The Rise Of The Education Consultant
If you attended college more than 15 years ago, chances are you'll notice some big differences when your own children start looking at schools.
The biggest change is undoubtedly the cost of tuition, and room and board, which has soared more than 42 percent on an inflation-adjusted basis over the past 12 years, according to government data.
More high school graduates are attending colleges, and the gaps in unemployment rates and salary between a high school graduate and a college graduate are widening. That has allowed some colleges to be more selective in admissions.
Given the steadily growing cost of investing in a child's education and increasing competition for admission at some colleges — especially those in the top tier — more parents are hiring education consultants to assist them and their children in preparing for, selecting and applying for college.
“We've come into the mainstream,” said Charlotte Klaar, an education consultant who splits her time (and clients) between Westborough and Maryland. “When I started in Central Massachusetts, most people didn't use a consultant because they didn't know what we were.”
But that has changed. A study commissioned three years ago by the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) found that 26 percent of high school students with combined math and critical reading SAT scores of at least 1150 (out of 1600) used an education consultant.
Growth can also be seen in industry groups.
IECA, which accredits consultants, has approximately tripled its membership since the 1990s.
Market Knowledge
Klaar likened seeking education consultants to hiring a real estate agent to buy or sell a home.
“You're getting someone who knows the market, who knows what's out there, who knows how the colleges are looking at a child's academic, cultural and social needs,” she said.
Klaar, who charges $4,500 to guide a high school student from junior year through the application process, said it's a relatively small price to pay given the price of college. An unhappy student might waste a year before changing schools or majors, and in turn, waste tens of thousands of dollars of tuition payments. So finding the right college match is important, she said.
No Guarantees
One thing consultants are quick to point out is that their job is to coach and prepare a student for college and help him select the right one, not promise to get him accepted to an Ivy League or other school they see as desirable.
Making that case has become all the more important given a recent lawsuit filed in Massachusetts District Court in which a Hong Kong couple alleged that a Connecticut-based consultant and former Harvard University faculty member, Mark Zimny, promised and failed to get their child into Harvard University, and accepted more than $2 million in payments from the family in the process.
Joan Bress, founder of Worcester-based College Resource Associates, said the lawsuit could cast a negative perception on her industry, but she said the case is an outlier.
“I think it was just such a bizarre experience that people I know just sort of laughed it off,” Bress said.
She added that associations like the IECA have adopted codes of the ethics stating that no consultant can promise entry into a particular school, as Zimny is alleged to have done.
And Klaar, the Westborough consultant, said such a promise would likely backfire. In a business where word of mouth can mean the difference between getting new clients, making such promises doesn't make sense anyway, she said.
“The only person that can get a kid into college is the kid,” Klaar said. “These are very small businesses. Your name is your business.”
In the wake of the lawsuit, the IECA released a letter last month explaining what questions to ask a consultant to determine his or her legitimacy. Things to watch out for include high monthly fees, admission guaranties, offers to act as a middleman for donations to schools and a lack of accreditations or credentials.
So, What Can Consultants Offer?
Education consultants help students keep track of application deadlines, brainstorm application essay topics, and most importantly, they say, find a college that best fits a student's learning and social styles as well as the family's budget.
Both Bress and Klaar said their most common client family signs a contract with them at the start of their child's junior year in high school. They'll talk about course selection and extracurricular activities. Narrowing down a list of colleges, brainstorming essays and worrying about applications comes later.
Bress said some families desperately want their son or daughter to attend an Ivy League or other top college, and being upfront and honest about a child's chances can be painful, she said.
“It's hard sometimes, when families really want the very best for their child, for them to think of the prospect that it's not going to work,” Bress said.
“My job is to be the matchmaker,” Bress said. “I recommend schools I think are appropriate for students.”
And those schools have been warming to education consultants over the years, both women said.
Some schools used to view consultants as people trying to game the admissions process, Bress said, but that has changed.
“Colleges know that, for the most part, we do a good job,” Bress said. “I think colleges see the value in what we provide for them.”
Under Schools’ Radar?
Edward Connor, dean of admissions at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said the school offers tours for guidance counselors and consultants. In recent years, the college has held two special tours for consultants that coincided with a national conference in Boston.
Though admissions departments are certainly aware of consultants, Connor said he doesn't see a lot of them frequently. Most times it's hard to tell if a consultant has worked with a student unless the student or family mentions it.
“When consultants are really doing their jobs and meeting their ethics guidelines and doing what they're supposed to do, it is a seamless process and we don't really know a lot about them,” Connor said.
And he stressed that there is no inside track to admission to WPI.
“It's really all about the student,” he said. “It's what they're going to bring to the table.”
Connor concedes that the application process has become more complicated, but he thinks it has more to do with the fact that students tend to apply to more colleges than they did in the past.
But at least for his school, Connor (himself a 1992 WPI graduate) doesn't think the application process has become overly complicated.
“I think the individual processes really haven't changed a lot,” he said.
WPI probably benefits from consultants, he added, because they might put the college on a student's radar.
“I think a benefit for us maybe is a consultant might introduce WPI to a family from outside the New England area, where we don't have as much name recognition, and really get a student excited about WPI,” he said.
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