S2EP23-Howard Freedman-Don't Panic! Your College Funding Questions Answered

Herb: 00:00:19

Today, I have the pleasure of introducing Howard Freeman. Howard's professional experiences were the right fit for creating a successful financial aid consulting business.

For over 20 years, he has made his clients feel confident and booming by helping them pursue the most affordable colleges.

One of Howard's favorite quotes by Thomas Edison One of our greatest weaknesses lies in giving up the most certain way to success is, is always to try once more.

Howard's leadership and accomplishments in financial management, customer service management, software consulting, process improvements, negotiations and analytical skills saved organizations millions of dollars. And it was only natural to reinvent himself into a more satisfying career as a financial aid consultant to give back positively to society.

Several years after creating the financial aid consulting, he was recruited to become the access program manager in the Boston Public schools.

a diverse population of over: 2700

Welcome, Howard. It is a pleasure to have you here. Thank you so very much for joining us.

College is such an important conversation for parents nowadays and with the way finances of the world are kind of going, you know, getting into college and using financial aid services is so important for our parents now. So thank you for being here today to help our parents learn more about this.

Howard Freedman: 00:01:55

Well, first of all, it's my pleasure to be here. I love doing podcasts. I love sharing with people information that I know will help them.

I try to be honest and down to earth and tell things as they are. I think it's very important to establish credibility with my clients, my audience, and, you know, make this a valuable conversation.

So I do look forward to it. And thank you.

Kristina: 00:02:27

You're very welcome. Thank you. So one of the things we love starting out with is kind of the passion.

What made this be something of interest to you because you've had your financial care career and then you went over into the financial aid for students and stuff. What's the driving passion? Or can you tell an incident of where like, oh, this is really what I want to do.

Howard Freedman: 00:02:47

I think after spending many, many years in private industry, working in public schools, I, I realized that I was always helping people. The jobs that I had was providing services and giving advice and helping people and that's what it was. I loved problem solving.

I, I loved challenges, I love process improvements. But I felt that the jobs that I had, I kind of got to the top of what I needed to do and I get up in the morning. So what else is there?

You know, I've done everything. This is not very enjoyable. And an opportunity was presented to me to work on FAFSA forms.

I didn't know what a FAFSA form was, but I looked it up, I did my research. And this opportunity was working for somebody or working with somebody to handle the clients that he couldn't.

Over time, a couple of things occurred to me. One, he wanted me to do it to sell annuities, which I won't, Wouldn't do. I don't believe I'm not in that business.

And I don't think people should buy things they don't really need. And then I was getting a little bit antsy just doing forms.

Who said, you know, I gotta redefine my business in terms of who I am, what I can do, and make it more to have a purpose in life. The terminology is very important. What is my purpose? My purpose isn't necessarily to make a ton of money. I'm comfortable where I'm at.

But, you know, I'll still work with clients, I'll still sell my books. I'm not foolish either. But that's not my main driver.

My main driver is to impart what advice I can give and share with people to help them so they're not hurt or not overwhelmed by scams and not overwhelmed by companies that promise them the world and they can't do it.

So I just decided to work with families, work with kids, not charge a lot of money because I just don't believe that's really necessary, but feel a great sense of accomplishment and giving, doing this and helping our next generation.

Kristina: 00:05:27

And that's why you are a perfect fit for this show, because bringing education home is all about that.

We really want this show to be one of those shows where parents can come and look for people like you who are heartfelt, family centered, wanting to give them the best possible information and then having a resource in case they need a little bit more. So thank you again for being here with us and having that kind of heart and attitude.

Howard Freedman: 00:05:50

Yeah.

Herb: 00:05:51

So you also wrote a best selling book that's on its third edition, Making College Happen. So at what point of this process, when you, where did you end up writing your book?

Was it like right at the start when you got out of the, out of the financial industry, into the FAFSA stuff, into the FAFSA stuff, or @ what point did you decide, wow, okay, I need, I need to get this information out, write a book so more.

Howard Freedman: 00:06:18

People can get it I think somebody called me, they went on the Internet, they were a publisher, and they said, you know, we need somebody who's an expert to write about financial aid. Would you do it? And I said, well, I'm not just going to write a book about financial aid because there's tons of books out there about financial aid.

The government publishes stuff. I want to write a book about helping people go through this process. I don't really want to compete with any other books.

I don't want to, you know, I just want to be me. And when writing it, every edition got a little bit better.

Unfortunately, the last edition, unfortunately, everything has changed with the fast and everything. It's still changed. So, you know, I can't rewrite it again because I spend too much time on it.

But the, the, the purpose of the book is to help people through this process. It's almost like getting an inexpensive consultation because I start off with basically optimism.

From the first book to this one, I've become much more optimistic because there's a lot of people that have met parents and educators. They're very negative, very negative. I can't afford college. It's too much. I'm not going to send my kid there. My, my husband won't spend the money.

I can't do it. I can't do it, or it's not my problem. So you have to kind of deal with the negativity and give people hope. Give people hope.

And I put in the book two, two words, two very simple words. And I try to change the meaning. I. One word was yes and the other was no. And I made yeses into you expect success.

So if you say yes, you say you expect success. And then if you don't get it, you can go to no, which stands for new opportunities.

So let's say a student wanted to apply to a school that they really liked, or five schools they didn't like and they got rejected by all of them. Well, it may open new opportunities, things they haven't thought about.

Maybe they haven't thought about community college or haven't thought about the military or haven't thought about going into the trades. So there's always hope. But nobody should give up hope and say, I can't, I can't get into college. It's too expensive for my child.

What am I going to do? There's always ways. There's over 5,000 colleges and trade schools in the U.S. so I'm sure you're going to find one. You.

And if you don't want to go to college. That's no tragedy either.

Kristina: 00:09:22

Yeah, I love that.

And that's part of the message that we try to give to our parents as we're talking with them about the great fit education for their student is that yes, you know, some kids are absolutely college bound. They want to go there, they know what they want to learn, it's a great fit for them.

Other kiddos are more hands on or have a different way of thinking. And so like you said, the trades or the military might be a better fit for them. And then there's those with the entrepreneur spurs spirit.

And maybe they watch their parents be entrepreneurs the whole time is like, you know, they don't really need a college or a standardized education. Instead they need the right fit education for what they want to learn about and what they want to produce. So totally agree with what you said there.

Herb: 00:10:00

All right, so you talk about giving hope that people can get to college. Now there's a lot of parents and kids who kind of procrastinate and don't even start looking financial aid until they're seniors in high school.

And I was like, oh hey, I'm going to go to college, college next year. I should probably start looking at this. That's not a very hopeful situation when they get into that.

How, how sometimes you're going to get people like that. Some of our parents are probably going to be like that.

How do you help those parents and when on the other side is really, when should they, they shouldn't wait till the last year. When is the good time to start instead of waiting for the last year. And if they do wait for the last year, how can you help them?

Howard Freedman: 00:10:47

That's a great question. I've written in my website, I have an article about it, but I think the best time to start would be before high school. And here's my reasoning.

Before high school you can kind of decide what's available to you and what it's going to take to, to market yourself. We'll, we'll look at a student assembly that's being, you know, marketed in marketing. We can look at in those tone. So you want to build yourself up.

You want to see if you can take AP courses, you want to know if you can do some community service, you want to know if you can do athletics. You can even check what colleges are looking for four years down the road, what kind of students are they looking for?

And then you can kind of groom yourself along the way and say, well, I don't exactly know what I want to do, but if I take AP courses, whatever's offered, or I'm a leadership position, or I start a charity, or I help poor people, or you help sick people, or, you know, I do something, I write a paper discovery to really, really make yourself stand out from the crowd. But don't get to the point. If you feel pressured to do that, you don't have to.

But I think when we look at this whole process and you know, I'm looking at it as a buyer's and a seller's market, the, the, the student's going to buy whatever school offers them the best deal and the best education. But in turn, the school, the college goes through a process called enrollment management. Enrollment management.

So they know specifically what kind of students do we want? Well, maybe Herb, somebody like Herb is really good. You know, he has an engineering background, he has really good grades in school.

He's an athlete, nice personality. Let's talk to him. Maybe, you know, he may be the type of person we want in our school.

So they're trying to sell you for students that have a lot to offer. They want to sell you to their school. They do it through advertising. They do it the Internet. They do it through virtual.

They may invite you on campus, so and so forth. The, the average student, let's not take, let's kind of look at the average student because most students are average.

They have to work a little bit harder. You know, they have to really look at, you know, I'll take the courses. Let me look into other things.

You know, there are schools for average students. You know, the parents, you know, need to understand that maybe state school might be the answer, maybe community college.

So there's all types of people and then there's a smarty pants people that are really smart, okay? And all these colleges want them. They want them because they're so smart. Like her, you know, so smart, so good, so likable. That's what they want.

So to answer the question, yeah, before high school is a good time, it may take time for them to develop and say, well, you know, I really like this. I, I like chemistry. I never thought I would like it. And then you take it from there.

But don't, but realize you don't really have that much time to consider college. And I, I put a calendar in my book to show people that you don't have much time. Now, the late bloomers, let's talk about them.

The ones that just say, oh, I didn't know, I went to the college presentation. I'm so depressed. I don't Know, I wish I saved, I wish I saved money.

You know, I can't send Johnny and Mary to school and I just don't know what to do. You know, I want them to go to good school. Well, it's okay. Go on the campus tours, find out what they're looking for.

You know, look on the Internet, speak to the guidance counselor, ask about other, other students who have graduated that have gone through this. And if you're not sure, if you're really not sure, then like I say, check out community college, Check out working.

Some of the things you mentioned, some kids have an entrepreneurial spirit. Some people might want to go into the military, take part time courses, take online courses. So there's a whole mixture of stuff you can do.

It doesn't mean that you have to throw all your money to a college that you're not sure your child wants to go to. But there are choices, life choices.

Herb: 00:15:51

Yeah, especially, especially if you're not sure what you want to do. Don't, don't go to college to figure it out. Don't go spend tens of thousands of dollars hoping you figure out what you want to do. My story.

One of my older sisters went to college and within two years she dropped out.

And then she went out and lived life for about five or six years, figured out what life is and then came back to college with an intention and was a straight A student and graduated with honors in three years. That late bloomer bit, she didn't know what she wanted to do.

She went to college because that's what it was to do and had a horrible time and dropped out, got a life, got a direction, figured out what she wanted to do, went to school with a purpose, and again, top of the board. So again, college, if you're going to, if you're going to spend that money, go with a purpose.

Howard Freedman: 00:16:48

Right. I love it.

Kristina: 00:16:51

So one of the things I think we talked about in Pre, in our Pre production was that, you know, we really want to help parents understand how to set up like kind of boundaries. Right. I can afford this much or I can help you this much, or what is it that our family can do to help you? But then you're in charge of this.

Can you talk about that a little bit? Because that's a message that a lot of parents and families don't get. The kids are like, oh, you're sending me to college?

And the parents are like, no, I'm not sure about that. So how do they balance all of that?

Howard Freedman: 00:17:21

I think one thing that's most Important is communication, honest communication. I think many times what happens, and I admit I've done it, is I've done things to please my parents.

I did it because I didn't really didn't want to disappoint them. I knew I wanted to go to college, and I got in no problem. But what would my parents think if I didn't get into college again?

This is a different generation. It's not the way it is. But I think there are some disconnects that need to be connected.

I think the first thing is on a school basis, there are guidance counselors, and they're very good. They work very hard, but they're not the financiers. They don't, you know, they.

Their rule is to help the student get focused, maybe select colleges and so on and so forth. So in. In my book, I have a chapter about communicating. And I also threw in there. And I also threw in some humorous things.

You know, a conversation that might go something like this. Okay, so I'm the dad, you know the kids and say, okay, okay, honey. Son, I didn't call you honey. I'm her. I'm call you. I.

I've been reading a lot of stuff in the magazine. I talked to a lot of guys at work about college. So tell me, why do you want to go to college? So the. The daughter slumps her.

And see, well, dad, my boyfriend, Jimmy, he's going to college. And I love Jimmy, and I just really want to be with him. I can't stand not being with Jimmy. So I'm gonna go.

Whatever college Jimmy goes to, that's where I'm going. And as you know, I really don't like the cold weather. So I'm looking for someplace down south, you know, maybe California, Hawaii.

I don't care that much about the college, but, gee, I'd be so happy, so, so happy if I got into the warm weather. And thirdly, I think I deserve it. I think I've been a good kid. I've deserved it. I make my bed every morning.

I do my chores, so money shouldn't be an object. That's why I want to go to college. So the. The parent isn't too really impressed with that, and they kind of look at that.

Well, you haven't convinced me. You really haven't convinced me that I should pay for college. And then the child might ask the parent, well, would you pay for my loans?

Would you drive me to college? You know, is it okay if, you know, you changed my cell plan?

Like, all this stuff and again, I'm being a little bit facetious here, but I think the main thing is you gotta have a frank conversation and say, okay, look, I wanted. Mom and I want to do the best we can to help you, we really do. But as you know, I just got laid off from my job, from the government.

I don't know what I'm going to do next. I'm 53 years old. I have so much in retirement. Mom and I have to plan for our future. But we do want to help you. We really do want to help you.

But right now, let me suggest this. If you want to go to the best college in the world and you can get scholarships and go there, you have a lot of talents.

You're, you're, you're very bright and all that. And you can do it, go for it if you want it that much, if you know what you want to do.

If you want to be a teacher, let's say go to state college because you don't have to go to expensive college to be a teacher.

And then you're not probably going to make that much money as a teacher if you have a desire to be a nuclear scientist because you're all straight A's, ace the sats, you know, there's a lot of colleges that will want to take you and probably give you a full ride because you're really worth it. You also have a, you know, a brother and all that. And, you know, we have to worry about them. So look, this is what we can do.

You go out, you look for the colleges, a lot of research you can do, you know, narrow down the list and we can talk about them. To be honest with you, mom and I have talked about this in the most we can give you education is $10,000.

So you can choose whatever college you want, but you will be indebted after you graduate. So we want you to understand that.

So if you were to get, be accepted to the top college of your choice and they didn't give you any money, then we can't send you there. So there's a lot more to it.

But I'm really saying, give me a good answer and what you expect to get out of it in four years and what you expect to do and what you're going to do with your life, and you're going to be serious about this. It's not a matter of being with your boyfriend or girlfriend or playing golf and all that.

That's superficial because you have to go into a building somewhere.

You know, if it's hot or cold, you're still going to go into building and it's still going to be a professor and there's still going to be exams and stuff. So look at your future. Go to the. I like to tell people to go to the graduate placement office.

Sounds a little bit weird, but find out what's going to happen four years from now. You know, what are the hot, hot majors? What are the high professions that make it really worth your while?

Herb: 00:23:55

So when people come to you, basically you ask them why you they want to go to college. You see if they have a purpose. You talk about the colleges that they want to go to, and then you talk about colleges that they can afford to go to.

And then what? You just basically help the families plan that. Do you offer like scholarship, how to apply for scholarships?

What is it that, that you do with families when you're working with them?

Howard Freedman: 00:24:17

Well, the first thing I do is listen. You know, I don't say, well, this is what you know, when somebody calls me, I said, well, I got your name from so and so.

I'll say, well, how can I help you? That's my first question. How can I help you? And most of my focus is on financial.

But there are situations like the stories I just shared with you that parents and children aren't on the same page. It's a matter of just knowing, well, what do you want to do? What are you interested in?

I may give them some resources to look at, one that I really love. I've done it on my podcast as a resource. It's free. It's called the Occupational Outlook Handbook. It's a publication put out by the U.S.

department of Labor Statistics, and it goes through all these jobs, what the requirements are, what the future is, what kind of training you need, because that's what you're striving for. You're really striving for what is.

And I love what you say purpose, because I've quoted this so many times that many people ask students, they'll say, what is your, do you have a passion? I said, well, I have a passion to draw. That's my passion. I really love drawing. I love art.

But is that your purpose in life, that you want to be an artist? And what are you going to bring to society? What are you going to bring to society? But if you have a purpose, what is the purpose of going to college?

What is the purpose? What are you going to do? So we, I, I try to understand their situation.

I try to offer them advice, I try to know more about Their finances, you know, because you really can't go by how much somebody makes. You just can't. There are people I know that make a lot of money, but they spend it all. They don't have any savings.

Kristina: 00:26:36

I know some people are called, what's called house poor.

Howard Freedman: 00:26:39

Yeah. Yeah, they do it. So, again, so that brings you into the situation.

I'm not going to try to digress too much, but there are situations where I help people with appeal letters that you can't just go and look at a FAFSA or a profile form and say, these people, wow, they earn 200,000, but they're 300,000 in debt. You know, they, they lived in California, God forbid, and they were hit by the fires. The house, their house was destroyed and they had no insurance.

But it says on the FAFSA they earned $300,000. Well, you need professional judgment. Somebody said, well, wait a minute.

This information, we got to fix it, because these people don't even have a roof over their head. You know, so it's like so a lot of that. And, you know, I, sometimes I try to calm the student down. I try to see what they like.

And I'm honest with the parent. You know, I think the parent, you know, I'll ask them, how much money do you have? I think a lot of it. And what I deal with is to get to the truth.

That's a challenge. Sometimes it's challenging.

Kristina: 00:27:55

My question is that, how about the other side? Parents are like, you're going to college, you're going to college. And the kid is sitting there going, no, I don't really want to go.

How do you handle it?

Howard Freedman: 00:28:04

Well, you have to. But you know, again, as I, as I was mentioning, you know, that's your choice.

I'm not going to make the choice for you, but tell you you're not going to stay around in this house for four years. I'm not going to cook for you for four years. And, and, you know, pay all your bills. You have, you're a stage in your life.

You have to make some decisions. Whatever those decisions are, I'll respect them. You know, however, not. I can't necessarily afford to pay for all your choices, but there are ways.

You gotta, you know, get to work and find those ways. I think that's important. I'm going to love you and be proud of you. If you're a plumber or an electrician, you know, those are upcoming professions.

There's nothing dishonorable about that. You know, my, my first job, I had a A boss and used to say to me, it was a very menial job.

You're saying, Howard, the work is dirty, but the money's clean. So it's the same. It's a good saying that. What difference does it make? You know, I met somebody yesterday and we were talking.

I was, I was actually waiting for my submarine sandwich. And I usually talk to people. That's where I have good conversations when I wait in line and I have, there's a battle as to who gets the next number.

So, you know, if I see somebody going to the number and they're going to get 74, I'm going to get 75, I'm going to cut them off because I want my sandwich. That's the way I do it. I do it and then we get it, Then we make a joke about it. And of course I try, I try to sell people.

What I do is I try to get low numbers and then I try to barter with them so I can get my sandwich first. But, you know, I think it's a matter. It's a different generation today. My mother wanted me to go to college and there really wasn't any discussion.

Yeah, you go into college, us Gen.

Herb: 00:31:45

Xers, us in the 50 year old range. Yeah, that was just an expectation. You go to school, you get good grades, you go to college.

So my generation is like, so many kids went to college without any sort of expectation of, of what they were going to do. Me, I actually went to college with a plan. My plan was to find a wife.

Howard Freedman: 00:32:05

Okay, and your father, because I was.

Herb: 00:32:08

One of those really smart kids, I got into whatever college I wanted. I breezed, you know, so I, I went to college to find a wife because all the other stuff was going to happen.

Howard Freedman: 00:32:20

Okay, well, you, you did well. I'm going to share with you an actual situation when I went to college and kind of answer the question.

I went to college and I was in the business program, business management. And it was a kid there, his name was Peter and he would be in the program.

I'd always say, I really don't want to be in this program, but my mother made me do it. I love the theater. He loved the theater. Very good.

And I remember once we took a test, it was an Earth science test, and the professor was pretty boring, but he gave us this multiple choice test and we were all business students. And the professor comes in, he said, you know, I'm really disappointed. He says, I gave this test to you guys, but mostly guys at the time.

And the average Tesco was 38, so I'm not too happy. And then Peter, the. The theater student raises. Now I really. He says, you know, a monkey. I could put the pencil in the hand of a monkey.

And they could do better than 38. And you guys studied. You got 30. It's. Peter raises. And he said, you know, now I really feel bad. I got a 10. And now I know I'm worse than a monkey.

And I didn't even want to be in this course.

And, you know, he kind of made a joke of it, but it kind of made a good point about the fact that, you know, if you don't feel right being there, you know, he left after that year. He was. He. He went to another school, got a liberal arts degree.

I know he was semi famous on Broadway, wrote some books, but he knew he got nothing out of. Neither did I. Or science. We got nothing out of it. It wasn't any value to me. And there's a lot of kids there that are forced into taking courses.

And that's why many schools do not encourage people not to declare a major so they can get a taste of different courses, different things. And I think. But you shouldn't feel pressured.

I know there are parents that might be, you know, domineering or whatever you want to call it, but I think the best way to communicate with people, and I took a Dale Carnegie course many, many years ago, is to acknowledge what other people are saying. I think one of the biggest problems today, not only in college, but in business, is listening, not hearing. Yeah, not here.

I hear what you said, but listening. What is he saying to us? And, you know, mother and father go to bed. Oh, I don't know what to do. I can't sleep. I was hoping.

I really was hoping Johnny would go to college. What am I. What am I going to tell the people in the. In the country club that my kids not going to college? I don't know. I'm so embarrassed.

And, you know, the husband turns his head on the pillow. We'll worry about that tomorrow. It's not a problem. Because nobody really cares beyond that. Once you're gone, nobody cares. It's up to you.

It's your life. And I think empathetic listening, where both child and student are on the same plateau, that's effective. It doesn't mean you're a success or failure.

It's a matter if you're bold enough and strong enough to make a decision and be honest with your parents.

Herb: 00:36:10

That's why one of the things we talk about with our parents so often so early is communication.

So one of the, one of the big things and throughout our podcast is, is communication strategies with your children because so much of it rides, rides there with. To have a happy, healthy, successful child, you have to understand what they want.

Howard Freedman: 00:36:30

And where they're going and put yourself. You know, we were talking about a generation. I loved my mother. I mean, there's no question, my mother was great.

But I felt a little bit frustrated when I couldn't really express myself. Like, really hard to say. I can't say how I really feel because maybe I'll be punished, maybe I'll be punished for not saying it.

And my mother would say, God bless her. Well, don't argue with me. I know more than you because I'm older. I know more than you. You know, you haven't gone through this.

And she knew certain things, you know, what she knew was life's experiences, which I didn't know. But we live in a society today where a lot of people are conscious or self conscious about their status in life.

And one of those status thing is, what's college? Does your, your child go to what club? Where do you work? You know, what kind of car do you drive, what kind of house do you live in?

And you know, I think as you get older, that's not so important. It's not important. And I wish I could tell younger people. Maybe I'm telling them right now, or parents, you know, don't worry about the status stuff.

You know, it's not going to make you happy. You find things that are going to make you happy. Enjoy the experiences, enjoy the pleasures in life. Enjoy each day to the fullest.

That's really what you're going to do. And the other stuff will come in hand. I mean, I don't care if I don't drive a Tesla. I don't, I don't want a Tesla. I don't want one.

I can't fit in a Lamborghini because my back hurts. So even if I wanted one, I'd have to get a huge shoe horn to fit into Lamborghini.

You know, that's, you know, it'd be like two inches from the ground. But I do have a Volvo. My wife has a Subaru. You know, I can get in there without killing my back. But it's not important that, you know.

Kristina: 00:38:37

The Ferrari guy here, you want, okay.

Herb: 00:38:40

Yeah, I've drove a Ferrari car.

Kristina: 00:38:41

We still have a chance to get one.

Herb: 00:38:43

It's like, it's like putting a car on instead of, instead of getting into a car.

Howard Freedman: 00:38:46

It's like, yeah, it's just like, yeah, we, we had when we were on vacation several years ago and the rental company said, oh, we're going to upgrade you. And they upgraded me to this car. I thought, I think it's called a Genesis. And it was really nice looking and I'm used to car up here.

So I opened the door and I said to my wife, how am I going to get into this thing? And literally, literally, I slid. This is true. I slid on my back. And yeah, I said, I'm not really comfortable in this thing.

You know, I just, I know I can get in, but I don't know if I can get out. And eventually, eventually I made it. My back was killing me.

But, you know, it's like I, I told that story because sometimes you get into uncomfortable situations you don't plan on. It's the same thing with school, college.

Anything you do, if you're not comfortable, if your gut doesn't tell you it's the right thing, you shouldn't do it.

Kristina: 00:39:51

And that's a lot of what we talk about with our parents about education as well.

You know, when they want to try something new, whether it's going to a charter school or home school or whatever, it's like, you know, listen to your guts, listen to your instincts, Listen to what your kid is saying about their experience, experiences, and help them make those choices into making a right fit. If it doesn't work, awesome.

Herb: 00:40:11

If it doesn't work, fail fast.

Kristina: 00:40:12

Pivot.

Howard Freedman: 00:40:13

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you don't fast.

Herb: 00:40:15

It's like, this isn't going to work. I don't like this. Okay, let's go. Let's go.

Something that's going to actually inspire me to learn instead of forcing me through something I don't like.

Howard Freedman: 00:40:25

I think that's one of the things that I, I really emphasize is networking. Networking with your peers.

So if you had a chance, you went to your guidance counselor and said, I'd like to talk to somebody that went to XYZ College. Can we connect? Can I maybe go there? Stay over a night? Maybe I should check. Is there a way of checking with the alumni?

Is there a way of checking with somebody that you know that's in a certain profession, but you can't rely on your parents for everything. You have to kind of let go.

Learn to be self confident, learn to speak to people, learn how to communicate, learn to write and write well and send thank you notes to people, get their business cards. And these are things you Learn as you get older.

But I think the important thing is engagement and expanding your network of people that can give you good advice and make you feel you've made the right decision. But you're not going to get it by sitting in your bedroom or, you know, watching, watching sports and all that. You know, you should do that.

It's important to do that, to have some fun, to laugh. You know, you got to do that in this mix. You can't get so serious that it's driving your life. So have some fun, enjoy yourself.

But also realize you have a responsibility and how you handle that and how you handle stress is up to you.

Kristina: 00:42:03

I love it. And on that advice, I'd love to say thank you so much.

This has been such a great conversation and I love the way that we've woven through the parent side, the student side, tips on getting into and getting information around colleges and finances. This has been wonderful. So thank you for all of this information as we've been going through this hour, that almost hour that we've been together.

So thank you so very, very much.

So, you know, families, take all of these nuggets, take all of these things that we've talked about and don't just put them in your shelf, put it to put them out there and use them each and every day and help your child make that great choice.

Howard Freedman: 00:42:41

Right?

Herb: 00:42:41

And you know, we've been talking. Is there something that we didn't cover that you normally like to talk about? So. Hey man, I would have liked to have said this today.

Is there something that you, you're going to wish you'd have said after we leave that you would like to say?

Howard Freedman: 00:42:56

No, no, I, I, I, you know, I do want to mention my book and Making College happen. It's on Amazon.com it's, it's a good read in terms of really, you know, knowing more about many of the things that I've discussed.

You know, I do have a website which I'd invite you to, to, to read of.

I have over 30 articles that I've written in the process of updating those and my podcast and that's financial aid consulting.com and on that website, if you feel like contacting me, I would welcome hearing from you. I'm not a high pressure person. I don't pressure people. If you want me and need my help, as I said earlier, I always ask how can I help you?

And I understand what parents go through. They're in a very vulnerable time and I don't want to hurt them. I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to take a lot of money from you.

I just want to help you. And my greatest gift is saying thank you. You made a difference in my child's life. Thank you. And I said that you made my day. So that's how I feel.

And I'm very blessed and thankful to have you do this podcast. And I hope of the many things I've said, you know, it'll help the people that listen to this very, very powerful podcast. So thank you.

Kristina: 00:44:36

Awesome. And thank you. Yes. And all of that information is down in the show notes, because that's what I was going to mention next.

All of Howard's contact information.

If this is a good fit for you, if you said something like, man, I really need to know more, please use those show notes, contact him and let him know that you appreciate the show.

Herb: 00:44:53

And again, I'd like to thank you for being here. There are so many people in this world that talk about the problems, but don't ever end up fixing it. They just complain.

Howard Freedman: 00:45:01

They.

Herb: 00:45:02

They do that, oh, I can't afford that. But they don't ever actually go around to trying to figure out how. And you help people do that. So you're on a journey of helping people, and that.

That's a hero's journey. So you are a hero. Instead of. Instead of just sitting back and letting people suffer, it's like, here's a problem. I'm going to help them.

And that makes you a hero, in my opinion. So thank you for being on our show, thank you for being here today, and. And thank you for making the world a better place.

Howard Freedman: 00:45:29

It's my pleasure.

Kristina: 00:45:31

Thank you, audience. You know what to do. It is time to hit that. Like, hit that. Share.

Help other families find this podcast so they can find these wonderful resources that we've curated for you and your family to have happy, healthy, and successful children. Until next time. Bye for now.

Herb: 00:45:48

Bye for now.