belief that if every adult did 200 service hours before they turned 19, our world would be a much better. They would know I’m good at this. I’m not good at this. I like children. I don’t like adults. You learn when you serve others organically, naturally, while you learn how [00:21:00] to care for others.

It seems so simple to me, but yet I get students all the time, they’ve done no service and yet they have no idea what they wanna major in, what they want a career. They haven’t done anything. They wanna be a gamer, maybe because they have a lot of experience, but service is experience for free. Yeah. It costs you nothing, and that is the easiest way to find out what you’re good at because there’s nothing at stake.

Everything you do is gonna make somebody’s life. Yeah.

[00:21:30] Bob Wheeler: Amen. . My college has been, I think, number one for the last five or six years. We do the most community service of all the student bodies, and I was very involved in community service and all that stuff. When I was in college. I ran a Boy Scout troop and stuff like that.

It just, the value of helping other people and paying it forward is just imme. I’m just so on board with that as I’m hearing all this and it’s super inspiring and maybe the high school teacher [00:22:00] counselors do this or maybe they don’t. But I know people, first kid considering going to college, immigrant parents or my parents, my dad went to college, but they didn’t have a lot of tools.

They didn’t have a lot of resource. I sort of winged it. I probably, maybe in hindsight could have gone to a, even a more prestigious school. I could have gotten even more scholarship. I didn’t know any of that stuff. I grew up in a small town and I didn’t have those resources. How do we get these resources to underrepresented communities, to people that just don’t have the wherewithal to like make these things happen?

But if they had those tools, they could change the. I

[00:22:39] Shellee Howard: love that. I’m a huge advocate. I scholarship two kids into my program every year who really wouldn’t have had the resources or the ability, but I can’t do that for everyone. So a very quick story, when my son left for Harvard. I was a little heartbroken cuz he had a flow ride at U USC and that’s right down the road.

And this mama [00:23:00] wanted her son close to home, but it was Harvard, so you’ve gotta go. So when I dropped him off and he says, mom, why aren’t you crying like all the other parents? And I’m like, are you kidding me? Like this will change the trajectory of our family. Like this is real. I go, if you were at home on my couch, I’d be crying.

And he said, mom, you have to help other people do what you did for me. And I said, I’ll make you a deal. If you graduate from Harvard in four years and you don’t get married and you get good grades and you don’t go into debt, I will write a book on how to do this. And I hate writing. So he chuckled a little thing.

He’s like, yeah, right, mommy. Yeah. Ok, fine. And I said, let’s shake on it. It’s a deal. So fast forward when he crossed the stage at Harvard and he handed me his diploma and he says, mom, where’s the book? Ah. And I’m like, he remembered. So I took a sabbatical from my job and I wrote the book in three months, and it’s this book right here, it’s called [00:24:00] How to Send Your Student to College Without Losing Your Mind to Your.

This is a bestseller. It’s been a bestseller since I published it because I give the information. I can’t give all of it. It would be volumes, but I give as much as I can without overwhelming someone. Yep. And I’m happy to gift it to your listener. So if somebody would like a copy of this book, please, please, please take advantage of it.

It costs you nothing. It’s called free book, F R E E O O k.college ready plan.com. I will gift it to your listener because I want everybody to have this resource.

[00:24:38] Bob Wheeler: I so appreciate that and I will make sure that you get a lot of people grabbing this book because it’s so important, it’s important information.

It is such a key to many people’s success in life, and like you said, with your own son going to Harvard, it changes an entire family’s trajectory. You know, people that go to college, the first [00:25:00] one in their family, it’s changed the course of the history of that family and that’s just such powerful stuff.

So I appreciate that and I get it. I am so on page with you, so I appreciate that. I appreciate that. You got

[00:25:13] Shellee Howard: it. Yeah. I want everybody to have it. Truly, if anybody out there has an opportunity that I could come and speak to their PTA or Girl Scout or boy. I do it for free. I wanna inspire families to know.

I didn’t know how I would pay $63,000 for my son to go to Harvard every year. I had no idea, but I knew if he got in there would be opportunity. Yeah. And there was, Harvard stepped up in a big way. If you can get into an iv, they will make sure that you graduate from that school. Yeah. So, please know, dream big, but also have a backup.

Yeah,

[00:25:51] Bob Wheeler: that’s awesome.

Shelly. We are at the fast five, so we’re gonna shift the energy a little bit fast. Five is [00:26:00] brought to you by Acorns, where you can invest, spare, change, bank, smarters, save for retirement, and so much more. You can check the link in the show notes for more information. So we’re just gonna have a little bit of fun and let’s see what happens.

What were you most nervous about when you were sending your kids off to?

[00:26:15] Shellee Howard: That they wouldn’t come back. did they? .

[00:26:20] Bob Wheeler: Well, I guess your son’s in San Diego. Somebody’s close. He’s close. . Getting into college can be really stressful. Where do you feel the most financial stress in your life currently?

[00:26:31] Shellee Howard: I feel it for my youngest because the three before her went debt free and she has the same ground rules as they did, and after you follow in that those footsteps, it is challenging.

So I feel for her, I do have a soft spot in my heart that she can also accomplish what her older siblings did. Yeah,

[00:26:54] Bob Wheeler: Absolut. What’s the thing your kids ask for most when they are away at college? Like, can you send this? [00:27:00] Were you sending care packages? I need more money,

[00:27:02] Shellee Howard: please. pizza

[00:27:05] Bob Wheeler: money. Gotta have pizza money.

what did you do with the money you saved from not having to put your son through Harvard?

[00:27:14] Shellee Howard: Oh, this is a good one. This is a good one. I bought a nine 11 Porsche

[00:27:22] Bob Wheeler: That’s awesome. .

[00:27:25] Shellee Howard: I’m so embarrassed by that. But you asked, so there you have it.

[00:27:29] Bob Wheeler: That’s so cool. And you can sort of say, Hey son. Thank you, .

[00:27:34] Shellee Howard: Absolutely. With my daughter, I gave her the money and a down payment for her first. That’s so cool. So I did hit forward. I did.

[00:27:43] Bob Wheeler: That is so awesome because you know, a lot of parents would’ve said, well, so, ah, that’s awesome.

That is awesome. . . If you could go back in time, would you redo your college experience?

[00:27:54] Shellee Howard: So many times I had no idea. My big plan was to surfer ski. I applied to San [00:28:00] Diego State and University of Colorado. And that was it. I didn’t take a test. I just was like, oh, let’s, what fun could I have ? And now that I’ve toured colleges all over the world, wow, I could do it so many times.

Ever would I take it back? No way, . It was some of the best, most amazing time of my life. Yeah, I met my kid’s dad. Like those important things. Yeah, I think I would never change that, but wow. Some of these schools, I had no idea how much they could change somebody’s life.

[00:28:35] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, absolutely. There are so many amazing higher education institutions out there.

Absolutely. Well, we are at our m and m spot, our sweet spot, our money and motivation. I’m wondering if you have a practical financial tip or a piece of wealth wisdom for our listeners, something that’s worked for you personally.

[00:28:54] Shellee Howard: Absolutely do not think your 17 year old can do this on their own. Mm, [00:29:00] just don’t.

I mean, I have so many parents who said, well, you know, this is a great time for them to step up and show they’re an adult. That is terrifying. It’s like allowing them to buy you a home without being involved. Right. Please don’t leave it up to your teenager. They don’t even know how much you pay for electricity.

Yeah. So be very careful that this is not the right time for them to adult. That would be my recommendation,

[00:29:25] Bob Wheeler: not the time for adulting. That’s great. great advice. I know you talked about the book, but where can people find you online, social media? Just wanna re put that information in so that people out there that want to get their kids college.

Can find you. It’s so important to strategize. Use experts. It’s even more important than doing your taxes probably because it’s a lifetime projection of where things could go by doing the right things early. Yeah,

[00:29:53] Shellee Howard: so our website is www dot college-ready plan, p l a n.com, [00:30:00] and we’re on every social media channel, even TikTok.

Now finally, all my teenagers, were pushing hard, so we’re everywhere. Every social media channel, please know that we’re giving tons of free content. If you wanna join our newsletter, you can do that by going to college ready plan.com. It’s. We want you to be successful, so thank you for having us.

[00:30:23] Bob Wheeler: Yeah, Shelly, thank you so much.

This has just been such a pleasure. I love what you’re doing. It’s so important and it is paying it forward in so many ways and giving people opportunities to change their whole family dynamic. Thank you so much.

[00:30:37] Shellee Howard: My pleasure.

[00:30:45] Bob Wheeler: We hope you enjoyed this episode. Did you learn something new about your relationship to money today? Maybe you have a friend who has some financial blocks or beliefs that are holding them back. Please share this podcast so they too can get off the rollercoaster Ride of Financial Fears and [00:31:00] journey towards financial.

To learn how to have a healthy relationship with money, visit the money nerve.com. That’s nerve not nerd. We’ll be back next week with another perspective on money and the emotions that bind us..