<p>I was dismayed to hear a guest on the public radio personal finance show Marketplace Money (sorry, the title says Sound Money, that is the old name for the show) trash talk College Confidential today. I have listened to this show for over 20 years, and consider their advice it a major reason for my ability to put 2 kids through private colleges as a single parent and with no debt incurred.</p>
<p>The guest was Andrew Ferguson, author of “Crazy U”, which is about his son’s college search. His son is now at their state university (he wanted a school where he could “take off his shirt, paint his chest, and major in beer”). This piece really struck me as an anti-intellectual diatribe by a parent too lazy to do a serious college search.</p>
<p>Here is part of what he said about CC (around minute 13:00 if you happen to have the podcast): </p>
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<p>I admit, I have given my own advice to parents new to CC to stay away from the Ivy threads And we have our share of Tiger parents and students majoring in beer. But this is such a huge trove of valuable advice on EVERYTHING college related, I hate to hear it trashed with no response. I think I will write a letter to the show to tell them I think they have done CC (and parents & students who are college hunting) a disservice.</p>
<p>Since we are just starting our college search for our second kid, I have been spending time at the college visit descriptions and the forums for the colleges she wants to visit. Also reviewed the ones for her intended major (as I don’t know much about it). D1 has found useful information on the internship and study abroad forums. This website is every bit as good as a private college counselor, and much cheaper. And more fun :)</p>
<p>Personally, CC is one of my favorite sites, as long as you read it with some decent filters and ignore the ■■■■■■ that pop up from time to time. It’s disappointing that the person criticizing didn’t take the time to find the great value and depth in the site before bashing it. I recommend CC to many people as I have found a lot of invaluable, frank info (especially in the parents & parents cafe sections) that you can’t find anywhere else.</p>
<p>As H says, some of those idiot talking heads are paid by the word & love to stir up controversey. I haven’t heard much of Sound Money & now perhaps I never will. :(</p>
<p>Actually, don’t let you put this off the show. I am a single parent with a kid at an LAC (and another in her college search). My kids will graduate with no debt, and I give this show a HUGE amount of credit for that. I have learned pretty much everything I know about personal finance from this show over the past 25 years. That is why I am so disappointed by this, it seemed out of character (and my letter is telling them so ).</p>
<p>I think it’s a legit criticism but in no way outweighs the advantages of CC in the college search. Of course, critical thinking skills strong enough to determine the relative credibility of contradictory opinions are a must.</p>
<p>A friend told me about CC and it really helped me understand the process and help son navigate the complex college application system. Not sure we would have made it through as well without it. I’m always amazed at the amount of misinformation that is out here about applying to colleges. </p>
<p>I rarely go on the parents forum anymore though because I find all the arguing about private vs. public, the need for an ivy league education, the value of AP courses, etc. to be exhausting at this point. Now that son is a college freshman and has made his choice (which has turned out to be a good fit for him) I’m not going to second-guess those decisions. I only post there if I think it will be helpful to another parent who is struggling with the same things I was a year ago. </p>
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<p>Absolutely true. I have participated in a number of topic specific forums over the years. They are only useful if you have the ability to ascertain the level of credibility of the poster and can understand that many posters have their own agendas. I always use a travel forum to plan trips, and even there you need to understand that. It’s also helpful to understand that some posters are just extreme in their positions and take those with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>Love the Parents Cafe…entertaining and informative, a great place to vent, find a shoulder to cry on, support those in need…think I will be here a long time. :)</p>
<p>I cannot come up with a better financial aid board. I also find the parents here to be wonderful folks. Those I have personally met, have fulfilled those expectations too.</p>
<p>Oh good…if PuppyWuppy isn’t taken, I’m going to close my account and take it (maybe)…the rest of you can be PuppyWuppy1, PuppyWuppy2, PuppyWuppy3.</p>
<p>I think it was just “one guy” perspective…although probably not so far removed from many parents (whose parents went to college and kids will go to college). Possibly even a laugh out loud trip down memory lane for parents who went to private colleges (Ivy League or not) in the late 70s and who have born children that can’t wait for Big State U fall football. As a parent who never went to a football game in college and did take some uhmmmm rather esoteric classes in undergrad you learn to zip your lips and restrain your personal opinions very quickly. You can very easily be sucked into all kinds of “stuff” on CC and heaven forbid you even find yourself on the chances thread. We could probably put one heck of a laugh out loud thread if we collected all the patently wrong information and bizzaro kid posts. Looks like a fun read on the beach this summer and a reminder that we are now the older generation and who knows maybe our kids are onto something with Big State Us and Football Falls.</p>
<p>That is one of the reasons it chapped me… it is only one parent’s perspective (and he has done exactly one college search, and it sounds like his son is a freshman so no telling how it will turn out). But they passed him off as an expert. He is no more (and I think, after listening to him, somewhat less) educated on how to pick a college than most parents. He is a guy who decided he was getting too much info, concluded that a college education might not be worth it any way (that is in the rest of his comments that I didn’t share), and just picked the easiest route. Too many of D1’s classmates transferred or are not so happy at their choices because they didn’t put much effort into their college search. I hate to see people encouraged to skip a good source of info like this.</p>
<p>Tens of thousands of people (maybe more) will hear those comments on the radio and the podcast. And it just annoys me that they picked him as an “expert”. Should pick one of us instead! I nominate Garland… or Hindoo, who no longer posts, but is the most diplomatic of us all.</p>
And we have our share of Tiger parents and students majoring in beer. But this is such a huge trove of valuable advice on EVERYTHING college related, I hate to hear it trashed with no response. I think I will write a letter to the show to tell them I think they have done CC (and parents & students who are college hunting) a disservice.</p>
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I nominate Garland… or Hindoo, who no longer posts, but is the most diplomatic of us all.</p>