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This is where technology, innovation and personal finance come together. This is the truth about your future with Rick Edelman. I'm Rick Edelman. Of all the households earning more than $200,000 a year, 94% of them are headed by a college graduate. College grads earn nearly a million dollars more over their careers than non grads. They're half as likely to divorce. And they're healthier, too. College graduates live an average of seven years longer than those who never attended college. Pretty compelling reasons to go to college, huh? And that's why I'm back with this special four episode podcast series. Truth is, I've missed you. It's been nearly a year since my last podcast. We ended this at the end of last year after 32 years on the radio as the number one personal finance radio show in the nation, and then three years in the top one of all podcasts. Now I'm back with this special four episode podcast series, starting now and running through the rest of this month. And this special series has one subject. College. Yeah, I'm excited to tell you that December 4th is the launch of my new book, the Truth About College. It's my 14th book and it's being published by John Wiley and Sons, the top business book publisher in the US Why am I focusing on college? Because it's the most profound decision that teenagers make. And it's the default decision that in this country people think that they should be making, that they should be attending college. It's the default recommendation by high school guidance counselors. It's encouraged by parents. And going to college is assumed by most high school students. In fact, six out of ten high school seniors do go on to college immediately out of high school. And like I said, college is indeed the path to affluence. But get this, a quarter of college freshmen drop out and only 62% graduate after six years. And 10 years later, only half of graduates are in jobs that require a degree. And yet, 20 years after graduating, 42% of student loan borrowers are still paying off their debt. This helps explain why about half of college students have been diagnosed with depression. And it's not just the students who are struggling. So are the schools themselves. In 2010, colleges were closing at the rate of about one a month. They're now closing at the rate of one a week. And 10% of our nation's colleges are in immediate financial peril. 70% of the colleges that have closed since 2020 did so with no warning, stranding one and a quarter million students. No wonder 78% of US adults say that college is simply no longer worth the cost. Despite that, college is still the right choice for millions of high school seniors, but only if you navigate the college decision correctly. Do it right, and your teen's future will be filled with prosperity and happiness. Done wrong, college can ruin their life. That's why I'm doing this special podcast series for you. College is a huge deal, and it makes a lot of sense for a lot of students, but it can be the wrong choice, too. And even when it is the right choice, if the student goes about it the wrong way, the outcome can be very bad. Worse than if the student had never went at all. So I want to tell you everything you need to know about college to help both parents and teens make the big decisions. Should the teen go, and if so, to which school and choosing which major? These are big decisions. And I found that most families fail in how they deal with it. When I was running Edelman Financial, we spent a lot of time counseling our clients about college. In fact, that's how Jean and I began our financial planning practice way back in 1986 with college planning seminars for local elementary school PTA groups. Those seminars were so popular that they caught the attention of WMAL Radio, who invited me on as a guest. That led to them offering my own show in 1992. And, well, the rest is history. So here we are, nearly 40 years later with the Little Shop. Gene and I started now the largest independent financial planning firm in the nation, serving 1.4 million households and managing $300 billion in client assets. And it all began with college planning seminars. So, yeah, college has been a big part of the advice we've given for decades. And when I stopped doing my daily podcast last year, I guess I had some time on my hands. So I started putting my thoughts about college on paper. And before I knew it, I'd written a book about it, even though I had promised Gene no more books. Oops. Anyway, if you're a parent, you know that one of the things that scares you the most is the cost of college. You figure you've got an obligation to send your kids to college no matter what, and that's the start of the problem. So starting today and every week for the next three weeks, I'm going to share with you everything you need to know about dealing with college. Today, I'm going to give you the information you need to answer all the college questions you're facing. Is college the right choice? Which school? Which major? I'm going to show both parents and teenagers how to make these important decisions. Most importantly, I'm going to show you how your teen can graduate from college and in just four years, debt free on the Dean's list, with a degree that allows them to have a career in the field they want to work in. Throughout the series, I'm going to tell you the top 10 mistakes the parents make about college, the benefits of getting a college degree, the perils of going to college. Should college even be your goal, and if so, the right goal to set so that college is indeed successful for the teenage. I'm also going to tell you the true cost of college, how to minimize the cost of getting a degree, what college is really all about, and it's not jobs. In case that's what you were thinking, the most important college choices you and your teen are going to face. I'm going to share that with you. And finally, I'm going to share with you the 12 biggest mistakes that students make when considering college. In this series, I'm not going to give you some damning analysis of our nation's higher education system. I'm not going to focus on what's wrong with our educational institutions or explain what policymakers in Congress and state legislatures ought to do about it. I'm also not going to tell you about 529 college savings plans or tuition prepayment plans, or using Roth IRAs or any of that stuff. You can get all the investment information you need in all my other books, or better yet, by talking to a good financial advisor instead. I have just one purpose in this series to give you and the teenagers in your life the specific information you both need so that the student's post high school experience helps them enjoy a long, rewarding and happy life. So I'm glad you're here. You need to tune in to all four of these episodes of this special series. If you're a parent, grandparent, stepparent, or guardian of a grade 7 to 12 student, if you're a K12 school teacher, if you're a high school guidance counselor, if you're a college admissions officer, a professor, a dean, a provost, or president, if you're a student in junior high or high school, or if you're a college student, this podcast series is for all of you. I'm really excited as well that my new book is coming out on December 4, the truth about College. You can order a copy right now from your favorite bookseller and if you pre order the book right now, I'll send you a special workbook 20 conversation starters to help adults and teens talk about college. This workbook is only available to those who pre order the book and if you order three copies, hey, this is a great stocking stuffer for the holidays. You'll get both the workbook and a special invitation to a private webinar with me where you can ask all your questions about college. You'll also get the link to the webinar so you can watch the video recording of the webinar anytime you want to. And if you're a financial advisor, you can get big discounts on bulk orders. This book is a perfect holiday gift for your clients. Same goes if you're an educator or guidance counselor so you can get this book into the hands of all your students. You can get all the info on all these special offers just click the link in the Show Notes so let me begin this series with the key question about college. Ready? Here it is. Will college set your teenagers on a lifelong path of success or will it ruin their life? I'm willing to bet that you are almost certainly encouraging the children in your life to go to college, and it's easy to see why. People who have a college degree are generally wealthier, healthier, live longer, and have happier lives than people who don't have a college degree. But there are costs and risks to going to college and I'm going to tell you about them during these conversations. That's why your behavior is crucial. And I can tell you when it comes to college planning, I've seen so many well meaning parents make tragic mistakes that lead to the opposite outcome of what they wanted for their kids. So let me share with you now the top 10 mistakes that I've seen parents make. Tally up this list as we go along. Let's see how many of these mistakes you're making. Number one, you've made it clear to your teenager that you expect them to go to college. Number two, you've made it clear that you expect them to pursue a particular career or to avoid certain careers. Number three, you've talked about other people, basically setting the tone that your teen must or must not do whatever they did or didn't do. Number four, you've made it clear that you expect them to attend a certain school. Number five. Or the opposite, you've told them there are certain schools you want them to not attend. Number six, you've made it clear that you would be disappointed if they attended a community college. Number seven, you haven't sufficiently funded a college savings account so the teen can graduate without any student Debt. Eight, you've told your teen that they must or must not live at home while they go to college. Number nine, you have told your teen that they must or must not work while college is in session. And number 10, you have conveyed to your teenager that they can attend any college or university of their choice. You've not placed any restrictions or parameters such as cost or distance on their decision as to what school to go to. Now, if you think you haven't made any of these mistakes, have your teen listen to this list, see what they say. If they can be honest with you, you just might get a surprise from them. So I hope you use this little exercise as an opportunity for you to change your behavior. Because your behavior causes the teenager to pursue a path that could lead to their ruin, which, by the way, could cause you to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars. The bottom line is this. You must not assume that all the teens in your life should go to college at all, let alone to a specific school or to get a specific degree. At the same time, you must not abdicate your involvement. Don't let your teenager make the decision about whether to go and where to go and what to study all by themselves. No 17 year old has the experience or the maturity to to truly make those decisions. They need your help. But if you all mismanage all of this, your teenager could waste years of their lives. They could miss better other opportunities. They could saddle themselves with massive amounts of student debt that will haunt them for the rest of their life. Your teenagers will follow your lead. That means you must set the tone. And in this podcast series and in my new book, the Truth About College, I'm going to show you the way to do it right. And doing college right gives your teen so many benefits. College graduates earn far more money than those who only have a high school diploma. Like they earn almost two and a half times more, almost a million dollars more over the course of their career. They get better employment benefits too, like paid vacation, paid sick leave, health Insurance, Child Care, 401k contributions, you name it. And all these benefits they get are almost always tax free. People who only have a high school diploma, three times more of them are living in poverty compared to people who have a college degree. And people with those better jobs, they also have a better work life balance. Really? In my research for my book, I found that 10 of the top 13 jobs where people report the highest levels of satisfaction with work life balance, they all require a college degree. People with degrees also have better health and live longer too. You're more likely to go to the doctor when you're sick. You eat better. You exercise more. You're less likely to drink or smoke or use drugs. Add it all up. People with a bachelor's degree live around seven years longer than people who only graduated from high school. And you not only live longer, you're happier, too. The divorce rate for college grads is half of what it is for non grads. If you get a degree, your kids are going to grow up with a better foundation because you're going to be living in a nicer, safer neighborhood that lets your children attend better schools. They'll be more likely to participate in youth programs that boost their development. They'll do better in life, too, because children of parents who have a college degree are more likely to get a degree themselves than children of parents who didn't go to college. College graduates also tend to have stronger relationships with their parents and siblings. They have more friends, too. They and deeper relationships. All this is awesome, and that's why there's such a bias among high school guidance counselors and parents about sending kids to college. But there are some real dangers about college, and you need to think about those too. In fact, don't just think about it. Listen to what other people are actually saying about college. 51% of college graduates say they chose the wrong school or the wrong major, and a quarter of grads say they wish they had skipped college entirely. Why are so many of them expressing so much regret? There are lots of reasons, and I'm going to tell you what they are. First, there's a huge mismatch between college majors and future careers. More than 40% of college grads in their 20s are working in jobs outside their field. Even worse, many of them are in jobs that don't require a degree at all. And 10 years after graduating, barely half of graduates are in jobs that require any degree, let alone the one they have. Think about that. Only half of college graduates are happily working in their field after graduation. Does that mean going to a successful college, having a successful college outcome? Is that really nothing more than a flip of a coin? If only half are getting it right, your teen has 5050 odds of a great outcome versus a bad outcome. Think about that before you let a teenager spend maybe a quarter of a million dollars and six years of their life on an endeavor that has a one in two chance of failure. Second, even if the teen does get a great job in the field they want to be in, they might not be better off. Sure, college graduates have higher incomes but they don't accumulate more wealth. Why not? Because most grads use a larger portion of their higher incomes to pay off their big student loans. Debts that people who didn't go to college didn't accumulate and so don't have to repay. And maybe that's why almost 10% of the people in their 30s are still living with their parents. Between their college debts and the cost of housing, they simply can't afford to live on their own. And get this. On average, College graduates spend six years getting their degrees. That means they lose six years of earning an income saving in a 401k. People who didn't go to college can start full time jobs right out of high school. They can start saving for retirement at age 18. They get to compound their savings for six extra years compared to college grads. So even though college graduates earn more money, their higher earnings don't translate into more wealth. In other words, a whole lot of people, maybe your teen would be better off getting a lower paying job at age 18 than a higher paying job at age 24. It's something to think about. And after all, we're assuming that your teen will graduate from college. But 37 million college students never did. Yeah, 16% of U.S. adults entered college but left without a degree. A quarter of freshmen start, but they quickly drop out in their freshman year. And only 62% graduate after six years. Even though none of them are getting benefits of a degree, they're still saddled with the lost years of missed income. And they're still stuck with all the student debt they accumulated while they were in college. Are you finding all this depressing? Well, you're not alone. The cost, the time, the uncertain outcome of college. It's also daunting that depression is in fact rampant among college students. 49% of college students, half of them have been diagnosed with depression. And 20% are in serious psychological distress. For those with student loans, 79%, 8 out of 10 are suffering from depression. That's not all. 50% of students are stressed, 49% suffer from loneliness, 48% are anxious, and 44% feel hopeless. Why are virtually half of all college students feeling so despondent? Well, here's what they say. In surveys, nearly 6 in 10 college students say they've been bullied. More than half have been sexually harassed. More than half have been cyberbullied. Half have experienced discrimination. Half have been hazed. More than a third have been victims of microaggressions. Nearly one in three has been sexually assaulted. More than one in Four has been physically assaulted. And that's not the worst of it. As a result of all this, 10% of undergrads have intentionally cut, burned, bruised, or otherwise injured themselves, and 2% have tried to commit suicide. 6% who have student loans have had suicidal thoughts in the past year. Nationwide, more than 24,000 college students attempt suicide every year, and 1100 of them die. Two out of three college students say they know a classmate who attempted or died from suicide. Most college students are in the 18 to 25 age group, and 7.5% of them have seriously considered suicide in the past year. That's nearly double the rate among the overall adult population. In fact, 3% of them made a plan to die by suicide, and 2% actually attempted it. Look, it's clear that college degrees offer the opportunity for a happy life, but it's also pretty clear that happiness has eluded a great many people. So should your teen go to college or not? Well, in 2015, almost 60% of Americans said yes, that college was a great deal. But now only 36% say that half the people in this country say having a college degree is less important than than it was 20 years ago. Nearly half of workers say college didn't teach them the skills they need for their jobs, and employers agree. 40% of them say that college grads are not prepared to enter the workforce. And the middle of all this is the cost of college. 60% of parents say cost is their number one concern about sending their kids to college. Just as many high school seniors say the same thing, that college is too expensive and simply not worth it. Everyone also says high student loans outweigh the benefits of a degree, that there's too much uncertainty about the student's career path, that going to college might harm the student's mental health, and that there are plenty of good jobs out there that don't require a college degree anyway. No wonder the proportion of high school students applying to College has declined 15% since 2015. It used to be said that going to college right out of high school was axiomatic. Nowadays, that's no longer true. And that's why I'm doing this special podcast series for you. It's why I've written the book the Truth About College. It's not that I'm saying college is bad and stay away. I'm saying college can be wonderful, the best possible path for today's teens, but that the path can also be treacherous. And we need to make sure not only that the teen walks that path safely and successfully, but Whether or not the teen ought to walk the path in the first place, that's what we're going to tackle next. Should college be the goal? And if so, what's the best way to proceed? But first, let me ask you for a favor. If I could please pre order my new book, the Truth About College, from your favorite bookseller. When you pre order the book right now, you get a special workbook, 20 conversation starters, to help adults and teens talk about college. This exclusive workbook is only available to those who pre order the book, and if you order three copies as a great stocking stuffer, you'll get both the Conversation Starters workbook and a special invitation to join me in a private webinar where you can ask all your questions about college. You'll get the link to the webinar as well, so you can watch the video recording and anytime you want in case you can't join live. And if you're a financial advisor, you can get big discounts on bulk orders so you can give the book to all your clients. Same goes if you're an educator or guidance counselor. To get that book into the hands of your students. To learn more about these special offers, just click the link in the show notes. Okay, let's answer those two questions. Should college be the goal? And if so, and yes, the answer could well be yes, that college is the right goal. Then you need to make sure that you set the right goal. Because I have found that even those who correctly decide that college is the right path, they get it wrong anyway because they have the wrong focus that leads to failure. So if you're going to pursue a college degree, I'm going to show you right now the goal you really need to set. And here's where it all starts. With the student declaring one simple statement. I want to go to college. I've heard that comment so many times I've lost count. And it's a terrible thing for anyone to say. It's a terrible thing to say because saying I want to go to college is merely a process statement. If you focus on process, you're going to fail because you're going to discover that the time, the effort, the cost, the sacrifices, the demands will be more challenging than you anticipated. So don't focus on process. Don't tell me you want to go to college. Focus instead on the goal. That way you'll be able to more focus on the mission. I'm not just wordsmithing here. I'm talking about an essential element of achievement. And that's why I want to go to college is a dangerous focus on process. So instead, here's what the student should say. I want to get a college degree. Think about that. If the goal is merely to go to college, well, gee, the student has accomplished that the day they arrive on campus as a freshman. But actually getting a degree, well, that requires a student to actually complete their education. That's what takes the time, the effort, and the cost. Tell your teens this. If you want to succeed in life, you must have goals, and you must set those goals carefully. Otherwise, you won't achieve success. We all have to define what success means, because it's different for each one of us. We all have different definitions. Some people want wealth. Other people want children. Some people want to solve some social problem. And goals don't have to be mutually exclusive. You can have many goals. Most people do. My point is that you must start with a goal. And every goal that you set must be specific, must be definitive, and it must be impactful. And it must have a deadline. I want to go to college doesn't qualify. You know, in fact, neither does the statement, I want to get a college degree. So try this. I want to get a college degree in four years. See the difference? But even that's not enough. Why do you want to get a college degree in four years? If you're setting goals properly, you'll realize getting a degree in four years is not the best, best possible goal, because simply getting the degree is itself just another process. What you really want, your true goal, is to acquire the skills and knowledge that you need to be able to work or serve in a given field. That's the goal you want to establish and focus on. Most people who go to college ignore or are oblivious to this notion. They assume that a college degree is all they need to enter and work in their preferred field. But that assumption is often false. So let's start with proper goal setting. And we're going to start at the very beginning with the question that adults have been asking teens ever since the kids were toddlers. What do you want to be when you grow up? The problem with that question is that it suggests that teenagers ought to know the answer. Seriously, most teens have no idea what they want to do as adults. Oh, sure, some of them know, but the majority certainly do not. And I have proof, too. 75% of college freshmen are undecided or undeclared when they enter College. And 80% of college students change their majors at least once. Now, if the teen doesn't know what they want to Major in? How can you be sure the college is right for them and that it's right for them right now? Keep in mind that there are hundreds of fulfilling, financially rewarding and emotionally enriching careers that don't require a college degree. Here are some statistics for you. The average US worker who has a college degree earns $102,000 a year. But there are lots of high paying jobs that don't require a degree. Which means you can skip the six years and the quarter million dollars it takes to get that degree. What jobs am I talking about? Well, how about commercial pilots? They earn an average of 100,000 a year, same average as the average college graduate. And they earn it without going to college. Or Police detectives and supervisors, nuclear technicians, power distributors and dispatchers, transportation, storage and distribution managers, elevator and escalator installers, radiation therapists. All these folks earn more than $98,000 a year on average. Ship engineers, subwaying, streetcar operators, dental hygienists, they all earn more than 80 grand on average. There are hundreds more high paying occupations. Some of them require nothing but experience. You can prep for others by getting a certificate from a vocational or technical school. In other words, yes, you must continue your education after you graduate from high school. But that doesn't necessarily mean you have to pursue a college degree. So let's figure out if college is the right path. Ask your teen to answer these questions. Number one, what interests you? What do you enjoy doing? Just about everything that teens like to do they can engage in as a career. Just one example. Many colleges and universities now offer full scholarships for video gamers, just like they do for football players. Esports. Electronic Sports is a $2 billion industry. Globally. It's projected to grow to 9 billion by 2032. The top 200 gamers each earn a million dollars or more competing in tournaments, events that are so popular that nearly 7 million people watch the League of Legends 2024 World Championship at Rowan University. The Rick Edelman College of Communications, Humanities and Social Sciences lets students earn an online esports industry and entertainment experience certificate. Yeah, they named the college after me. Pretty cool, huh? I mean, think about it. If you can get a career in video gaming, imagine what else is available in whatever your teen is interested in. And question number two. What concerns you? If the teen is old enough to be thinking about college, they're old enough to know that life isn't perfect. We're confronted by global and local challenges every day. I remember my dad telling me when I was growing up that his generation failed to solve the world's problems. And it was all up to me and my generation. I think I can say the same thing to today's young people. So here's a list I'm gonna go down, a list of just about everything that needs fixing. And everything I'm about to mention is also a career path. Ready? It's a long list. Addiction, ageism, animal rights, arms control, bullying, censorship, child labor, chronic disease, civil liberties, climate change, conservation, consumer protection, corruption, crime, criminal justice reform, disability rights, education access, epidemics and pandemics, ethics, extinctions, food deserts, food security, foreign aid, fraud, freedom of speech, geopolitical conflicts, globalization and trade, gun violence, health care, disparities, homelessness, housing affordability, human rights, hunger, immigration, indigenous rights, LGBTQ rights, living conditions, malnutrition, mental health, natural disasters, nuclear weapons, ocean dumping, overfishing, parental rights, political instability, pollution, poverty, prisoners rights, privacy and surveillance, public health, public safety, quality of life, racial justice, racism, reproductive rights, school choice, scientific ethics, sexism, social inequality, substance abuse, terrorism, toxic waste, urban development, urban planning, voter suppression, war and conflict, women's rights, workers rights. Wow, that's a long list. My point is that teens need to consider all this. One of those items might become their life's calling. Here's question number three. What hasn't your teen considered? Yeah, I know it's difficult to reply to a negative, so here's my point. It's a big world out there. Teens have only seen a very small part of it. Of course, that's one of the top benefits of college. The classes, the activities, the people you get to meet, all that's a great introduction to the world and everything it offers. That's why so many college students change their majors. They discover something new. They get so excited about it, they decide to make it their career choice. But here's the thing. Teens don't have to attend college to make all those discoveries. There are hundreds of websites, thousands of books, countless mentors, family elders, community leaders, teachers. And all of them are happy to suggest fields that are unknown to teens, not to mention ideas from ChatGPT and other AI platforms. There's so much content out there. It's all growing so quickly. All a teen has to do is start a search or have a conversation with an adult. And it's for you, the adult, to encourage your teens to do just that so they can explore and see what resonates. Here's the point for you parents of teens, we're talking about creating your teen's career path. And it's their career path, not yours. Too often, I've seen my clients try to dictate to their teenagers what career their teens ought to pursue. That can lead to unhappiness for everyone. This is your teen's life, not yours. You should be fine with whatever they choose, provided what they're doing is honest, ethical, economically self sufficient and personally rewarding. If what they're doing does all that, then no one, including you, has a right to argue with their decision. Now, let's assume that choosing to pursue a college degree is indeed the right choice. I mean, after all, it is the right choice more often than it isn't. So in that case, here's the goal that the teams need to set. And I mean every teen who's going to college, we want their college experience to be successful so college doesn't ruin their life. So here's the goal that all teens headed to college should set. The goal is to graduate from college in four years, debt free, on the dean's list, with a degree that lets them have a career in the field they want to work in. Now that's a mouthful. There's a lot of key words and phrases in that statement. So let's break it down and look at this entire goal statement in detail. First is the phrase graduate from college. Like we've already discussed, attending college is just part of the journey. What matters is not going to college, but actually graduating from college with a college degree. But even that's not enough. Teens must not only graduate, they must graduate in four years. We'll talk about that in a future episode of this series. As to why it's so important for right now, I'll just say that very few undergrads accomplish this goal anymore. And their failure to graduate in four years costs them more than a million dollars over their career. So, okay, so far we have the facts that teens must not only graduate, they must do so in four years. Next, they must also graduate debt free. Otherwise they'll be saddled with financial strife that could destroy their lives. 70% of last year's graduates left school with student loans. With an average debt of nearly $42,000, Americans now owe $1.8 trillion in student debt. That's more than we owe to to credit cards. It's more than we owe to auto loans. The impact of all that student debt? Well, in 1981, the typical first time home buyer was 29 years old. Today they're 38. Partly because of the increase in housing prices, but also partly because so much of their incomes are stuck paying student loans. Which means they can't use the income they're earning toward mortgage payments. So yeah, those who have student loans take 10 years to accumulate enough money for the down payment. That's twice as long as it take. Students who graduate without any debt, and it's not just delays in buying a home. Those who have student debt are also delaying marriage. In 1990, two out of three 30 year olds were married. Today, only half of them are no home, no spouse. The number of women age 30 who have ever given birth has fallen 10% since 1990. And nearly half of childless couples under the age of 50 say that they'll never have kids. And like I've told you, about 10% of the people in their 30s are still living with their parents. That's a 50% increase since 1990. So yeah, if you want your teens to live independently, to own a home, to get married and have children, you need to make sure they graduate from college without any student loan debt. And I'll tell you how they can do that in a future podcast as part of this series. And of course, it's all covered as well in my new book, the Truth About College. I said at the top of today's podcast that if you pre order the book right now, you get special exclusive benefits. Let me take a minute. Tell you what they are. When you pre order the book from your favorite bookseller, you get a special workbook, 20 conversation starters, to help adults and teens talk about college. It's only available to those who pre order the book, and if you order three copies as a stocking stuffer for your family, you not only get the Conversation Starters workbook, I'll also invite you to a special private webinar where you can ask all your questions about college. And if you're a financial advisor, you can get big discounts on bulk orders. So you can give the book to all your clients. All this info is available. Just click the link on the show notes. Okay, back to our conversation. Now that we've got the teen graduating in four years debt free. Wait, we're still not done. There are two more parts to this big college goal. The next one, this is a biggie, is that your teen needs to graduate on the Dean's list. Achieving this goal significantly improves the value of the degree. But how do you do it? Well, you're in luck. I did it and I'm going to tell you how. And lucky you, I was not a terribly bright student, which means if I could get on the dean's list, so can you or your team. This is important. Might not Seem to be right off. I mean, you get a degree whether you get straight A's or nothing but Cs. But here's the thing. If you get low grades, it probably means you've not mastered the content that was taught. That's why you need to graduate on the dean's cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude. If you graduate with honors, you're proving to the world that you really know your stuff. Which not only means it's more likely you can do the job when you're hired, it means you're more likely to get hired in the first place. I mean, if you're an employer, would you rather hire the graduate who made the dean's list or the graduate who didn't? Think about it. When you graduate, you're competing for jobs with everybody else who recently graduated. And dean's list and honors. The best way to quickly demonstrate to employers that you're worthy of consideration, that you're building better than the other job candidates. So, teenagers, you must graduate with honors. Now, that notion can be a little intimidating. I mean, after all, only the smartest kids get on the dean's list, right? Wrong. Getting on the dean's list and graduating with honors has little to do with how smart you are. It's mostly about how hard you work. And I proved it when I went to college. I was a terrible student at first. In the fall semester of my freshman year, my GPA was 2.8. What is that? A C? So what? I figured I was making new friends, was having a great time. In the spring semester, my fun factor went up, but my grades went down. My GPA fell to 2.4. And then in my sophomore year, the fall semester was even worse. My GPA was 2.1. At this rate, I'd soon fail out of college. I remember skipping so many math classes that when I finally did show up, I walked right into an exam that I didn't even know was scheduled. Yeah, obviously I failed that course. I remember that when grades came out and everybody was Talking about their GPAs, I began to realize that everybody was earning a lot better grades than me. Well, I just figured that was because they all had so much more time on their hands so they could study more than I could. I was a busy guy. I mean, I was president of a sophomore class who had time to study. Well, anyway, that was my rationale for not studying. My rationale for getting really bad grades was that I was busy with student government. But I'll never forget a conversation I had with a Friend of mine, she told me she got a 4.0 that semester. Straight A's. And she was editor in chief of our school newspaper. We always used to friendly argue over who had the harder job. Me as class president or her as school editor. I never really told her the truth, that I knew her job was harder because she had all those weekly deadlines. But even so, she got a 4.0 while I got a 2.1. I was not only embarrassed by that, I was furious with myself. I figured she's not smarter than me. If she can get a 4.0 and be editor, then I can too, while being president of the class. And so I finally began to realize that I'm not at college just to have a great time. I'm actually there to learn something. So I decided to change my attitude. I decided that my professors weren't imparting useless information, but essential knowledge that was preparing me for my future career. So I made a mental shift. I reset my mindset. So in that spring semester of my sophomore year, I went to every class. But I knew that wouldn't be enough. I'm not one of those geniuses who have a photographic memory. You know who I'm talking about. The guy who never opens a textbook but nails every exam anyway. We always hate those guys. Anyway, I knew that if I was going to get good grades, it was going to take a lot of hard work. And guess what? That spring, I scored a 3.6 GPA, four As, and a B. And then in every semester afterward, my entire junior and senior years, I got perfect 4.0 GPAs. And I did it while being elected as executive VP of the Student Government association, the number two position in the school, and while interning for a member of Congress. So let me tell you how I got those 4.0 grades. First, I took extensive notes in every class. My professors could talk faster than I could write. So I taught myself how to quickly record their key points. My goal is to memorialize the vital information and not get left behind as they moved on with their lectures. I also read every chapter that they assigned from the textbooks. And then I read the chapters again. This time I used a yellow highlighter to highlight all the important passages. And then I wrote in a notebook everything I had highlighted. Step number four. I yellow highlighted the notes I'd written. And step five. I summarized on three by five cards all of my notes, everything I had written down from the lectures and the textbook. Every note card had just one item, one concept or one fact. By the time I Finished, I'd have read my class notes and the textbook a total of five times, and I had transferred the key information into a slim set of note cards. By doing this, I distilled down the entire course and the whole textbook to just the essential facts. And then the night before the exam, I memorized all the information on all those cards. And here was my final step. And this was the most important of my entire study method. We weren't allowed to bring anything into the exam room, but they did give us a pencil and a blank sheet of paper. So as soon as I sat down, I wrote on that paper everything I had memorized from those three by five cards. Every key fact, every figure, every formula, every statistic. This way, I didn't have to keep all that information in my head. Instead, when I got to a question, I could just refer to my notes. All the answers were right there. This helped me stay calm and focused during the exam because I knew I wouldn't be overwhelmed by having to remember everything all at once. And guess what? Not only was I able to answer every question correctly, I finished every exam with amazing speed, Far faster than other students with no stress, no sweat. That's how I aced every test. That's how your teens can ace every test, too. And I didn't just ace the test. I actually learned something. I got the knowledge that my professors were teaching me. I developed the skills I was there to learn. Now, here's the one important point to keep in mind. In all my homework and all my reading and all my studies, I did everything manually. I didn't have any choice because we didn't have any electronics back when I was in College in the 1970s. I graduated in 1980. Forget about the Internet. We didn't even have fax machines or photocopiers. We used mimeograph machines, carbon paper, and whiteout. Remember whiteout? So I had to take all my notes with a pen and paper today, of course, we've got digital technology students today. If they want, they can use their smartphone and ChatGPT to record lectures and provide summaries. And textbook summaries are all online. Don't let the teen do that. The teen must not. They've got to stick with pen and paper. Now, I'm not saying that because I'm an old fart. I'm saying this because this is how they'll get better results. Studies have proved that using pen and paper improves recall and comprehension compared to using electronic devices. You see, when you type on a keyboard, every muscle action is the same. Go ahead, press the letters R and Q. There's no difference in movement. But when you write the letter R, your hand's motion is very different from when you write the letter Q. Physical movement helps your brain process content. And get this, you can't write as fast as you type. So writing by hand forces you to move more slowly by going slower, or you focus more on what you're actually writing. When students type notes in class using a keyboard, they're usually just quoting verbatim whatever the professor is saying. That means they're just acting like a stenographer. They're not actually comprehending anything. But when you write notes on a piece of paper with a pen, you have to summarize what the professor says. That forces you to analyze and interpret what you hear. The result, you write less, but you comprehend more. So yeah, technology and automation might be more efficient, but they're not more effective when it comes to helping you become a subject matter expert. There's actually a scientific name for this. It's called cognitive offloading, meaning that typing on a keyboard doesn't get the content into your brain. Instead it merely goes right onto the hard drive or right into the cloud. But when you write by hand, you engage the parts of your brain that actually help you learn. That prevents the offloading that typing causes. Yeah, I know textbooks are expensive and you can save money by downloading a summary, but tell the student to buy and read the book anyway. There are no shortcuts to learning. If the student can't afford to buy the books, then that's a clear message that the student can't afford to go to college and they'll likely drop out. It's that simple. Yeah, simple. I'm sure you get what I'm saying because yeah, this really is simple. But we know that simple doesn't always mean easy. I was spending twice as much time studying outside of class as I was spending time in class. With five classes every semester, each class 75 minutes twice a week. That's 12 and a half hours of classes per week. I was studying outside of class another 25 hours a week. That's a total of 37 and a half hours. That's a full time job. So yeah, getting on the dean's list and graduating with honors is hard work. But that's all it is. You don't have to be super smart. I certainly am not super smart. It just takes hard work and that's what life is all about anyway. What a great training ground college is. When you do it Right. Okay, deep breath. One last point on this studying thing. I shouldn't have to mention it, but when I was doing research for my book, I found some statistics, so you need to hear this. I just said that it's bad when students type their notes instead of taking notes by hand. But there's something even worse than typing, and that's delegating all of it to AI. One study found that 89% of college students, nine out of 10 of them, are using chatbots to read their assigned work, to complete their homework, or to write their papers. That's cheating, period. Even worse, it's stupid. Let me say it another way. Cheating by using AI will keep you stupid. A study this year at MIT found that 83% of students who used AI to help them write papers later couldn't quote from their papers. In other words, they didn't learn anything. They didn't know anything any more after completing their assignment than they knew before they'd started. They didn't learn a thing. So, sure, you can use AI to take a quiz or write a paper. It might help you get an A. It might help you skip the time and burden of doing the work themselves. But the result is the students won't know anything more at the end of the semester than they did before they started. They'll just be six months and thousands of dollars poorer. And if you're paying for college for them, you're literally throwing your money away so they can be lazy. And even if this cheating does manage to trick the professor into giving you an A, good luck trying to get a job or keep a job after they figure out you have no clue how to do the job. Tell the team, don't use AI. Don't cheat. You're only cheating yourself. Okay, last point. We have graduating in 4 years debt free on the Dean's list. And now the final part of our goal, emerging with a degree that lets teens have a career in the field of they want to work in. This is last because it's a biggie. And that's because there's a whole lot more to life than just making money. And that's why in this series and in my new book, the Truth About College, it really isn't about college. It's about being happy. And that means showing teens the path to being able to create and maintain the lifestyle they want. This is so big a topic that we need to devote an entire podcast to it, and we're going to explore it next week. Be sure to tune in. And in the meantime, pre order my new book, the Truth About College from your favorite bookseller. As I mentioned, if you pre order the book right now, you'll get a special workbook, 20 conversation starters, to help adults and teens talk about college. This exclusive workbook is only available to those who pre order the book, and if you order three copies, you'll get both the Conversation Starters workbook and a special invitation to join me in a private webinar where you can ask all your questions about college. And you'll get the link to the webinar so if you miss it live, you can watch it anytime you want. And if you're a financial advisor, you can get big discounts on bulk orders because the book is a great holiday gift for your clients. Same goes if you're an educator or a guidance counselor so you can get the book into the hands of your students. To learn more about these special offers, just click the link in the show notes. Join me next week for episode two and you'll learn what college is really all about, showing teens how to create the lifestyle that they want to live as an adult. See you next week. And in the meantime, please share this podcast with all the parents and teens you know increased awareness and actionable intelligence about the forces that are shaping our world. This is the Truth about yout Future with Rick Edelman.