December 3, 2025 • 39 mins
Financial advisor and New York Times best-selling author Ric Edelman joined us on NightSide to discuss his new book, The Truth About College: The Essential Guide for Parents and Teens―So You Can Make the Right Choice Together. Ric will cover a variety of areas such as the real-world benefits and costs of attending college today, common mistakes made by college students, and how to minimize the downsides and cost if you or your child decide to attend.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
He's night Side with Dan Ray on WBSY cost in
his new radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Let me just take a very quick minute to remind
all of you that the Night Side Andrew, the thirteenth
annual Nightside Charity Combine, is coming up on Tuesday night,
December twenty third. And if you either are an officer,
run a charity, whether it's a big charity or a
small charity, as long as it's a legitimate charity, we
don't need Uncle Harry's beer fund. All we want is charities.
(00:27):
We highlight about twenty great charities. We've done it now
for twelve years. This will be year number thirteen. All
you have to do is send me an email at
Dan Ray at iHeartMedia dot com. And if you can't
do that, you can try to reach me by phone,
but get to me directly the name, your name, and
a phone number. I'll get back to you. We'll let
(00:48):
you know when you're going to be with us, and
we will do an interview with you in our last
two hours of the broadcast here on Tuesday night, December
twenty third, two nights before Christmas. And that's that's how
we will end the show this year. If you can't
remember Dan ray D a n Ria at iHeartMedia dot com. Well,
call Rob now and he'll tell that to you. We
(01:10):
are going to talk with someone who for many many
years you have known him as a financial advisor, Rick Edelman.
Rick Edelman, Welcome back to WBZ. It's sort of your
home in New England.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I think it really is. Dan, it's so exciting to
be back on the air with you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, we wanted to have you on tonight so that
people could ask you some questions. You have actually released
a book yesterday. The publication date was yesterday, The Truth
about College, The Truth about College, and it is a
book that really is intended for not only people who
are in the process of applying to college, but also
(01:52):
for the parents of people who are applying to college.
What prompted you to write this book? I think of
you as a financial advisor. I probably forever will from
listening to those many many mornings over many many years.
You know your program on WBZ.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Well, yeah, it was so much fun doing doing the
Rick Edelman Show on WVZ for oh goodness gracious, a
couple of decades, I think, And you're right, I'm a
financial advisor by training and by background and built the
largest financial planning firm in the nation, and we have
still lots of offices throughout the Boston area and serving
(02:33):
so many wonderful folks and helping them achieve financial success
and future financial security.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
And what is funny is that people, a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Of folks say, why would I write a book about college?
What's that got to do with anything? And what's funny
is that when my wife Jane and I started our
financial planning practice, Wadeack in nineteen eighty six, we began
with college planning seminars.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
We always had.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
The attitude that college is one of the biggest worries
that parents have. We all know that we're struggling to
get our children up and growing up and off to
a good start in life. College is the path that
has been clearly identified.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
But we know how.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Incredibly expensive college is, we know the struggles and challenges
teens have with college, and so it's understandably a very
big worry. And there aren't a lot of guides available.
I mean that there are a lot of books out
there that talk about how to prepare for the SAT
and how to get yourself admitted into college, but nobody
(03:37):
deals with the most fundamental of all questions, should your
team actually go to college? Is college the right path
right now, right out of high school? And if it is,
which college should they pick? What major should they pick?
So that college is indeed a successful outcome as opposed
to frankly setting up your child Rillain And that was
(04:01):
why I wrote the book The Truth About College, to
help guide parents and their teams with one of the
most important decisions of the teenager's life.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
No question about that. I can remember when my kids,
when you were starting your career. Our children were born
in nineteen eighty seven and nineteen ninety one, and I
remember setting up five twenty nine as typical parents that
was going to pay for their of course, by time.
The one thing you used to talk as a financial
(04:31):
planner about, the inflation of colleges from the nineteen seventies
and certainly in the nineteen eighties through the year twenty
twenty has been just exponential and it just never slowed down.
So now colleges can take a huge bite out of
(04:55):
families income. There were a lot of the colleges like
Harvard and Boston College who do have, you know, substantial
financial support. They have endowments, and they make college affordable
not only for people who are below a certain amount
of money, but even for people who theoretically are making
(05:16):
one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars. So
some of the elite colleges are being considerate of the finances.
But there's a lot of colleges around the country which
the scholarships are not as generous as they are at
some of the Ivy's and the Boston colleges of the world.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Why is that, Yeah, it's disproportionate.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
As we know that the relatively small number of colleges
have outsized endowments, they can afford to be more generous
their student body in terms of grants and scholarships, but
the vast majority of students never get any of those.
Less than fifteen percent of students get any grant or
scholarship at all, and the average that they get is
(06:00):
only a third of the cost of college. So you
can't assume that that's how your child will pay for school.
And I want to be really really clear here about this, Dan,
to avoid any misconception. I am not negative on college.
I'm extraordinarily favorable to college. We know that those who
graduate with a college degree are at the top of
(06:21):
our nation's social structure. Of all the US households in
this country that are earning more than two hundred thousand
dollars a year, ninety four percent of them are.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Headed by a college graduate.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
College graduates earn nearly a million dollars more over their
careers on average than non grads. College graduates are half
as likely to divorce compared to people who only have
a high school diploma. College grads, they're healthier than non grads.
They live longer, too. College graduates live seven years longer
than people who never went to college. So all of
(06:56):
these are incredibly important reasons why you will want to
be seriously considering college for your team.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
But there's a flip side.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
To this, and you've really hit on a couple of
those points. Because of the incredible cost of attending college
today compared to twenty or forty years ago, today, twenty
four percent of college freshmen drop out, only sixty two
percent graduate after six years, and ten years after graduating,
(07:26):
only half of grads are in jobs that needed a
degree in the first place, and twenty years later, almost
half of student loan borrowers are still trying to pay
off their debts. So clearly there's something wrong here going on.
We have too many students who are entering college with
all the hopes and aspirations we all have for them,
but they're failing to realize the benefits that a college
(07:49):
degree can provide because they're dropping out. They're struggling with
student loan debt. The average student walks out of college
with forty one thousand dollars of debt. In fact, five
five percent of all the loans that Americans hold for
student debt are held by people fifty years and older.
Americans over sixty oh one hundred and twenty five billion
(08:10):
dollars in student loan debt. So there's clearly something wrong
here with the way people are handling the college question.
And that's what I address in my book The Truth
about College, helping parents and teens figure this out together.
Is college right? Is it right right now? And how
do we go through this path and this journey so
(08:30):
that we're more likely than not that the outcome will
be favorable and beneficial for the student?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And I should mention the subtitle of the Truth about
College by Rick Edelman is the is simply the essential
emphasis on the word Essential College Guide for both parents
and teens. Rick, We're going to take a quick commercial
break here. I will invite callers to call and ask
questions six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty or
six one, seven, nine, three, one ten thirty. You have
(09:00):
so much information here. I'm tempted to say I don't
know where to start, but I do know where to start,
and we'll talk about some of the misconceptions that perhaps
parents are dealing with and teenagers are dealing with. I
want to find out from you if you feel, amongst
other things, that the academic advisors at high schools across
(09:22):
the country are doing a good job helping to channel
kids and their young teenagers and their collegiate expectations. And
there's so much to talk about. We will continue our
conversation with Rick Edelman The Truth about College, The Essential
College Guide for Both Parents and Teens. Enormous a financial advisor,
but this book will show you a different side. Certainly,
(09:44):
they're off financial considerations when you're talking about sending one
or more children off to college. Back on Night's Side
right after this quick commercial break.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's new radio.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
My guest is ric Edelman, The Truth about College. This
book is out yesterday, The Essential College Guide for both
parents and teens. Rick from your experience, and you're looking
at these questions, how important are guidance counselors in regular
(10:22):
public high schools to not only the students, some of
whom want to go to college, into their parents.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
They're extraordinarily important and fundamental. And that's both good and bad.
It's good because they really have their fingers on the
pulse of education career, and theoretically you would hope that
they know the students individually and can identify an effective
path to that student. But here's the negative side effect
(10:52):
that we all need to be aware of. In many
school systems, guidance counselors are evaluated on the number of
seniors who go to college upon graduation from high school,
which gives those guidance counselors a motivation and incentive to
push college as the path, and a lot of parents
(11:12):
do the same thing. Their attitude is to their children,
you need to go to college. That's the default choice
in America. I've seen many guidance counselors hand out pamphlets
too high school juniors and seniors talking about life after
high school, and the only option discussed in those pamphlets
is college. No discussion of apprenticeship or military service, or
(11:38):
vocational school, or frankly, even a gap year or two,
allowing the child to learn about the world, learn about themselves, travel,
get some experience, develop some maturity before making this incredible
commitment of six years and a quarter of a million dollars.
When this explains why presidents love to that more people
(12:02):
went to college and their tenure than their predecessors. They
say the same thing about homeownership. This is how they
judge and evaluate their success. So high school principals and
high school guidance counselors, parents themselves all are aimed at this.
I mean parents want to brag to their friends that
their kids got accepted to some big deal school. Even
the high school seniors themselves do it. They wear the
(12:23):
school colors when they finally get accepted somewhere and they're
bragging them to their friends in the hallway. So what
high school senior wants to say to everybody, Oh, I've
chosen not to go or I've chosen to go to
a low cost community college. For the first two years.
There's a huge amount of social pressure because of the
way things are designed, and sometimes high school guidance counselors
fall into that trap where they only talk about college
(12:46):
to the seniors in high school as opposed to talking
more broadly about other options that are available.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
So there's a stigma. There still is a stigma for
those students who may not feel drawn to college. By
the way, when you tell about a gap year, Bill Fitzimmons,
a long time dean of admissions at Harvard University, is
a huge I've had Bill Fitzsimmons along with other deans
of admission on we do a college admission show every year,
(13:15):
and Bill Fitzsimmons believes that it is a strength for
students to take a year off between college and do something,
whether it's something that they've always wanted to do or
something rather mundane, but it would give them a taste
and maybe prepare them for college a little better. You
(13:38):
talk in this book about some facts that surprised you.
You're a pretty smart guy. The one of the facts
that surprised me was the percentage of college freshmen who
do not have a major when they go to college,
and it was the going to college and they don't
really know what they want to do, which is kind
(13:59):
of what I to be honest with you, They are
only what twenty five percent who actually think they know
what they want to do and therefore what major they
want to have during the four years in college that
didn't use You don't think that's a bad thing.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
It's actually worse than that. Eighty percent of incoming freshmen
are undeclared. They have no idea what they want to study.
And this is reflective of the fact that some of
them are just kind of either going with the flow
or they're following the lead of their parents or their
guidance counselors that are simply saying, go to college, figure
it out. And the problem with that, and this helps
(14:38):
explain why twenty four percent of those freshmen drop out
in their freshman year, is because they are so aimless.
They don't know if they want to be in college.
They don't know what they want to do, but they
end up choosing to go to school partly because everybody
expects them to. They don't have an alternative choice in
mind as an alternative, and the result is if they
spend thirty or fifty or eighty foul dollars and then
(15:02):
end up quitting, and yet they still owe the student
loan that they accumulated, or if their parents had put
the bill for that, that money is gone, and talk
about a terrible investment. It doesn't contribute to the child's future.
It didn't really teach them anything. It really served no
useful purpose, which helps to argue that if your child
(15:22):
in high school really doesn't know what they want to.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Study, and some do.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I want to be a doctor, I want to be
a lawyer, want to be a teacher. If your child
knows what they want, fabulous, great. But if they don't know,
if they have absolutely no clue, that's an indication that perhaps, maybe,
just perhaps they shouldn't automatically go to college immediately out
of high school.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
When do you think parents should start to talk to
their children about college again? At what point do teenagers
or I guess kids in the seventh or eighth grade.
Is this sort of a conversation that you should say, Hey,
tomorrow night, we're going to schedule a little conversation about
what you're going to do after high school? Or does
(16:04):
it have to be sort of an ongoing conversation that
develops over years.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
It should occur as soon as the child's in kindergarten.
Obviously you keep.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
It really lightly.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Oh, just like you should talk with children about money
when they're in elementary school. I mean children are making
their first assistant purchases at age three. Children are engaged
in money conversations at very young ages. College is one
of the biggest money conversation there is. We're always asking
five year olds, what do you want to be when
you grow up? That is an implication of college and
(16:36):
career paths. So we should be having these conversations nice
and light and friendly and fun and empirical and aspirational
when they're in grade school. But by the time they're
a freshman in high school, a conversations ought to get
a little more serious, a little more tactical, a little
more practical.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
And that's why in.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
My book The Truth about College and even though if
you yesterday, it already hit number one at Amazon today,
so we're really excited about the very early enthusiasm for
the book. In the book, I have in the back
twenty conversation starters for parents and teens.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Because you're right, mom and dad.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Have to talk about this with their kids, but often
don't know how to begin the conversation. So I lay
out in the book the exact conversation starters to help
you begin those chit chats, which you can do slowly,
over time, over years, frankly, so that by the time
the child is a junior in.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
High school, everybody's got a pretty.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Good sense of the child's frame of mind, their attitude,
their emotional state, and the parents have a chance to
weigh in with their points of view as well, so
that together they can make the decision that's best for
the student.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You know, when that junior year comes thought, all of
a sudden, that light which was at the end of
the tunnel it seemed and never going to get there
of just a few years previous. At that point everyone
knows it is now game time. And when we get back,
I want to talk about this is to campus what
you should be looking for, because I know you go
(18:11):
through a lot of this in the book. So the
kids can actually make teenagers can make a better informed
decision in conjunction with their parents about where they are
going to invest. Because in all honesty, Rick, it sounds
to me like you're looking at this really as an
investment when to invest and where to invest, and if
(18:35):
I'm wrong, to explain to me why and if I'm right,
we'll talk about that right after the news break. At
the bottom of the ar My guest is Rick Edelman.
You know him as a financial planner for two decades
on this radio station. He's written a new book, The
Truth About College, The Essential College Guide for both parents
and teens. How many books have you authored over the years, Rick, If.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I could ask, this is my fourteen book?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Fourteenth book? Is this the first one that is a
even though I just made the point that there's financial
underpinnings to all the issues in this book, is this
the first one that really does step away from financial
issues per se.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I've talked about college and several of my other books
because it's such a major part of financial planning, but
having delve into it in the great extent that I
do here first.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
The book The Truth About Calling is The Essential College
Guide for both parents and teens. My name's Dan Ray.
This is Nightside. It's an opportunity for ask you to
ask Rick Edelman a question. Many of you right now
are either filing your applications, particularly if you're a late senior.
(19:46):
Some of you are waiting to be notified. So this
is an important issue, and this is an opportunity for
you to pick up the phone and give us a call.
Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty six one
seven nine three one ten thirty one. My name is
Dan Ray. Rick Edelman is alongside, not alongside, he's another
part of the country. We do this all remotely, and
(20:07):
you're remote as well. So join the conversation. Coming back
on Nightside right after the news at the bottom of
the hour.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
My guess is Rick Edelman the Truth about College, the
essential college guide to both parents and teens. And if
the voice of Rick Edelman sounds familiar, you heard him
for twenty years here on weekends talking about finances and
how to handle your money and a big part of
decisions about going to college, because college is other than
(20:43):
I guess a purchase of a home, one of the
biggest investments you're going to make on behalf of your children.
So Rick, let me run a few practical questions by you.
I'm assuming that people are out there listening, and maybe
they're afraid to call because you really understand this topic,
and I want to invite them. As I learned in
law school, the only dumb question, folks, is the one
(21:04):
you're too afraid to ask. So don't be dumb. Give
us a call. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten
thirty six one seven, nine three ten thirty. Okay, Look,
we have parents, both of whom went to the same school,
whether or not it's Dartmouth or Ohio State University or
the University of Oregon. You know, if they went to
(21:27):
the University of Oregon, I'm sure they've had ducks in
the house for their entire life. And they bought all
those those green and orange sweaters for the kids. They
they the parents want you to go to the school
they went to. Kids might rebell on that. I'm not
talking about those parents. What about the parents maybe went
to college, maybe didn't go to college, maybe did a
couple of years in college. They haven't been through this
(21:48):
in a while. What is the biggest I guess roadblock
mental A lot of it. I assume our parents saying
we'll talk about that next week, we'll get to it
after the holidays. This is stuff that is easily put off.
(22:09):
How do parents who are not college centric because that's
who I really want to talk to tonight. And they have
their kids. How do they get into this. Is it
an early meeting with a guidance counselor is it a
trip to a local college and toury campus, take the
kids to a college football game. How do you get
the kid thinking about this?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Do you start by talking about their future and their aspirations.
I mean, kids are aware of the world today to
a better degree than any of us were in the
past because of social media and global news. So they
are aware of what's happening in the world. Some have
excited opportunities in mind that they want to engage in
and conquer, whether it's technology, or it's something in the
(22:56):
field of business, or On the other hand, some see
the problems that we have in this world, which are
pretty massive, and they want to try to tackle those
problems and solve the issues that so many people are facing,
whether it's economic or it is discrimination, or it's a
lack of healthcare, or its environment or climate, I mean,
(23:18):
whatever it is that anybody has as their concerns.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
So that's where you begin with the child. Is begin
with a very simple question what interests you?
Speaker 3 (23:28):
And let's take a look at those areas and see
where there might be career opportunities. There might be college
classes that address those areas of interest, whether it's music
or art, or sociology or mathematics or biology or dance,
whatever it may happen to be. Let's see if there's
(23:51):
a career path associated with this that can produce an
income that makes the cost of getting that income, meaning
that you spend to go to college worthwhile. This could
help begin a journey that the parents and teens can
travel together throughout the teenagers' high school years so that
(24:13):
together they can determine if this is a legitimate path
worth pursuing or not. It's a great way to do.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
It without.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Condemnation, without judgment, that allows the student to figure out
whether or not this is a legitimate idea or just
a pipe dream.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
That's a really great place to start.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
What do you want?
Speaker 4 (24:35):
What interests you?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
To start with?
Speaker 4 (24:36):
That one question?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Okay, that's one area. The second question that I have is,
as I said, you will have the parents who know
that they went to Ohio State University. They want all
their kids to follow at Ohio State University. Those sort
of parents. But as a parent, who's just kind of
starting with an open mind. You have this thing called
(24:58):
the Common app which has allowed students to kind of
engage in what I call the college entrance Olympics. You
can apply now just as easily to twenty colleges as
in the old days you can apply to two or
three because because of the Common app, what's a reasonable
number of colleges that any teenage or any family can
(25:22):
actually look at and consider? They have to figure it out.
But what is the normal, an average number that an
average family should be thinking about. I mean, every family
doesn't have the ability to say, well, let's go look
at USC and we'll fly from Bostony, USC, and then
after that we want to go down to the University
of Miami, and then we want to go out to Seattle.
(25:43):
What's a reasonable number of colleges to apply to?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
In your opaya, You're absolutely right, the cost of a
plot to college is gotten out of hand because you
spend hundreds of dollars with every application you're going to
involve travel to the school, to walk a campus and
have a tour. You're talking about thousands of dollars in
travel expenses associated with this. And this goes back to
the very beginning premise. If college is going to be
(26:08):
your choice, which, as I said, can be a great decision,
you now need to figure out how can you minimize
the expense. And one thing that parents and teens don't
give enough credence to is the travel cost associated with college.
If you choose a college thirty minutes from home, travel
cost is near zero. But if you choose a college
(26:29):
that's one thousand miles away, now you're talking airfare. Now
you're talking about massive additional expenses of tens of thousands
of dollars over the course of the college career for
the student to fly back and forth at least four
times a year, for parents to do the same thing
at least once a year. We're talking fifteen or twenty
grand and that is unreimbursable. That doesn't add to the
(26:53):
quality of the education. So I would begin with the
premise of saying, how.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Can we get the job done.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Minimal expense, And that could mean very clearly, choosing schools
that are within a driving distance of home. Keep it
to a two or three hour drive from home as
opposed to thousands of miles. That will help you reduce
the number of schools the child applies to in the
first place, which will save you even more money by
avoiding those expenses.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Let's get to some calls here, Warren in Fall River, Massachusetts. Warre,
and you were next on nice side with Rick Edelman.
Go ahead, Warren, what's your question.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Of co Yeah, yeah, I got I'm a vocational you know,
you know, like a trade school person I went to.
I went to high school, you know, you know, learning
the trades and all stuff like that. Do you think
the trade schools are actually a better bargain than the
(27:51):
colleges right now.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
For an awful lot of kids, Yes, Warren. Then it's
one of the things in my book is that college
is no longer the only path to success. Affluency, satisfaction,
and fulfillment.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You have.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Apprenticeships and vocational education are two dominant potential courses of
action for high school graduates.
Speaker 6 (28:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
We now have sixty five percent more apprenticeship programs than
we did a decade ago. In these programs, students actually
get paid to get the training, and they're offered jobs
immediately upon completion, which doesn't take four or six years.
It only takes a year or two, depending on the
field that you go into. Where you come out with
(28:36):
a job paying one hundred thousand dollars or more. You
paid nothing to get the education. You're now earning six
figures upon completion, and you're starting in the workforce years
ahead of those who go to college, labeling you to
not only start earning income, but to starting to say
for your retirement in a retirement account or IRA what
(28:58):
have you. As a result calculations, you can reach retirement
with a million dollars more than college graduates will without
the debt that they accumulate. So yeah, vocational education and
they are commding choice very much. So it's an outstanding
it's much more conserspective.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
And my second question is with the state schools being free,
where like the Massachusetts is offering you know, free college
to like in the state schools and all stuff like that,
has that decreased the value of an education of college education?
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yes and no.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
The good news is that college is becoming much less
expensive than it used to be because thirty five states
around the country are beginning to make college free. Community
colleges are free in thirty five states. Four year educations
are free in twenty five states for families earning as
much as two hundred thousand dollars a year. So that's
(29:59):
the good news. It's making college more affordable, and that
means more accessible, allowing kids to get the advanced education
they need to pursue really cool careers. The downside to that,
and this is to the point you're raising, Wine, is
that by making college more universally available because it's inexpensive
and anybody can do it, we're increasing the number of
(30:20):
kids who do go to college, which increases the amount
of competition you have for the jobs that those college
degrees require, which means the value of the degree isn't
as much as it was twenty years ago, which is
forcing kids into graduate school, where most of the student
debt occurs and where most of the big expenses are.
So you're right, we have to consider in high school
(30:43):
whether the degree is going to lead to the field
you want, whether you're going to need to go for
graduate school or not, and what is that going to cost,
and what are the job opportunities as a result of
having a master's. This is what's making it much more
difficult to calculate all the students still in high school.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Warren, great questions. Thank you for your call. I got
to get to a break. Thank you, Thank you, my friend.
Talk to you soon. Be right back with my guest
Rick Edelman again, good questions from war and we're going
to go to Trevor in Ontario. He's up next, and
there's room for you. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty six one, seven, nine, three, one ten thirty Back
with Rick Edelman. The book is The Truth about College,
(31:25):
The Essential College Guide for both parents and teens. It
is out and available today. Back on night Side after this.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on w BZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
My guest is Rick Edelman. Rick. Quick question, Well, some
person called in. They didn't want to ask you this themselves,
so I'll ask you for you. Is the Rick Edelman
Financial Show still available?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
There are podcasts. After I had left my radio show
after thirty two years, I did a podcast, a daily
podcast for three years, and all of those episodes are
available at the Truth about your Future dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Perfect. Okay, that, gentleman. Hopefully we'll realize that we did
ask this question. We never do that because I always
say we want to hear the caller's voices. We're going
to hear Trevor in Ontario. His voice, Trevor, you were
next on nightside.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Welcome, Well, good evening.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
I was listening to your show and I just had
to call in thank you. I grew up and at
fourteen years old. I grew up in England. And at
fourteen years old they took us to different jobs to
see what we wanted to do, and I wanted to
be electrician. At fifteen, I left school and started my apprenticeship.
(32:41):
I was electrician at twenty. I had to go my
school three nights a week and one day a week,
which the company paid for. But it never cost me nothing.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Trevor. What, Trevor, I missed up in England.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
In England, all right, okay, and we.
Speaker 6 (32:59):
Went to your school till eleven. Then we took eleven
plus examine and went to a senior school that they
called it. And at fifteen I left school, signed apprenticeship
papers the next day and started to work on my apprenticeship.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
They do it a little bit. They did it a
little bit differently in England. Trevor. Have you have you
called my show before since your first time?
Speaker 6 (33:20):
I called you once before?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Yeah, well you got to call more often here, Trevor.
An interesting perspective. For sure, I'm getting a little.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
I just had to I just had to Quarterer to
tell you that it never cost me nothing. And I
grew up without a dad. And I worked in a
nuclear power station in England, and then the company of
Ontario Hydro in Canada brought me over from England and
I worked here. I have never been out of work in.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
My life, and Trevor, good, good for it.
Speaker 6 (33:54):
And I also worked in Rochester, New York for an
electrical company there who hired me on the phone. Just
go out apprenticeship papers, all.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Right, well, Trevor, a powerful testimony that there's more than
one way to skin a cat, as they would say.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
But I just not to call because of all the
people that pay all this money out and they just
don't do apprenticeships.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And I hate to do this to you, but you
call so darn lad. I got to move on to
a couple of more callers, but thank you, and call
more often, Trevor. You sound like an interesting guy. I
love to talk to people who have had this different
experiences and I'd love to follow up with a longer conversation.
Thank you, my friend.
Speaker 6 (34:33):
Okay, thanks, good night.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Let me go to Priscilla in that appan part of Boston. Priscilla,
you are on with Rick Edelman. Go right ahead, Priscilla.
Speaker 7 (34:42):
Yeah, so my daughter she's in college. But oh boy,
it's it's a lot to deal with. But she did it.
You know. She has a little has adhd, but he's
still in there. And we got help, you know, from
the school just as well, because she's got a free scholarship.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Where's she going to school, Priscilla, if I could.
Speaker 7 (35:07):
Ask, she goes to Jecksville University is Philadelphia?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
I missed the name. What was the name again?
Speaker 7 (35:17):
That's Ball University in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Okay, I'm not familiar with that school. What's her major
going to be? What does she? What does she? What
is she?
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Hotel?
Speaker 7 (35:27):
Business management, hospitality?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Okay, sure, so she wants to work hotels and in
business management. Rick, There's there's a there's a very practical
career path. There will always be hotels. I think Priscilla
is going to be Okay.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Yeah, there's no question to Tourism is one of the
key careers that are going to survive. That's an important
point you're raising right there, Dan, is that we have
a threat now that didn't happen when we were in college,
and that.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Is artificial intelligence hip exactly.
Speaker 7 (35:55):
And if financially and all that. Oh boys, well, Priscilla.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
You you keep supporting her and she'll make you She'll
make you proud of At the end of the day, Priscilla,
I'm getting flat out of time, so I.
Speaker 7 (36:08):
Gotta let you run than grad in June.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
All right, Well, keep me posted as to what her
success is, because she will, she will be a success.
Thank you so much, Priscilla, say how to your daughter
for us?
Speaker 7 (36:20):
Okay, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Thanks Priscilla. Yeah, that was my last question. And my
last question is this artificial intelligence. Probably you're not going
to take the jobs of plumbers, electricians, hvac operators, but
it may take a lot of white collar jobs or
college educated jobs. That's a huge factor.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Rick.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Can you just address that a little bit and how
that works into the calculations of where where teenagers should
be looking after high school.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
There's a huge issue, Dan, and in my book, I
list the hundreds of occupations that are going to be
eliminated over the next decade by AI and robotics. Too
many students are in college majoring in fields that literally
won't exist by the time they graduate. So we have
to be careful that we are having our children choose
(37:13):
careers that in fact will lead to jobs.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
And while I have.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
A big list in the book of jobs that are
going to disappear, I have another big list of hundreds
of jobs that are going to thrive in the next
decade or two. As you pointed out, a lot of
careers are going to do really well in a technological environment.
You need to make sure that your children are not
facing obsolescence with the major that they select. And so
(37:40):
this is a huge part of the book and The
Truth about College to help you and your team pick
the right career that they're going to select for their
college path.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Rick, I thank you so much for your time tonight.
He gave us an hour. Ric Edelman The Truth about College,
The Essential College Guide for both parents and teens, and
your right. There's all sorts of information, there's application guidance,
there's college comparisons, all sorts of interview suggestions. You know,
(38:10):
what do you do in terms of campus life? Academic?
This is a book that is full of valuable information.
And I can't encourage my listeners any more strongly than
to say, this is a book that should be part
of your family library, particularly if you have young ones,
and whether it's your grandparents or parents, you got to
(38:31):
help these kids make the right decisions. Rick Edelman, thanks
so much for your time, and thanks for putting this
book together. Available on Amazon, I'm sure pretty easily. The
book The Truth about Callers, the Essential College Guide for
both parents and teens. Best of luck, Rick. You know
we'll have you back at some point and maybe a
few months from now and see how how how the
(38:53):
book is going and what sort of reviews you're receiving. Obviously,
if it's number one on Amazon, it's pretty strong.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Out of the gates, it's doing really well. I'm really excited.
And Dan, it's been such a privilege to be here
with you. I'm so happy to be a getting back
on WBZ.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Absolutely, you're always welcome here, that's for sure. Thanks Rick,
we'll talk soon. Thank you, my friend. Anytime you in Boston,
let me know we'll do all right when we get back.
We have one more hour here on Wednesday night, and
I have a couple of thoughts that i'd like to
share with you, and I hope you'll be willing to
share some of your thoughts with me on night side,
(39:30):
right after the news at eleven o'clock.
He's night Side with Dan Ray on WBSY cost in
his new radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Let me just take a very quick minute to remind
all of you that the Night Side Andrew, the thirteenth
annual Nightside Charity Combine, is coming up on Tuesday night,
December twenty third. And if you either are an officer,
run a charity, whether it's a big charity or a
small charity, as long as it's a legitimate charity, we
don't need Uncle Harry's beer fund. All we want is charities.
(00:27):
We highlight about twenty great charities. We've done it now
for twelve years. This will be year number thirteen. All
you have to do is send me an email at
Dan Ray at iHeartMedia dot com. And if you can't
do that, you can try to reach me by phone,
but get to me directly the name, your name, and
a phone number. I'll get back to you. We'll let
(00:48):
you know when you're going to be with us, and
we will do an interview with you in our last
two hours of the broadcast here on Tuesday night, December
twenty third, two nights before Christmas. And that's that's how
we will end the show this year. If you can't
remember Dan ray D a n Ria at iHeartMedia dot com. Well,
call Rob now and he'll tell that to you. We
(01:10):
are going to talk with someone who for many many
years you have known him as a financial advisor, Rick Edelman.
Rick Edelman, Welcome back to WBZ. It's sort of your
home in New England.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I think it really is. Dan, it's so exciting to
be back on the air with you. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, we wanted to have you on tonight so that
people could ask you some questions. You have actually released
a book yesterday. The publication date was yesterday, The Truth
about College, The Truth about College, and it is a
book that really is intended for not only people who
are in the process of applying to college, but also
(01:52):
for the parents of people who are applying to college.
What prompted you to write this book? I think of
you as a financial advisor. I probably forever will from
listening to those many many mornings over many many years.
You know your program on WBZ.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Well, yeah, it was so much fun doing doing the
Rick Edelman Show on WVZ for oh goodness gracious, a
couple of decades, I think, And you're right, I'm a
financial advisor by training and by background and built the
largest financial planning firm in the nation, and we have
still lots of offices throughout the Boston area and serving
(02:33):
so many wonderful folks and helping them achieve financial success
and future financial security.
Speaker 4 (02:38):
And what is funny is that people, a lot.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Of folks say, why would I write a book about college?
What's that got to do with anything? And what's funny
is that when my wife Jane and I started our
financial planning practice, Wadeack in nineteen eighty six, we began
with college planning seminars.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
We always had.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
The attitude that college is one of the biggest worries
that parents have. We all know that we're struggling to
get our children up and growing up and off to
a good start in life. College is the path that
has been clearly identified.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
But we know how.
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Incredibly expensive college is, we know the struggles and challenges
teens have with college, and so it's understandably a very
big worry. And there aren't a lot of guides available.
I mean that there are a lot of books out
there that talk about how to prepare for the SAT
and how to get yourself admitted into college, but nobody
(03:37):
deals with the most fundamental of all questions, should your
team actually go to college? Is college the right path
right now, right out of high school? And if it is,
which college should they pick? What major should they pick?
So that college is indeed a successful outcome as opposed
to frankly setting up your child Rillain And that was
(04:01):
why I wrote the book The Truth About College, to
help guide parents and their teams with one of the
most important decisions of the teenager's life.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
No question about that. I can remember when my kids,
when you were starting your career. Our children were born
in nineteen eighty seven and nineteen ninety one, and I
remember setting up five twenty nine as typical parents that
was going to pay for their of course, by time.
The one thing you used to talk as a financial
(04:31):
planner about, the inflation of colleges from the nineteen seventies
and certainly in the nineteen eighties through the year twenty
twenty has been just exponential and it just never slowed down.
So now colleges can take a huge bite out of
(04:55):
families income. There were a lot of the colleges like
Harvard and Boston College who do have, you know, substantial
financial support. They have endowments, and they make college affordable
not only for people who are below a certain amount
of money, but even for people who theoretically are making
(05:16):
one hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars. So
some of the elite colleges are being considerate of the finances.
But there's a lot of colleges around the country which
the scholarships are not as generous as they are at
some of the Ivy's and the Boston colleges of the world.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Why is that, Yeah, it's disproportionate.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
As we know that the relatively small number of colleges
have outsized endowments, they can afford to be more generous
their student body in terms of grants and scholarships, but
the vast majority of students never get any of those.
Less than fifteen percent of students get any grant or
scholarship at all, and the average that they get is
(06:00):
only a third of the cost of college. So you
can't assume that that's how your child will pay for school.
And I want to be really really clear here about this, Dan,
to avoid any misconception. I am not negative on college.
I'm extraordinarily favorable to college. We know that those who
graduate with a college degree are at the top of
(06:21):
our nation's social structure. Of all the US households in
this country that are earning more than two hundred thousand
dollars a year, ninety four percent of them are.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
Headed by a college graduate.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
College graduates earn nearly a million dollars more over their
careers on average than non grads. College graduates are half
as likely to divorce compared to people who only have
a high school diploma. College grads, they're healthier than non grads.
They live longer, too. College graduates live seven years longer
than people who never went to college. So all of
(06:56):
these are incredibly important reasons why you will want to
be seriously considering college for your team.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
But there's a flip side.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
To this, and you've really hit on a couple of
those points. Because of the incredible cost of attending college
today compared to twenty or forty years ago, today, twenty
four percent of college freshmen drop out, only sixty two
percent graduate after six years, and ten years after graduating,
(07:26):
only half of grads are in jobs that needed a
degree in the first place, and twenty years later, almost
half of student loan borrowers are still trying to pay
off their debts. So clearly there's something wrong here going on.
We have too many students who are entering college with
all the hopes and aspirations we all have for them,
but they're failing to realize the benefits that a college
(07:49):
degree can provide because they're dropping out. They're struggling with
student loan debt. The average student walks out of college
with forty one thousand dollars of debt. In fact, five
five percent of all the loans that Americans hold for
student debt are held by people fifty years and older.
Americans over sixty oh one hundred and twenty five billion
(08:10):
dollars in student loan debt. So there's clearly something wrong
here with the way people are handling the college question.
And that's what I address in my book The Truth
about College, helping parents and teens figure this out together.
Is college right? Is it right right now? And how
do we go through this path and this journey so
(08:30):
that we're more likely than not that the outcome will
be favorable and beneficial for the student?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
And I should mention the subtitle of the Truth about
College by Rick Edelman is the is simply the essential
emphasis on the word Essential College Guide for both parents
and teens. Rick, We're going to take a quick commercial
break here. I will invite callers to call and ask
questions six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty or
six one, seven, nine, three, one ten thirty. You have
(09:00):
so much information here. I'm tempted to say I don't
know where to start, but I do know where to start,
and we'll talk about some of the misconceptions that perhaps
parents are dealing with and teenagers are dealing with. I
want to find out from you if you feel, amongst
other things, that the academic advisors at high schools across
(09:22):
the country are doing a good job helping to channel
kids and their young teenagers and their collegiate expectations. And
there's so much to talk about. We will continue our
conversation with Rick Edelman The Truth about College, The Essential
College Guide for Both Parents and Teens. Enormous a financial advisor,
but this book will show you a different side. Certainly,
(09:44):
they're off financial considerations when you're talking about sending one
or more children off to college. Back on Night's Side
right after this quick commercial break.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's new radio.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
My guest is ric Edelman, The Truth about College. This
book is out yesterday, The Essential College Guide for both
parents and teens. Rick from your experience, and you're looking
at these questions, how important are guidance counselors in regular
(10:22):
public high schools to not only the students, some of
whom want to go to college, into their parents.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
They're extraordinarily important and fundamental. And that's both good and bad.
It's good because they really have their fingers on the
pulse of education career, and theoretically you would hope that
they know the students individually and can identify an effective
path to that student. But here's the negative side effect
(10:52):
that we all need to be aware of. In many
school systems, guidance counselors are evaluated on the number of
seniors who go to college upon graduation from high school,
which gives those guidance counselors a motivation and incentive to
push college as the path, and a lot of parents
(11:12):
do the same thing. Their attitude is to their children,
you need to go to college. That's the default choice
in America. I've seen many guidance counselors hand out pamphlets
too high school juniors and seniors talking about life after
high school, and the only option discussed in those pamphlets
is college. No discussion of apprenticeship or military service, or
(11:38):
vocational school, or frankly, even a gap year or two,
allowing the child to learn about the world, learn about themselves, travel,
get some experience, develop some maturity before making this incredible
commitment of six years and a quarter of a million dollars.
When this explains why presidents love to that more people
(12:02):
went to college and their tenure than their predecessors. They
say the same thing about homeownership. This is how they
judge and evaluate their success. So high school principals and
high school guidance counselors, parents themselves all are aimed at this.
I mean parents want to brag to their friends that
their kids got accepted to some big deal school. Even
the high school seniors themselves do it. They wear the
(12:23):
school colors when they finally get accepted somewhere and they're
bragging them to their friends in the hallway. So what
high school senior wants to say to everybody, Oh, I've
chosen not to go or I've chosen to go to
a low cost community college. For the first two years.
There's a huge amount of social pressure because of the
way things are designed, and sometimes high school guidance counselors
fall into that trap where they only talk about college
(12:46):
to the seniors in high school as opposed to talking
more broadly about other options that are available.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
So there's a stigma. There still is a stigma for
those students who may not feel drawn to college. By
the way, when you tell about a gap year, Bill Fitzimmons,
a long time dean of admissions at Harvard University, is
a huge I've had Bill Fitzsimmons along with other deans
of admission on we do a college admission show every year,
(13:15):
and Bill Fitzsimmons believes that it is a strength for
students to take a year off between college and do something,
whether it's something that they've always wanted to do or
something rather mundane, but it would give them a taste
and maybe prepare them for college a little better. You
(13:38):
talk in this book about some facts that surprised you.
You're a pretty smart guy. The one of the facts
that surprised me was the percentage of college freshmen who
do not have a major when they go to college,
and it was the going to college and they don't
really know what they want to do, which is kind
(13:59):
of what I to be honest with you, They are
only what twenty five percent who actually think they know
what they want to do and therefore what major they
want to have during the four years in college that
didn't use You don't think that's a bad thing.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
It's actually worse than that. Eighty percent of incoming freshmen
are undeclared. They have no idea what they want to study.
And this is reflective of the fact that some of
them are just kind of either going with the flow
or they're following the lead of their parents or their
guidance counselors that are simply saying, go to college, figure
it out. And the problem with that, and this helps
(14:38):
explain why twenty four percent of those freshmen drop out
in their freshman year, is because they are so aimless.
They don't know if they want to be in college.
They don't know what they want to do, but they
end up choosing to go to school partly because everybody
expects them to. They don't have an alternative choice in
mind as an alternative, and the result is if they
spend thirty or fifty or eighty foul dollars and then
(15:02):
end up quitting, and yet they still owe the student
loan that they accumulated, or if their parents had put
the bill for that, that money is gone, and talk
about a terrible investment. It doesn't contribute to the child's future.
It didn't really teach them anything. It really served no
useful purpose, which helps to argue that if your child
(15:22):
in high school really doesn't know what they want to.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Study, and some do.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
I want to be a doctor, I want to be
a lawyer, want to be a teacher. If your child
knows what they want, fabulous, great. But if they don't know,
if they have absolutely no clue, that's an indication that perhaps, maybe,
just perhaps they shouldn't automatically go to college immediately out
of high school.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
When do you think parents should start to talk to
their children about college again? At what point do teenagers
or I guess kids in the seventh or eighth grade.
Is this sort of a conversation that you should say, Hey,
tomorrow night, we're going to schedule a little conversation about
what you're going to do after high school? Or does
(16:04):
it have to be sort of an ongoing conversation that
develops over years.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
It should occur as soon as the child's in kindergarten.
Obviously you keep.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
It really lightly.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Oh, just like you should talk with children about money
when they're in elementary school. I mean children are making
their first assistant purchases at age three. Children are engaged
in money conversations at very young ages. College is one
of the biggest money conversation there is. We're always asking
five year olds, what do you want to be when
you grow up? That is an implication of college and
(16:36):
career paths. So we should be having these conversations nice
and light and friendly and fun and empirical and aspirational
when they're in grade school. But by the time they're
a freshman in high school, a conversations ought to get
a little more serious, a little more tactical, a little
more practical.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
And that's why in.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
My book The Truth about College and even though if
you yesterday, it already hit number one at Amazon today,
so we're really excited about the very early enthusiasm for
the book. In the book, I have in the back
twenty conversation starters for parents and teens.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Because you're right, mom and dad.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Have to talk about this with their kids, but often
don't know how to begin the conversation. So I lay
out in the book the exact conversation starters to help
you begin those chit chats, which you can do slowly,
over time, over years, frankly, so that by the time
the child is a junior in.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
High school, everybody's got a pretty.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Good sense of the child's frame of mind, their attitude,
their emotional state, and the parents have a chance to
weigh in with their points of view as well, so
that together they can make the decision that's best for
the student.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
You know, when that junior year comes thought, all of
a sudden, that light which was at the end of
the tunnel it seemed and never going to get there
of just a few years previous. At that point everyone
knows it is now game time. And when we get back,
I want to talk about this is to campus what
you should be looking for, because I know you go
(18:11):
through a lot of this in the book. So the
kids can actually make teenagers can make a better informed
decision in conjunction with their parents about where they are
going to invest. Because in all honesty, Rick, it sounds
to me like you're looking at this really as an
investment when to invest and where to invest, and if
(18:35):
I'm wrong, to explain to me why and if I'm right,
we'll talk about that right after the news break. At
the bottom of the ar My guest is Rick Edelman.
You know him as a financial planner for two decades
on this radio station. He's written a new book, The
Truth About College, The Essential College Guide for both parents
and teens. How many books have you authored over the years, Rick, If.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
I could ask, this is my fourteen book?
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Fourteenth book? Is this the first one that is a
even though I just made the point that there's financial
underpinnings to all the issues in this book, is this
the first one that really does step away from financial
issues per se.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
I've talked about college and several of my other books
because it's such a major part of financial planning, but
having delve into it in the great extent that I
do here first.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
The book The Truth About Calling is The Essential College
Guide for both parents and teens. My name's Dan Ray.
This is Nightside. It's an opportunity for ask you to
ask Rick Edelman a question. Many of you right now
are either filing your applications, particularly if you're a late senior.
(19:46):
Some of you are waiting to be notified. So this
is an important issue, and this is an opportunity for
you to pick up the phone and give us a call.
Six one, seven, two, five, four ten thirty six one
seven nine three one ten thirty one. My name is
Dan Ray. Rick Edelman is alongside, not alongside, he's another
part of the country. We do this all remotely, and
(20:07):
you're remote as well. So join the conversation. Coming back
on Nightside right after the news at the bottom of
the hour.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
My guess is Rick Edelman the Truth about College, the
essential college guide to both parents and teens. And if
the voice of Rick Edelman sounds familiar, you heard him
for twenty years here on weekends talking about finances and
how to handle your money and a big part of
decisions about going to college, because college is other than
(20:43):
I guess a purchase of a home, one of the
biggest investments you're going to make on behalf of your children.
So Rick, let me run a few practical questions by you.
I'm assuming that people are out there listening, and maybe
they're afraid to call because you really understand this topic,
and I want to invite them. As I learned in
law school, the only dumb question, folks, is the one
(21:04):
you're too afraid to ask. So don't be dumb. Give
us a call. Six one, seven, two, five, four ten
thirty six one seven, nine three ten thirty. Okay, Look,
we have parents, both of whom went to the same school,
whether or not it's Dartmouth or Ohio State University or
the University of Oregon. You know, if they went to
(21:27):
the University of Oregon, I'm sure they've had ducks in
the house for their entire life. And they bought all
those those green and orange sweaters for the kids. They
they the parents want you to go to the school
they went to. Kids might rebell on that. I'm not
talking about those parents. What about the parents maybe went
to college, maybe didn't go to college, maybe did a
couple of years in college. They haven't been through this
(21:48):
in a while. What is the biggest I guess roadblock
mental A lot of it. I assume our parents saying
we'll talk about that next week, we'll get to it
after the holidays. This is stuff that is easily put off.
(22:09):
How do parents who are not college centric because that's
who I really want to talk to tonight. And they have
their kids. How do they get into this. Is it
an early meeting with a guidance counselor is it a
trip to a local college and toury campus, take the
kids to a college football game. How do you get
the kid thinking about this?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Do you start by talking about their future and their aspirations.
I mean, kids are aware of the world today to
a better degree than any of us were in the
past because of social media and global news. So they
are aware of what's happening in the world. Some have
excited opportunities in mind that they want to engage in
and conquer, whether it's technology, or it's something in the
(22:56):
field of business, or On the other hand, some see
the problems that we have in this world, which are
pretty massive, and they want to try to tackle those
problems and solve the issues that so many people are facing,
whether it's economic or it is discrimination, or it's a
lack of healthcare, or its environment or climate, I mean,
(23:18):
whatever it is that anybody has as their concerns.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
So that's where you begin with the child. Is begin
with a very simple question what interests you?
Speaker 3 (23:28):
And let's take a look at those areas and see
where there might be career opportunities. There might be college
classes that address those areas of interest, whether it's music
or art, or sociology or mathematics or biology or dance,
whatever it may happen to be. Let's see if there's
(23:51):
a career path associated with this that can produce an
income that makes the cost of getting that income, meaning
that you spend to go to college worthwhile. This could
help begin a journey that the parents and teens can
travel together throughout the teenagers' high school years so that
(24:13):
together they can determine if this is a legitimate path
worth pursuing or not. It's a great way to do.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
It without.
Speaker 3 (24:22):
Condemnation, without judgment, that allows the student to figure out
whether or not this is a legitimate idea or just
a pipe dream.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
That's a really great place to start.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
What do you want?
Speaker 4 (24:35):
What interests you?
Speaker 3 (24:36):
To start with?
Speaker 4 (24:36):
That one question?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
Okay, that's one area. The second question that I have is,
as I said, you will have the parents who know
that they went to Ohio State University. They want all
their kids to follow at Ohio State University. Those sort
of parents. But as a parent, who's just kind of
starting with an open mind. You have this thing called
(24:58):
the Common app which has allowed students to kind of
engage in what I call the college entrance Olympics. You
can apply now just as easily to twenty colleges as
in the old days you can apply to two or
three because because of the Common app, what's a reasonable
number of colleges that any teenage or any family can
(25:22):
actually look at and consider? They have to figure it out.
But what is the normal, an average number that an
average family should be thinking about. I mean, every family
doesn't have the ability to say, well, let's go look
at USC and we'll fly from Bostony, USC, and then
after that we want to go down to the University
of Miami, and then we want to go out to Seattle.
(25:43):
What's a reasonable number of colleges to apply to?
Speaker 3 (25:46):
In your opaya, You're absolutely right, the cost of a
plot to college is gotten out of hand because you
spend hundreds of dollars with every application you're going to
involve travel to the school, to walk a campus and
have a tour. You're talking about thousands of dollars in
travel expenses associated with this. And this goes back to
the very beginning premise. If college is going to be
(26:08):
your choice, which, as I said, can be a great decision,
you now need to figure out how can you minimize
the expense. And one thing that parents and teens don't
give enough credence to is the travel cost associated with college.
If you choose a college thirty minutes from home, travel
cost is near zero. But if you choose a college
(26:29):
that's one thousand miles away, now you're talking airfare. Now
you're talking about massive additional expenses of tens of thousands
of dollars over the course of the college career for
the student to fly back and forth at least four
times a year, for parents to do the same thing
at least once a year. We're talking fifteen or twenty
grand and that is unreimbursable. That doesn't add to the
(26:53):
quality of the education. So I would begin with the
premise of saying, how.
Speaker 4 (26:57):
Can we get the job done.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Minimal expense, And that could mean very clearly, choosing schools
that are within a driving distance of home. Keep it
to a two or three hour drive from home as
opposed to thousands of miles. That will help you reduce
the number of schools the child applies to in the
first place, which will save you even more money by
avoiding those expenses.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Let's get to some calls here, Warren in Fall River, Massachusetts. Warre,
and you were next on nice side with Rick Edelman.
Go ahead, Warren, what's your question.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Of co Yeah, yeah, I got I'm a vocational you know,
you know, like a trade school person I went to.
I went to high school, you know, you know, learning
the trades and all stuff like that. Do you think
the trade schools are actually a better bargain than the
(27:51):
colleges right now.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
For an awful lot of kids, Yes, Warren. Then it's
one of the things in my book is that college
is no longer the only path to success. Affluency, satisfaction,
and fulfillment.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You have.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
Apprenticeships and vocational education are two dominant potential courses of
action for high school graduates.
Speaker 6 (28:15):
Now.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
We now have sixty five percent more apprenticeship programs than
we did a decade ago. In these programs, students actually
get paid to get the training, and they're offered jobs
immediately upon completion, which doesn't take four or six years.
It only takes a year or two, depending on the
field that you go into. Where you come out with
(28:36):
a job paying one hundred thousand dollars or more. You
paid nothing to get the education. You're now earning six
figures upon completion, and you're starting in the workforce years
ahead of those who go to college, labeling you to
not only start earning income, but to starting to say
for your retirement in a retirement account or IRA what
(28:58):
have you. As a result calculations, you can reach retirement
with a million dollars more than college graduates will without
the debt that they accumulate. So yeah, vocational education and
they are commding choice very much. So it's an outstanding
it's much more conserspective.
Speaker 5 (29:16):
And my second question is with the state schools being free,
where like the Massachusetts is offering you know, free college
to like in the state schools and all stuff like that,
has that decreased the value of an education of college education?
Speaker 4 (29:37):
Yes and no.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
The good news is that college is becoming much less
expensive than it used to be because thirty five states
around the country are beginning to make college free. Community
colleges are free in thirty five states. Four year educations
are free in twenty five states for families earning as
much as two hundred thousand dollars a year. So that's
(29:59):
the good news. It's making college more affordable, and that
means more accessible, allowing kids to get the advanced education
they need to pursue really cool careers. The downside to that,
and this is to the point you're raising, Wine, is
that by making college more universally available because it's inexpensive
and anybody can do it, we're increasing the number of
(30:20):
kids who do go to college, which increases the amount
of competition you have for the jobs that those college
degrees require, which means the value of the degree isn't
as much as it was twenty years ago, which is
forcing kids into graduate school, where most of the student
debt occurs and where most of the big expenses are.
So you're right, we have to consider in high school
(30:43):
whether the degree is going to lead to the field
you want, whether you're going to need to go for
graduate school or not, and what is that going to cost,
and what are the job opportunities as a result of
having a master's. This is what's making it much more
difficult to calculate all the students still in high school.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Warren, great questions. Thank you for your call. I got
to get to a break. Thank you, Thank you, my friend.
Talk to you soon. Be right back with my guest
Rick Edelman again, good questions from war and we're going
to go to Trevor in Ontario. He's up next, and
there's room for you. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty six one, seven, nine, three, one ten thirty Back
with Rick Edelman. The book is The Truth about College,
(31:25):
The Essential College Guide for both parents and teens. It
is out and available today. Back on night Side after this.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on w BZ,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
My guest is Rick Edelman. Rick. Quick question, Well, some
person called in. They didn't want to ask you this themselves,
so I'll ask you for you. Is the Rick Edelman
Financial Show still available?
Speaker 3 (31:50):
There are podcasts. After I had left my radio show
after thirty two years, I did a podcast, a daily
podcast for three years, and all of those episodes are
available at the Truth about your Future dot com.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Perfect. Okay, that, gentleman. Hopefully we'll realize that we did
ask this question. We never do that because I always
say we want to hear the caller's voices. We're going
to hear Trevor in Ontario. His voice, Trevor, you were
next on nightside.
Speaker 3 (32:18):
Welcome, Well, good evening.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
I was listening to your show and I just had
to call in thank you. I grew up and at
fourteen years old. I grew up in England. And at
fourteen years old they took us to different jobs to
see what we wanted to do, and I wanted to
be electrician. At fifteen, I left school and started my apprenticeship.
(32:41):
I was electrician at twenty. I had to go my
school three nights a week and one day a week,
which the company paid for. But it never cost me nothing.
Speaker 2 (32:52):
Trevor. What, Trevor, I missed up in England.
Speaker 3 (32:56):
In England, all right, okay, and we.
Speaker 6 (32:59):
Went to your school till eleven. Then we took eleven
plus examine and went to a senior school that they
called it. And at fifteen I left school, signed apprenticeship
papers the next day and started to work on my apprenticeship.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
They do it a little bit. They did it a
little bit differently in England. Trevor. Have you have you
called my show before since your first time?
Speaker 6 (33:20):
I called you once before?
Speaker 2 (33:21):
Yeah, well you got to call more often here, Trevor.
An interesting perspective. For sure, I'm getting a little.
Speaker 6 (33:27):
I just had to I just had to Quarterer to
tell you that it never cost me nothing. And I
grew up without a dad. And I worked in a
nuclear power station in England, and then the company of
Ontario Hydro in Canada brought me over from England and
I worked here. I have never been out of work in.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
My life, and Trevor, good, good for it.
Speaker 6 (33:54):
And I also worked in Rochester, New York for an
electrical company there who hired me on the phone. Just
go out apprenticeship papers, all.
Speaker 2 (34:02):
Right, well, Trevor, a powerful testimony that there's more than
one way to skin a cat, as they would say.
Speaker 6 (34:08):
But I just not to call because of all the
people that pay all this money out and they just
don't do apprenticeships.
Speaker 2 (34:15):
And I hate to do this to you, but you
call so darn lad. I got to move on to
a couple of more callers, but thank you, and call
more often, Trevor. You sound like an interesting guy. I
love to talk to people who have had this different
experiences and I'd love to follow up with a longer conversation.
Thank you, my friend.
Speaker 6 (34:33):
Okay, thanks, good night.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
Let me go to Priscilla in that appan part of Boston. Priscilla,
you are on with Rick Edelman. Go right ahead, Priscilla.
Speaker 7 (34:42):
Yeah, so my daughter she's in college. But oh boy,
it's it's a lot to deal with. But she did it.
You know. She has a little has adhd, but he's
still in there. And we got help, you know, from
the school just as well, because she's got a free scholarship.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
Where's she going to school, Priscilla, if I could.
Speaker 7 (35:07):
Ask, she goes to Jecksville University is Philadelphia?
Speaker 2 (35:14):
I missed the name. What was the name again?
Speaker 7 (35:17):
That's Ball University in Philadelphia.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Okay, I'm not familiar with that school. What's her major
going to be? What does she? What does she? What
is she?
Speaker 3 (35:25):
Hotel?
Speaker 7 (35:27):
Business management, hospitality?
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Okay, sure, so she wants to work hotels and in
business management. Rick, There's there's a there's a very practical
career path. There will always be hotels. I think Priscilla
is going to be Okay.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Yeah, there's no question to Tourism is one of the
key careers that are going to survive. That's an important
point you're raising right there, Dan, is that we have
a threat now that didn't happen when we were in college,
and that.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Is artificial intelligence hip exactly.
Speaker 7 (35:55):
And if financially and all that. Oh boys, well, Priscilla.
Speaker 2 (36:01):
You you keep supporting her and she'll make you She'll
make you proud of At the end of the day, Priscilla,
I'm getting flat out of time, so I.
Speaker 7 (36:08):
Gotta let you run than grad in June.
Speaker 2 (36:11):
All right, Well, keep me posted as to what her
success is, because she will, she will be a success.
Thank you so much, Priscilla, say how to your daughter
for us?
Speaker 7 (36:20):
Okay, okay, thank you.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Thanks Priscilla. Yeah, that was my last question. And my
last question is this artificial intelligence. Probably you're not going
to take the jobs of plumbers, electricians, hvac operators, but
it may take a lot of white collar jobs or
college educated jobs. That's a huge factor.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
Rick.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Can you just address that a little bit and how
that works into the calculations of where where teenagers should
be looking after high school.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
There's a huge issue, Dan, and in my book, I
list the hundreds of occupations that are going to be
eliminated over the next decade by AI and robotics. Too
many students are in college majoring in fields that literally
won't exist by the time they graduate. So we have
to be careful that we are having our children choose
(37:13):
careers that in fact will lead to jobs.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
And while I have.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
A big list in the book of jobs that are
going to disappear, I have another big list of hundreds
of jobs that are going to thrive in the next
decade or two. As you pointed out, a lot of
careers are going to do really well in a technological environment.
You need to make sure that your children are not
facing obsolescence with the major that they select. And so
(37:40):
this is a huge part of the book and The
Truth about College to help you and your team pick
the right career that they're going to select for their
college path.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Rick, I thank you so much for your time tonight.
He gave us an hour. Ric Edelman The Truth about College,
The Essential College Guide for both parents and teens, and
your right. There's all sorts of information, there's application guidance,
there's college comparisons, all sorts of interview suggestions. You know,
(38:10):
what do you do in terms of campus life? Academic?
This is a book that is full of valuable information.
And I can't encourage my listeners any more strongly than
to say, this is a book that should be part
of your family library, particularly if you have young ones,
and whether it's your grandparents or parents, you got to
(38:31):
help these kids make the right decisions. Rick Edelman, thanks
so much for your time, and thanks for putting this
book together. Available on Amazon, I'm sure pretty easily. The
book The Truth about Callers, the Essential College Guide for
both parents and teens. Best of luck, Rick. You know
we'll have you back at some point and maybe a
few months from now and see how how how the
(38:53):
book is going and what sort of reviews you're receiving. Obviously,
if it's number one on Amazon, it's pretty strong.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Out of the gates, it's doing really well. I'm really excited.
And Dan, it's been such a privilege to be here
with you. I'm so happy to be a getting back
on WBZ.
Speaker 2 (39:10):
Absolutely, you're always welcome here, that's for sure. Thanks Rick,
we'll talk soon. Thank you, my friend. Anytime you in Boston,
let me know we'll do all right when we get back.
We have one more hour here on Wednesday night, and
I have a couple of thoughts that i'd like to
share with you, and I hope you'll be willing to
share some of your thoughts with me on night side,
(39:30):
right after the news at eleven o'clock.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.