If students put in their stats, it would be an ideal opportunity for lesser known colleges that are in range to get their names out to the prospective students.
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Or do what Wikipedia does, just ask for donations.
Usually I feel guilty not donating because I get enough use from them that I would help to keep them around.
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I discovered CC for myself this year as my oldest is a senior. I’ve enjoyed reading and contributing to support other parents going through this process. So there is some value to me of just being part of the community. I am not sure exactly what kind of premium content you would deliver? I will say that last year I did pay for a subscription to college kickstart. I liked that It pulls from most up-to-date CDS for schools that I am interested in, without my having to dig for it. Even so, I’m not sure it was worth what I paid, but I did like having access to it.
One thing that I’d consider paying for is an updated list of summer programs with actual working links to each program, and ideally searchable by subject area, geography, date, cost, etc. I’m doing a lot of research on that now for my D26.
Thanks for asking for feedback - hope it all works out!
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Nope, nope nope. And there is the risk that if many of the very helpful, experienced posters choose not to pay, the paid portion could be topheavy with those who think they are helpful and experienced, but… kinda only in their own minds. It could be very lopsided and would lose the checks and balances that are so necessary.
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Maybe CC should be a non-profit 
The donations, fundraising, grants etc.
I feel silly but I had no idea I have been working hard as a volunteer for a for profit organization.
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If it makes you feel better, it hasn’t been particularly profitable.
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Perhaps you could confirm the credentials of trained independent college counselors and provide a subscription service pairing students and counselors. You are more likely to attract paying customers if you are doing something to vet the quality of the advice.
The services could be price tiered for the student to include individual or multiple chance me asks. Counselors would have to pay a subscription fee but would be allowed to offer students further private services at a fee to help create an entire application list or professional essay advice.
Obviously this isn’t fully thought out but conceptually you have an audience of people in need of info that professionals are selling privately at a meaningful cost. CC could be a platform from which local experienced college counselors could reach a global audience.
You sell ad space but it is likely far to expensive for an individual counselor. Ironically however the one thing you know the audience is most in need of is professional counselors. Bridging that disconnect would seem like a revenue opportunity and not infringe on your broader amateur bread and butter advice.
Just a thought.
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Well said.
It really isn’t at our traffic levels. Only video ads really pay big dollars. And have you ever seen a video ad you liked?
As someone who has served on non-profit boards for many years, the non-profit route def has its own difficulties. This topic can be a rabbit hole, so for the sake of this conversation let’s assume the corporate structure for CC cannot change.
So cool! And so glad you’re here! The summer program idea is exactly the kind of value-added content we’d like to add to a premium subscription. Content that goes above and beyond what you’d find in the conversation at CC (or maybe just aggregates it for easy access).
Let’s retire the idea that we’d close off any current area of the site and put it behind a subscription. Premium would be added value on top of whatever they get when they register for the site. For all of you, the site will likely not change at all. For those actively in the college admissions process, they’d have the option to purchase something premium from CC.
Great idea - we’ve actually thought about doing this - kind of a matchmaking service for counselors. It would take a lot of work to boot up and do well, but def something to keep in mind.
Whatever we decide to do here likely won’t affect Parent Cafe or other non-college related discussion categories.
We’ve been selling to colleges for a few years now. The problem is that its SUPER labor intensive and the sales cycle is excrutiatingly slow.
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So expecting people especially some family’s to pay is doomed to fail. All the kids will run to Reddit etc. Others will just make their own slack groups etc.
You have a high school lounge. What about getting someone like Chegg involved for homework services. ? You make a referral fee off of them. Then you do that with other companies.
What will people pay for. Starting from Junior year a concise how to apply to college. Maybe with followup in the process. Help making a list of college etc. Sorta like a pseudo college counsler. Would that be worth $50 for some family? Sure. Many don’t know the process and want hand holding. Then the forums can be used as an adjunct. I have more ideas but just brain storming for now.
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Referrals we’ve tried in various ways but has underperformed in most cases. Not to say that it can’t be improved.
Love this. All stuff we could fund with a premium subscription.
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Think will be difficult to charge a premium for new stuff when Khan Academy has some college admission prep stuff, low cost AI tutor.
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To sum up so far about a possible Premium Subscription:
Locking any existing part of CC behind a paywall
More overplayed content like webinars and emails
Convincing any senior member to pay a subscription
Converting to a non-profit and taking donations
Selling more data to more schools
Private chance me/match me/help me decide
Hard to compile content (e.g. list of summer programs)
Vetted partner discounts/referrals
Vetted matchmaking with counselors
No ads/popups
If you have more to say about this topic, I’m all ears. This has been super helpful so far…
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Something I would pay for is a place to manage all applications. I applied to many schools, and even though I’ve managed, it has been a challenging at times to remember everything. I know there is currently a list maker on CC, but it is somewhat barebones. A place to check off when a certain college specific essay is done, or when Fafsa has been sent to a certain college would be helpful along with other tracking features (link to go directly to college web portal) would be helpful to me. I realize you can do this in excel, but something that is already thought out would be helpful. Probably would need to be part of a larger benefit package, but it could be something helpful as part of a premium experience.
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Would moderation standards be different for paying vs. non-paying members? 
LOL - we could create a “POST ANYTHING” super-ultra-extra-titanium subscription. Only $1.5MM/year!
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I believe this is true. This gets at why I didn’t join CC’s essay review group. I don’t think it’s appropriate that people with no training in college essays are giving students advice/direction/feedback on their college essays. I know some people in that group do have that training, but not all do. There are too many excellent free resources for essay help, including sites like college essay guy. We should help students find high quality resources like those, and I do direct some students to college essay guy and similar sites.
This list may be helpful, no links, but those get broken so often anyway: https://www.collegematchpoint.com/summermatchpoint
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I’ll comment on this one. There are three of us in my field of expertise on this forum that I know of. I have no idea what the other two will do, but if this goes private, you will lose me as a contributor for folks wishing to enter my profession in which there is a huge shortage of people.
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Lots of great points and suggestions raised here. I agree that putting most things behind a paywall will kill this site. I think a freemium model focused on what college applicants and their parents value most might be the way to go.
Examples:
- free version lets you to get essay review and feedback for a single essay (likely CAPS). Premium version lets you get multiple essays reviewed, by trained essay readers.
- premium version lets you engage in an AMA with college admissions officers, like you’ve done with UChicago. Free version lets you read the AMA after the session completes.
- application management software for premium subscribers as @Ae1231 suggested. Free version only lets you maintain a list.
I think these suggestions are also likely to succeed:
Paired with:
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Would only those who subscribe to this be able to respond to these private threads? If so, I think you run the risk of losing some valuable advice.
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