With a four year college degree costing over $100,000, parents are wondering, “How can I afford college?” Students are wondering, “How do I find the right college for me?” Tyler Hakes and Lynnell Engelmyer, of College Raptor, and Cyndy McDonald of GuidedPath will demonstrate how both these needs can be met, and how the definition of a college search has to be expanded to include financial fit. Examples and resources will be shared.

1. Finding the right college without
paying a fortune to attend

2. The answer is “Yes”
•Webinar will be recorded
•Slides are available
•Watch for email with link
to Cyndy’s blog
Links to all presentations available at
www.guidedpath.net/category/cyndys-blog or at
www.collegeraptor.com/counselors

3. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
The Presenters
Lynell Engelmyer has more than 20 years of
experience working as an admissions officer, financial
aid director and also for the College Board. She
serves as a professional college counselor for
students from around the country.
Tyler Hakes is the director of marketing and one of
the founding members of the College Raptor team.
He’s worked previously in higher education marketing
and consulting.
An experienced middle and high school counselor,
Cyndy has experience working in college access
programs, schools, and as an independent college
counselor. She is the founder of HECA, MyCCA.net
and GuidedPath.

4. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
The big challenge
● There are 2,000+ 4 year
colleges and universities in
this country
● Hundreds of factors go into
finding the “right” college
Photo: Trinity College

5. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Finding the right fit
● Academic factors
○ Grades and test scores
○ Course requirements
○ Credit transfers
○ Majors/Programs
○ Admissions selectivity
● Cultural factors
○ Campus size
○ Culture
○ Sports/Events
○ Amenities
○ Clubs
○ Location

6. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
The Missing Piece
• There’s an important piece
other methods don’t
accurately include, and for
so many students, it’s the
most important factor...
Is this school a
good financial fit
for me?
$10,000?
$35,000??
$60,000???

7. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
The importance of financial fit
• College costs for consumers
are skyrocketing
• Student loan debt now more
than $1.3 trillion
How can students make
responsible decisions
about college without
going into massive debt?

8. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Pitfalls of not considering cost
• With sticker prices
continuing to rise, some
schools offer significant
discounting, other schools
do not
• Students could easily end
up with $100,000+ in debt
• How can you incorporate
financial fit into the college
search process to help
students find a good match?

9. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
How do you help students?
• Use your personal
knowledge base/personal
experience
• Use college search sites
• Add community
colleges/state schools for
safer financial bets
• Spend hours completing net
price calculators
Photo via Flickr

10. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Determining “real” college costs
You could:
• Take a list of colleges and go to each
school’s website
• Find the (often well-hidden) net price
calculator on each site
• Enter the family’s financial information
over and over again to get cost
estimates for each school
• Figure out how to compare the results
of each school
This is laborious, confusing and
time consuming—there has to
be a better way!

11. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Better solution
• College Raptor was
developed to match
students based on
academic, cultural, AND
financial fit—in minutes
• Provides price transparency
to let students compare
colleges based on net price
for each student/family,
NOT the “sticker” price or
average financial aid
packages

12. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Our Vision
College Raptor is a free tool that
matches students with colleges
based on:
• Academic factors
• Cultural variables
• Estimated net price for any 4-year
college in the U.S.
• Provides a clear and simple way
for students to compare colleges
and build a customized list of
options

13. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Our Data
• IPEDS (Integrated
Postsecondary
Education Data System)
• College net price
calculators
• Crowd-sourced award
letter information
• Hundreds of thousands
of proprietary data
models

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How We Are Changing College Search

15. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Sally Smart
Very strong student:
• 3.8 GPA
• 34 ACT / 1510 SAT CR+M
• Interested in Engineering
Lower middle-income family:
• $65,000 income / year
• $5,000 assets
• 4 in the family, 2 working parents

16. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Gary Goodstudent
Strong student:
• 3.5 GPA
• 28 ACT / 1260 SAT CR+M
• Undecided major
Lower-income family:
• $35,000 income / year
• $0 assets
• 4 in the family, 1 working parent

17. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Gary Goodstudent - Results

18. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Steve Unsure
Average student:
• 3.5 GPA
• 22 ACT / 1030 SAT CR+M
• Interested in architecture
Middle-income family:
• $100,000 income / year
• $30,000 assets
• 5 in the family, 1 working parent
Only considering state schools
Not familiar with other options

19. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Steve Unsure - Results

20. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Our Goals
• To provide the best, free platform to help
families
• Turn counselors into superheroes
• Improve the way families find and compare
colleges
• Improve college access and affordability for
ALL students
• Combat under-matching
• Increase student success
• Change lives
Photo via Flickr

21. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
How Schools & Orgs Are Using CR
• Iowa College Access Network
-Presented to 430 high schools across the state
-All counselors trained on using CR
-Printed flyers and handouts to students
• iMentor (New York City)
-Mentors use CR with 5,000+
mentees
-Create college list, explore
options

22. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
How Schools & Orgs Are Using CR
• Ohio College Access
Organizations
-Webinar for all staff
-Financial aid training
• Schools and Districts
-Institutional version of
College Raptor
-Including CR in planning
classes/events

23. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
How IECs Can Use CR
• Free access to the site,
available to the public
• Create a free account as a
counselor
• Create accounts with
students, have them use
the tool to build their list
and help them evaluate
options

24. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Working With Us
CollegeRaptor.com/Counselors
-Many resources, handouts
-Enter email to learn about new
features/developments
Institutional version of
College Raptor (Free!)
Email Tyler:
Tyler@CollegeRaptor.com

25. College Raptor Confidential
GuidedPath-
Helping you send
more students to
college

26. College Raptor Confidential
•To predict a student’s chances of
admissibility into an institution, we
familiarize ourselves with admit rates,
average tests scores, GPA range, and
other attributes of fit.
•To predict a client’s eligibility for aid
from an institution, we must know a
few of its financial attributes.
The “BEST FIT” must include all factors: Academic, social and financial fit!

27. College Raptor Confidential
Resources for families to
calculate EFC:
-Net price calculators on websites
-FAFSA4caster
-College Board
-Others?
#1- Start with calculating an EFC
Why you need College Raptor
and GuidedPath
GuidedPath offers an EFC calculator
for both FAFSA and PROFILE.

28. College Raptor Confidential
#2- Evaluating a college’s generosity:
•What percentage of need
does it meet?
•What is the average amount
of merit aid it awards?
•What percentage of
undergrads are receiving
merit aid?
GuidedPath search gives you all this information- and more!

29. College Raptor Confidential
#2- Evaluating a college’s generosity
GuidedPath offers the most comprehensive search and compare tool on the market.

30. College Raptor Confidential
#3- Evaluating Merit Scholarships

31. College Raptor Confidential
Conclusion
1. Help family’s understand their
financial profile in terms of
demonstrated need. Are they high,
moderate, low, or no need?
2. OR in our terms, Whole, Half-Half, or
Merit?
3. Help them understand the kinds of
colleges where they will be eligible
for the greatest amount of aid.
4. Help populate their college list with a
smart mix of colleges that maximize
the probability of aid, using College
Raptor.

32. College Raptor Confidential
Watch for email
Cyndy’s blog
–Watch webinar
–View & download slides
–Watch for Q & A
Professional Development
–Invitation to
UPCOMING Webinars

33. College Raptor ConfidentialCollege Raptor Confidential
Thank you
• Questions?