From Texas to Tulane: A Personal Story and Case Study for the College Consultant Network (CCN)

In the spring of my daughter’s junior year in high school, she was just beginning to narrow down the list of colleges she might like to attend. As we are what I might consider an upper middle class family, there was very little chance we would receive any need-based financial aid to reduce the burden of tuition payments. We also have the good fortune of living in the state of Texas where there is a preponderance of good state schools. So, we were left with the common quandary of state versus higher cost private schools.

I visited what is now called the College Consultant Network (CCN) and found the site informative and user-friendly.

I advised my daughter to visit the site and offered to pay for any calls she made. After viewing several profiles she chose Whitney Bruce, an Independent Education Consultant with more than 20+ years experience in education but who also been successful in the corporate world. It was a simple process to request and confirm a time with Whitney and submit a credit card to conduct the call. My understanding is that the lion’s share of the fee goes to the expert, who gets to set their own rate, and the operator (Brainsy) receives some portion as a service and processing fee.

At the appointed time I sat with my daughter to observe the service as she connected with Whitney. My daughter was well prepared and presented what she was looking for -- a school with strong engineering and sciences but where she could also minor in Spanish. She also stated that although she liked the quality of our state schools and the price tag, she would rather attend a private school that had a more national student body and access to smaller class sizes. Whitney asked whether we had considered Tulane University.

Although Tulane was in neighboring Louisiana, Texas was not among the top five home states for their student body. At the time of application, this among other factors induced Tulane to be rather aggressive with non-need based merit aid in attracting nearby, qualified applicants. Whitney highly recommended that we visit the school and evaluate it.

It was early February when we chatted with Whitney and due to her recommendation, we planned our Spring Break trip to visit Tulane in New Orleans. My wife is a great planner and we had a full docket in our five days in New Orleans, but the centerpiece was visiting Tulane. My daughter took the tour, spoke to some counselors, and even sat in on a class. She instantly fell in love with the school.

Flash forward six months and my daughter was accepted early decision at Tulane with a 50% merit aid package on tuition. That didn’t make it exactly equal with the Texas schools in terms of cost, but made it close enough to take the financial consideration off the table. The decision to attend Tulane was life-altering and, in great part, due to a single call we made with an expert for which I paid less than $50.

My daughter has finished up her studies at Tulane graduating with a degree in Chemical Engineering. While I can’t guarantee that others will have the same result, I will most definitely recommend the College Consultant Network (CCN) to all of our friends with college bound children.

With gratitude,

Tom M…, (a satisfied CCN parent)

#CollegeConsultantNetwork #CollegeSelection #TulaneUniversity