Getting the most out of CollegeMadeClear
Thank you for choosing CollegeMadeClear to coach your student through the college selection, application and admissions process. Using a coach is a significant investment in your student and I appreciate your trust. Please read on to find out important information about next steps and how to maximize your and your student’s relationship with CollegeMadeClear.
Your student’s time with me begins with the Family Start Up meeting where we get to know each other. From there, we will work through each step of the process. For each new module, there is an assignment and a meeting with me to discuss the assignment. After each meeting, parents receive an email meeting summary. I encourage parents to stay involved with their student’s progress by reading these emails and discussing them with their student.
For every module, there is also a Parent Fact Sheet on that topic with information that is critical for you to know about that step. These fact sheets are available through your student’s CollegeMadeClear account as well as here.
To get the most out of your investment in CollegeMadeClear, please review the information that follows.
Meetings
Meeting times are coordinated with your student directly. Students schedule meetings through my online scheduling system on the Student Resources page and then add the meeting to their CollegeMadeClear account calendar. Your student will receive a meeting confirmation email/text prior to the meeting. It is your student’s responsibility to communicate with me if he/she will miss a meeting or need to reschedule. Meetings are planned carefully to guide your student through a series of important milestones and to spread the work out over a manageable period of time; if you or your student choose to skip meetings or change the suggested timing, please be advised that this only serves to push the work down the road and can possibly result in overwhelm for your student at a critical juncture. I have a 24-hour meeting cancellation policy and I do enforce it.
Fees
Hourly charges are incurred for meetings with your student and for time spent on work on your student’s behalf. This work can include, but is not limited to:
- Meeting preparation and summaries
- Research and vetting of appropriate summer/extracurricular programs
- Preparing materials and reviewing assessments for your student
- Creating a college list or making suggestions of colleges to research
- Standardized testing referral and communication with testing company(ies)
- Conversations with high school counselors, therapists, and college admissions officers on behalf of your student
I track my time in 5-minute increments. Fees are billed monthly. If you have a not-to-exceed budget in mind, please share that with me and I will work to accommodate it, where possible.
Invoices are sent monthly, are itemized and include the type of work and the time spent on that work. Below are the most common types of work and a general idea of how much time each might take:
Meetings: 1-2 hours
Meeting summary/preparation: 15-30 minutes
College research/list development: 4 – 10 hours
Essay editing: 10 – 30 min/draft/essay
Application guidance: 5 – 8 hours
Actual hours and fees vary by student/family and are affected by a number of factors including the type of colleges a student plans to apply to as well as the student’s level of engagement and initiative. Families can generally expect to pay between $4,000 and $8,000 on college guidance per student.
Communication
The college process includes many important dates and deadlines. Periodically, I send out broadcast emails on topics of interest to parents and students. To ensure your student’s success, please open and read these emails. To ensure receipt, regular emails may come from: email@customcollegeplan.com or email@collegeplannerpro.com with “College Made Clear (Anne Heine)” as the sender. These are “send only” accounts. You may also receive email from anne@collegemadeclear.com, which can receive email.
To avoid having these emails end up in your Junk folder, simply add them ALL as trusted addresses in your email program or as contacts in your contact list.
Please also follow ‘College Made Clear’ on Facebook and Instagram to receive the most up-to-date information on topics related to scholarships, college admissions and the application process. I also share news on college fairs as well as topics related to brain development, emotional wellness and learning differences in teens.