October 9, 2024 • 23 mins
In today’s episode, I dive deep with Danny Tejada, who shares his journey from growing up in a tough NYC neighborhood to becoming a key figure in college access and admissions. Danny emphasizes the importance of understanding education’s return on investment and how he helps students navigate college finance and career planning. Tune in to hear his impactful insights and experiences.
Bio
Danny Tejada grew up in public housing in East New York, Brooklyn. He is a first-generation high school and college graduate. He attended Skidmore College. He also holds a certificate in College Advising from Teachers College, Columbia University. He co-authored a book with his mentee called Different Families, Still Brothers. Danny has been in college counseling for over ten years, working in public, private, charter schools, non-profits, and his own consulting company, We Go To College, LLC. In his consulting, he works with non-profits and high schools on their college counseling programming, colleges on their recruitment of historically disadvantaged students, and individual families on the college application process. In addition to his consulting work, he works at an independent school in Manhattan and reads applications for the University of California, San Diego. Danny sits on the boards of Stony Brook University’s Counselor Advisory, Uprooted Academy, and Puerto Rican Family Institute, Inc. Previously, he was on Common App’s Counselor Advisory Committee and College Access Consortium of New York’s board. Throughout his college counseling career, he has presented at state and national conferences and been featured on NewsNation, in The New York Times, NPR, Forbes, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Education Week, and Money.com, discussing college access issues for historically disadvantaged students. Danny’s mission is to expand college access for low-income, Black, and Brown students so they can achieve upward mobility and break their generational curse. Follow Danny on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Danny Tejada (00:00):
Cost factor is something that really gets
(00:02):
thought about a lot. What Istand to make when I come out
and I think now I'm sitting heretalking about it, I think a lot
of that has to do with, nothingwrong I love my time to
Skidmore. But one thing I alwaystell my students is because I
have, like, five pillars of whatmakes a good college. So there's
not necessarily in the name.
Sheila Akbar (00:31):
Hey folks, welcome back to the podcast. Thanks for
joining us this week. I'm soexcited to introduce you to my
friend Danny Tejada, who does awhole bunch of things around
college admissions and collegeaccess. I first learned about
what Danny's up to through hisvery active LinkedIn profile,
where he takes care to reallycall out how various aspects of
(00:54):
the process affect students on aday to day basis. He had a whole
series of wrestling memes aroundthe countdown to the FAFSA last
year, and he wears the mostamazing T shirts, and is a
really great guy, and brings anamazing perspective to this
work. So I'm excited tointroduce him to you all, and I
(01:16):
hope that you'll come away withsome great insights here. Let's
take a listen. Danny, thank youso much for joining me today.
I'm really excited to talk toyou more about your background
and what you do now and thethings that you're paying
attention to in the world ofadmissions. So let's start with
that origin story. Can you tellus a little bit about how you
grew up and what your schoolingwas like?
Danny Tejada (01:38):
I grew up in one of the most dangerous
neighborhoods in New York City,East New York, Brooklyn, and
grew up in public housing. Wasthe oldest of three. So for me,
when I first entered in highschool, I went to a public high
school in downtown Brooklyn.
Yeah, also because I mentionedto parents being on public
assistance as well. So when Ifirst got into high school,
didn't know what collegeexisted. I legitimately thought
(02:02):
High School was the end all beall because college wasn't
talked about and our home sofreshman year and I will never
forget the day when two of thedirectors of the Pace University
of brown program came in to myninth grade English class and
gave the gave a presentation ontheir program. They talked about
going on the Pleasantvillecampus at pace. They talked
(02:26):
about what their classes werelike, whether it was things like
patting up on classes are youcurrently taking or taking a
high school class ahead of timebefore you take it again in the
fall for real at your actualhigh school. So I remember just
loving that idea seeing thelight at the end of the tunnel.
(02:49):
So I got in that summer, andthen from there, pace,
university was like a safe havenfor me. You know, I would often
go there after school to do mywork, to be around people who
were like minded, because theprogram consisted of kids from
all over Brooklyn. For the mostpart, they had certain target
(03:11):
high schools, though, inBrooklyn, but to be around kids
just like me, who were asambitious, as opposed to my high
school, and to be around peoplewho I felt like were really
looking out for me was amazing.
Was an amazing feeling, and Iwill never forget the moment
where my college advisor, SeanCalloway, said in front of her
(03:34):
whole class, so this was senioryear in the fall, if I was
applying her decision toSkidmore, and I used to stutter
a lot. Used to be very difficultfor me to talk. So he told me to
go down to computer lab anddon't come back up until you
figure it out. So went down tothe computer lab, called one of
(03:54):
my friends who was asking moreat the time, who also went to
the same high school as me,asked her about what her
experience was like all I reallyknew having seen the school, but
I just knew that I really likedthe admissions officer at the
time, and also have to surf inthe website a little bit more. I
made the decision to apply earlydecision. So ended up getting in
(04:17):
before seeing the school.
Eventually seen the school thatthat spring. And I'm really glad
that made that decision to applyevery decision. And I remember
just walking around campus atone point where they let us free
room. I went down to someacademic buildings, got to speak
to professors and what have you.
(04:38):
And I was like, wow, like thisreally has such a family. Feel
community. Really great sense ofcommunity here, asking more. So
I got into the HEOP program,Higher Education Opportunity
Program, which is a program forlow income students who wouldn't
normally get into the college.
So there's a economic componentto it, and then also, you know,
academic, it's a. Program hasabout 50 private colleges in the
(05:00):
state Sunnis have somethingsimilar, called Education
Opportunity Program EOP. Here inthe city, you have seek and
college discovery, seek for fouryear cunys, college discovery
for two year cunys. So for me,getting into that program was
such a great feeling, you know,because I knew how limited I was
(05:23):
in terms of the spots thatSkidmore allocated at the time,
and me knowing a lot aboutfinancial aid, I knew I hit the
jackpot, because when a studentgets into et o, p at the private
school level, that privateschool has to provide full
financial need, and it does comewith loans, but it's not going
(05:44):
to be the max loan at 27,000after four years is usually on
average, eight to 12. Myoriginal deal would have only
been 8000 after four years, butI knew I wanted to graduate with
no debt at all, so I applied toa lot of outside scholarships.
Got one, a handful of them endup covering most of the loans I
(06:05):
would have had, and then becamea resident assistant in my last
year to knock out the rest ofthe loans that I would have had.
So I graduated Skidmore at thattime. I know the price is crazy
now, but $50,000 at the timewith with no debt at all, and
that's pretty amazing. Yeah. Sothen, you know, a lot of the
classes I took where it was,like, autobiographies of black
(06:27):
radicals, for example, or theAfrican American experience, or
even a class that I helpedcreate hip hop culture as well.
And then I was also on the wayto being a hip hop journalist, I
was getting a lot of like clipsand major magazines,
interviewing somewhat well knownartists, reviewing albums while
(06:47):
I was still in college, and Ifelt like I really wanted to be
able to do something a lotbigger, a lot more meaningful
than what I was doing. So I dida lot of soul searching in my
senior year of college, and Istarted to reflect upon my
journey to Skidmore, and I said,You know what I want to be, just
(07:07):
like those folks who helped meget to college. So it took me
four years after I graduatedcollege to finally break into
college access. It was a tough,long road with things such as,
you speak Spanish, I don't, sothat held me back, or another
place told me, Oh, it was parttime. Do you still want it? I
(07:28):
was already living on my own bythat point, so it was definitely
a trying time, you know,especially in the year that I
graduated. But one thing thatI'm grateful for is I got to
start my career with the samepeople who helped me get to
college, so I worked for asister program, so I have
(07:48):
firsthand experience of what itwas like for the rebound staff
to work with a kid like me andgrew more of appreciation for
the things that they have done.
For me, great to be able tocollaborate with them on a lot
of different things, such asvocabulary class, college
(08:09):
admissions, you know, teachingkids things like how to think
like a business officer, thingslike yield and whatnot. And I'm
a big believer everythinghappens for a reason. So it was
great to be able to start withthem and to learn so much from
my college advisor, because hewas my, you know, trainer and
mentor in that first row 11years ago. And to fast forward
(08:31):
now, you know, doing so manydifferent things, working so
many different places, publicschools, charter schools, a
private school. At one point,I'm glad I got the experience to
be able to live outside of NewYork City for once, did that?
Lived in St Louis for threeyears and seen a lot of
different things now back in NewYork, working full time at a
(08:51):
charter school here in the SouthBronx, and also started this
consultancy that started beforeI left for St Louis, originally,
when I was in New York City, butreally started to grow a lot
more during the pandemic, and Istarted really think about what
was a niche. Always knew Iwanted to be able to affect
(09:12):
things on a larger scale, ratherthan just working with one on
one. I saw the pandemic at thetime where a lot of programs
needed programming and or upperbound programs were heading
towards the end of their daycycle at that time. So I wanted
to be able to come in there, beable to lend my expertise and
(09:32):
help them also use up theirbudgets. So then from there,
when everything started to goback in person, I really made
the effort to try to build thoseconnections with those open
ground programs, and expand theidea of what I was doing with
the consulting see a lot more interms of helping programs and
helping organizations in highschools with their structuring
(09:55):
of their college counseling. Andtowards the end of my time in St
Louis, I got to work. Work withan organization here in New York
City, Big Brothers andbusinesses at NYC to help them
build up their college accessprogram. So when I'm not working
full time in the school, chancesare after school on the
weekends, I might be workingwith a high school, or it just
(10:16):
might be working with the littlehandful of students that I am
working with privately as well.
Sheila Akbar (10:22):
So funny. I mean, thank you for that very detailed
recap. I mean, that's great, andI feel like I we all have a very
good understanding of, like,kind of what you came up
through. But I am going to askyou some clarifying questions
about that, because I think, intheory, a lot of people know
what first generation collegestudent may be up against, but I
think hearing some of the day today, I think, would be really
(10:45):
eye opening for people, ifyou're open to sharing that. But
Signet was actually the officialeducational partner of Big
Brothers, Big Sisters in NewYork City, until I want to say
2014 2015 something like that.
We started the company inBoston. I when I got married, I
moved to New York. I was livingin Bed Stuy, actually, I was
volunteering with a lot ofstudents in East New York. And
(11:06):
yeah, we did s, a T and a C, Tprep for Big Brothers, Big
Sisters. We did college essaywriting workshops. We did, like,
study skills, kind of things. Wedid a lot of stuff. I mean, just
like the most amazing kids,right, who are, like, so earnest
in their desire to take thingsforward, and sounds like, maybe
(11:27):
the experience you had therewhen you got involved with the
pace Upward Bound program, itlike open a whole new world to
you. And seemed like, you know,they put a challenge in front of
you, and you just crushed it.
And had you not had those twopeople wander into your
classroom, who knows, when thosedoors would have been open to
(11:48):
you, right? And like, it's justso amazing what those sort of
access programs really do. And Iwant to be really clear that
it's not like a shortcut into anopportunity you wouldn't have
been able to achieve. It's morelike exposure and a chance at
something right for you toreally demonstrate your ambition
(12:09):
and your, you know, skills anddiscipline and just gave
somebody gave you a chance. AndI think that's so amazing.
Danny Tejada (12:15):
And then, and that piece too, yes, I've definitely
been so so lucky, right? But Ijust had this great belief that
being at the right moment, youknow, I could have been absent
that day when the program cameto talk about what they had to
offer. So for me, the reasonwhy, like, I focused the
consultancy more on rather thanworking with individuals, more
(12:39):
on high schools and CEOs isbecause I just want to be able
to help increase the chancesfor, you know, opportunities for
other students who are outthere, or at least the knowledge
and have a sense of motivation.
And it's not necessarily aboutgoing to selective No, but still
being successful at CUNY aswell.
Sheila Akbar (13:02):
Yeah, and there's so many opportunities within
those state the publicinstitutions, let's say, you
know, I live in California, andI just can't say enough about
the city college system here,and the Cal States. And, of
course, everybody knows the UCs,but like, there's so much of a
pipeline leading up to that,that, you know, they've really
invested in educating thestudents in their in their
(13:24):
state, and New York has asimilarly robust program, you
know, you've got the cunys andthe Sunnis and a whole bunch of
other things in between that arereally amazing opportunities for
students. So let's go back tothat, the idea of a first
generation college student,right? Like, not only were you
not raised in a household wherepeople were talking about
(13:46):
college, you were also not in acommunity where people were
really talking about college,right? How much was it a topic
at school for you?
Danny Tejada (13:54):
It wasn't really something that was talked about.
I feel like these days, I'm notsure about regular public
schools. But I feel like thesedays, schools are starting to
adapt this model. I've beennoticing even in different
private schools here in New YorkCity, who are having like these
college prep courses wherethey're doing the applications
or learning about the processand and things like that. And I
(14:16):
think the only experience that Ihad in terms of college stuff
with the high school itself, istaking AP Chemistry at City
College across the street, CUNYcollege. So of course, I did a
lot of stuff with peace, youknow, going on trips, things
like that. But I think it's alot for one person, full time
(14:37):
college advisor, you're the onlyone, and you have hundreds of
seniors to be able to work with,so it's kind of hard to have any
sense of quality collegecounseling and things like that,
unless the student is reallylike, self advocating for
themselves and or not in aprogram like, like I was,
Sheila Akbar (14:56):
Yeah, and I mean, certainly things have improved
over time. I still think we havea long way to go, but we've seen
that the earlier and not to putthe pressure on students, but
just let them know this is apossibility for you, and hear
like the different pathways tolet them know at an earlier
stage in their education. Iremember I was working with the
YMCA in New York City for alittle while, and they've got a
(15:18):
program that starts in sixthgrade. And again, it's not to
put the pressure on and say, yougot to do this exactly right, so
that you get into XYZ college.
It's more like, this is apossibility for you. This is a
reality for you, and you canreally, you can do this. And
it's not just for you know, thisother population that the one
that we hear about in the newsall the time, right? Like these
are the people who go to collegethese rich kids from fancy
(15:40):
schools in the suburbs. It'sit's everybody, right? So I'm
really encouraged by that. I'mcurious how you use your
knowledge, you know, your ownexperience, and the different
institutions you've worked withand for how that impacts how you
coach students, whether they'reat your charter school or, you
know, they're your privateclients. How does that affect
(16:02):
your philosophy about this?
Danny Tejada (16:06):
I think for me, my biggest thing, at least these
days, and definitely since thebeginning of my career. But as
more tools start to come out, Istart to refine this a lot more.
But you know the idea of returnon investment, like, of course,
you go to college to learn,discover yourself, but at the
end of the day, you know, yougot to make sure that you have a
(16:27):
job, or at least starting careerwhen you come out. You know what
kind of opportunities is thecollege going to bring you? So
one of the biggest things that Ilearned over time is to get
families to really think abouthow before they apply, whether
it's during net price calculatoror of a particular school, or
using my favorite website call ascorecard to look at starting
(16:50):
salaries, to be able to look atloan repayment rates, or data on
Parent Plus loans. Because youknow, having having this kind of
knowledge can help prevent a lotof heartbreak when those time
actually packages come in Aprilor in March, if it's a normal
year, but it's something that Ithink is very important to be
able to have that conversationwith with families of all
(17:12):
economic backgrounds, because Ihad the opportunity to work with
students And families from allworks of life, income, different
identities and whatnot. And onething I learned, you know,
throughout all of that, is theimportance of costs. So whether
I'm talking to one family aboutmarriage scholarships, I'm
talking to another family aboutwho needs schools, that
(17:34):
conversation still ends up beingabout finances still ends up
being about return on investmentand what have you now, I'm
having more nuancedconversations with students
about cost of living, whetherit's in New York City or the
college that you're going tothis is what it's currently
like. It's only going to gethigher by the time you become an
(17:55):
adult. So this is, this is somethings you have to think about,
and just have a outlook of whatthe job growth might look like
for that particular industrythat you're looking at what kind
of things that you need to beable to put yourself in a great
position within that career aswell. So it's I've definitely
gone through a lot of differentmotions throughout my career,
(18:17):
but I'm glad I'm to be back inthe space where I'm working with
mostly students, either directlyor indirectly, whether it's in
my full time role, or workingwith high schools or CBOs, who
are working with mostly lowincome, black and brown students
that cost factors like it reallygets thought about a lot. What I
stand to make when I come outand I think now I'm sitting here
(18:39):
talking about it, I think a lotof that has to do with, nothing
wrong I love my time toSkidmore, but one thing I always
tell my students is, because Ihave, like, five pillars of what
makes a good college. So there'snot necessarily in a name, like
I talk to students about, whatare the career services office
like, what services in thatoffice do they provide, you
(19:01):
know, whether there's jobshadowing, resume help, cover
letter. I don't even know how towrite a cover letter into some
years after I graduated college,right, right, yeah. Or like, how
to forge connections in thealumni network. What's the
alumni network like? You know,in terms of helping students
with the internships or or jobsor things like that, and in
(19:23):
college, not having, you know,not although I did try to do an
internship at one of the hip hopmagazines I was writing for.
Unfortunately, I didn't do itbecause I had to pay for the
credits. So the magazinerequires that I take the
internship for a credit. So forme, I lean on bad experience and
lean on like, that first fullyear that I didn't have a full
(19:44):
time job after I graduatedcollege. And then, of course,
you know, the four, four yearsthat it took me to get started
in my career after and I'mtrying to, like, get students to
think more critically aboutthose, those kind of things,
more particularly like. Thecareer stuff at a particular
college, another thing I talk tostudents about, ask them about
(20:06):
what kind of companies recruit?
Do they have Career Fairs andthings like that?
Sheila Akbar (20:11):
I think that that's really smart. I mean
number one, just to front thefinancial discussion, because
too many people go through thewhole process of applying, maybe
paying hefty application fees,only to find out we can't afford
to go to any of these greatschools that you got into.
That's really just tragic,right? It's very heartbreaking,
and they've spent so much timeand energy on this. But the
(20:33):
other piece of it of looking atearning potential, job
prospects, the network, all ofthat when you're researching
schools, I think is reallysmart. I actually got into it a
little bit with the dad of oneof my students, who basically
wanted to throw out all the workwe did on the college list and
say, Well, I'm looking at therankings. And I had to tell him,
I'm like, You know what? I don'tput any stock in those like, if
(20:58):
you want to rank these collegesby potential for your daughter
landing a job in a field thatshe's actually interested in,
not this other one that you keeptalking about, that you think
she should go into, because Iknow she's not interested in
that. Like, if you want to rankthem by that, like, Fine, we'll
come up with our own rankingsystem. But like, you can't just
buy someone else's rankings forand apply it to your, you know,
(21:18):
nuanced financial situation, andnever mind the students interest
right now, when she's 17, like,that's gonna change as she
actually learned some stuffabout herself in the world, and,
you know, all of these things.
So I think it's really smart toget a sense of, you know, what's
the infrastructure there to helpstudents get internships, to be
able to afford to take aninternship, to be able to
(21:41):
actually apply for jobs, yeah?
Really, really smart advicethere. Well, I feel like we're
just scratching the surface.
We're coming to the end of ourtime here. I want to highlight
that you do, you know? I want tostate it really clearly. You do
three really awesome things,right? You work in a school as a
college counselor, you consultwith institutions on their
(22:03):
access programs and dei issues,and you work with students
individually, helping themnavigate this process.
Danny Tejada (22:13):
Yes, and you mentioned in the second thing I
forgot to mention this too. I doconsult with colleges as well on
their recruitment ofunderrepresented students?
Sheila Akbar (22:22):
Yeah, I just think that's just so amazing that
you're like connecting all ofthese, you know, different
institutions and networks ofpeople that all have the same
goal, but they're not oftentalking directly to each other.
So I feel like you're a reallygreat hub in that way. And I'll
also say, you know, you came onmy radar because you started
showing up in my LinkedIn feed.
You're very active on LinkedIn.
(22:45):
I feel like everything you postis like, yep, you and I are on
the same page about a lot ofthings. And I especially loved
the series that you did as wewere waiting for the FAFSA to
come online. You had all theselittle rolling memes. Yeah, I
loved it. I was like, Oh, thisis good. So if you don't
already, you should follow Dannyon LinkedIn. I'm gonna link your
(23:09):
consulting page and yourLinkedIn in the show notes so
people can find you easily. Butthank you so much for your time
and sharing some of your storywith us.
Danny Tejada (23:16):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Sheila Akbar (23:19):
All right, folks, I hope that you will follow
Danny on LinkedIn, and, youknow, learn more about the work
that he does with students, withhigh schools, with colleges and
other types of organizations.
He's definitely someone tolisten to. I'm going to keep
these remarks short just becauseit's the middle of October and
we've got looming earlydeadlines, and everybody's got
so much work to do still, but Iwish you all good luck, and I
(23:43):
hope that you're getting thehelp you need. If you need more,
please don't hesitate to reachout. Thanks. We'll see you next
time.
Cost factor is something that really gets
(00:02):
thought about a lot. What Istand to make when I come out
and I think now I'm sitting heretalking about it, I think a lot
of that has to do with, nothingwrong I love my time to
Skidmore. But one thing I alwaystell my students is because I
have, like, five pillars of whatmakes a good college. So there's
not necessarily in the name.
Sheila Akbar (00:31):
Hey folks, welcome back to the podcast. Thanks for
joining us this week. I'm soexcited to introduce you to my
friend Danny Tejada, who does awhole bunch of things around
college admissions and collegeaccess. I first learned about
what Danny's up to through hisvery active LinkedIn profile,
where he takes care to reallycall out how various aspects of
(00:54):
the process affect students on aday to day basis. He had a whole
series of wrestling memes aroundthe countdown to the FAFSA last
year, and he wears the mostamazing T shirts, and is a
really great guy, and brings anamazing perspective to this
work. So I'm excited tointroduce him to you all, and I
(01:16):
hope that you'll come away withsome great insights here. Let's
take a listen. Danny, thank youso much for joining me today.
I'm really excited to talk toyou more about your background
and what you do now and thethings that you're paying
attention to in the world ofadmissions. So let's start with
that origin story. Can you tellus a little bit about how you
grew up and what your schoolingwas like?
Danny Tejada (01:38):
I grew up in one of the most dangerous
neighborhoods in New York City,East New York, Brooklyn, and
grew up in public housing. Wasthe oldest of three. So for me,
when I first entered in highschool, I went to a public high
school in downtown Brooklyn.
Yeah, also because I mentionedto parents being on public
assistance as well. So when Ifirst got into high school,
didn't know what collegeexisted. I legitimately thought
(02:02):
High School was the end all beall because college wasn't
talked about and our home sofreshman year and I will never
forget the day when two of thedirectors of the Pace University
of brown program came in to myninth grade English class and
gave the gave a presentation ontheir program. They talked about
going on the Pleasantvillecampus at pace. They talked
(02:26):
about what their classes werelike, whether it was things like
patting up on classes are youcurrently taking or taking a
high school class ahead of timebefore you take it again in the
fall for real at your actualhigh school. So I remember just
loving that idea seeing thelight at the end of the tunnel.
(02:49):
So I got in that summer, andthen from there, pace,
university was like a safe havenfor me. You know, I would often
go there after school to do mywork, to be around people who
were like minded, because theprogram consisted of kids from
all over Brooklyn. For the mostpart, they had certain target
(03:11):
high schools, though, inBrooklyn, but to be around kids
just like me, who were asambitious, as opposed to my high
school, and to be around peoplewho I felt like were really
looking out for me was amazing.
Was an amazing feeling, and Iwill never forget the moment
where my college advisor, SeanCalloway, said in front of her
(03:34):
whole class, so this was senioryear in the fall, if I was
applying her decision toSkidmore, and I used to stutter
a lot. Used to be very difficultfor me to talk. So he told me to
go down to computer lab anddon't come back up until you
figure it out. So went down tothe computer lab, called one of
(03:54):
my friends who was asking moreat the time, who also went to
the same high school as me,asked her about what her
experience was like all I reallyknew having seen the school, but
I just knew that I really likedthe admissions officer at the
time, and also have to surf inthe website a little bit more. I
made the decision to apply earlydecision. So ended up getting in
(04:17):
before seeing the school.
Eventually seen the school thatthat spring. And I'm really glad
that made that decision to applyevery decision. And I remember
just walking around campus atone point where they let us free
room. I went down to someacademic buildings, got to speak
to professors and what have you.
(04:38):
And I was like, wow, like thisreally has such a family. Feel
community. Really great sense ofcommunity here, asking more. So
I got into the HEOP program,Higher Education Opportunity
Program, which is a program forlow income students who wouldn't
normally get into the college.
So there's a economic componentto it, and then also, you know,
academic, it's a. Program hasabout 50 private colleges in the
(05:00):
state Sunnis have somethingsimilar, called Education
Opportunity Program EOP. Here inthe city, you have seek and
college discovery, seek for fouryear cunys, college discovery
for two year cunys. So for me,getting into that program was
such a great feeling, you know,because I knew how limited I was
(05:23):
in terms of the spots thatSkidmore allocated at the time,
and me knowing a lot aboutfinancial aid, I knew I hit the
jackpot, because when a studentgets into et o, p at the private
school level, that privateschool has to provide full
financial need, and it does comewith loans, but it's not going
(05:44):
to be the max loan at 27,000after four years is usually on
average, eight to 12. Myoriginal deal would have only
been 8000 after four years, butI knew I wanted to graduate with
no debt at all, so I applied toa lot of outside scholarships.
Got one, a handful of them endup covering most of the loans I
(06:05):
would have had, and then becamea resident assistant in my last
year to knock out the rest ofthe loans that I would have had.
So I graduated Skidmore at thattime. I know the price is crazy
now, but $50,000 at the timewith with no debt at all, and
that's pretty amazing. Yeah. Sothen, you know, a lot of the
classes I took where it was,like, autobiographies of black
(06:27):
radicals, for example, or theAfrican American experience, or
even a class that I helpedcreate hip hop culture as well.
And then I was also on the wayto being a hip hop journalist, I
was getting a lot of like clipsand major magazines,
interviewing somewhat well knownartists, reviewing albums while
(06:47):
I was still in college, and Ifelt like I really wanted to be
able to do something a lotbigger, a lot more meaningful
than what I was doing. So I dida lot of soul searching in my
senior year of college, and Istarted to reflect upon my
journey to Skidmore, and I said,You know what I want to be, just
(07:07):
like those folks who helped meget to college. So it took me
four years after I graduatedcollege to finally break into
college access. It was a tough,long road with things such as,
you speak Spanish, I don't, sothat held me back, or another
place told me, Oh, it was parttime. Do you still want it? I
(07:28):
was already living on my own bythat point, so it was definitely
a trying time, you know,especially in the year that I
graduated. But one thing thatI'm grateful for is I got to
start my career with the samepeople who helped me get to
college, so I worked for asister program, so I have
(07:48):
firsthand experience of what itwas like for the rebound staff
to work with a kid like me andgrew more of appreciation for
the things that they have done.
For me, great to be able tocollaborate with them on a lot
of different things, such asvocabulary class, college
(08:09):
admissions, you know, teachingkids things like how to think
like a business officer, thingslike yield and whatnot. And I'm
a big believer everythinghappens for a reason. So it was
great to be able to start withthem and to learn so much from
my college advisor, because hewas my, you know, trainer and
mentor in that first row 11years ago. And to fast forward
(08:31):
now, you know, doing so manydifferent things, working so
many different places, publicschools, charter schools, a
private school. At one point,I'm glad I got the experience to
be able to live outside of NewYork City for once, did that?
Lived in St Louis for threeyears and seen a lot of
different things now back in NewYork, working full time at a
(08:51):
charter school here in the SouthBronx, and also started this
consultancy that started beforeI left for St Louis, originally,
when I was in New York City, butreally started to grow a lot
more during the pandemic, and Istarted really think about what
was a niche. Always knew Iwanted to be able to affect
(09:12):
things on a larger scale, ratherthan just working with one on
one. I saw the pandemic at thetime where a lot of programs
needed programming and or upperbound programs were heading
towards the end of their daycycle at that time. So I wanted
to be able to come in there, beable to lend my expertise and
(09:32):
help them also use up theirbudgets. So then from there,
when everything started to goback in person, I really made
the effort to try to build thoseconnections with those open
ground programs, and expand theidea of what I was doing with
the consulting see a lot more interms of helping programs and
helping organizations in highschools with their structuring
(09:55):
of their college counseling. Andtowards the end of my time in St
Louis, I got to work. Work withan organization here in New York
City, Big Brothers andbusinesses at NYC to help them
build up their college accessprogram. So when I'm not working
full time in the school, chancesare after school on the
weekends, I might be workingwith a high school, or it just
(10:16):
might be working with the littlehandful of students that I am
working with privately as well.
Sheila Akbar (10:22):
So funny. I mean, thank you for that very detailed
recap. I mean, that's great, andI feel like I we all have a very
good understanding of, like,kind of what you came up
through. But I am going to askyou some clarifying questions
about that, because I think, intheory, a lot of people know
what first generation collegestudent may be up against, but I
think hearing some of the day today, I think, would be really
(10:45):
eye opening for people, ifyou're open to sharing that. But
Signet was actually the officialeducational partner of Big
Brothers, Big Sisters in NewYork City, until I want to say
2014 2015 something like that.
We started the company inBoston. I when I got married, I
moved to New York. I was livingin Bed Stuy, actually, I was
volunteering with a lot ofstudents in East New York. And
(11:06):
yeah, we did s, a T and a C, Tprep for Big Brothers, Big
Sisters. We did college essaywriting workshops. We did, like,
study skills, kind of things. Wedid a lot of stuff. I mean, just
like the most amazing kids,right, who are, like, so earnest
in their desire to take thingsforward, and sounds like, maybe
(11:27):
the experience you had therewhen you got involved with the
pace Upward Bound program, itlike open a whole new world to
you. And seemed like, you know,they put a challenge in front of
you, and you just crushed it.
And had you not had those twopeople wander into your
classroom, who knows, when thosedoors would have been open to
(11:48):
you, right? And like, it's justso amazing what those sort of
access programs really do. And Iwant to be really clear that
it's not like a shortcut into anopportunity you wouldn't have
been able to achieve. It's morelike exposure and a chance at
something right for you toreally demonstrate your ambition
(12:09):
and your, you know, skills anddiscipline and just gave
somebody gave you a chance. AndI think that's so amazing.
Danny Tejada (12:15):
And then, and that piece too, yes, I've definitely
been so so lucky, right? But Ijust had this great belief that
being at the right moment, youknow, I could have been absent
that day when the program cameto talk about what they had to
offer. So for me, the reasonwhy, like, I focused the
consultancy more on rather thanworking with individuals, more
(12:39):
on high schools and CEOs isbecause I just want to be able
to help increase the chancesfor, you know, opportunities for
other students who are outthere, or at least the knowledge
and have a sense of motivation.
And it's not necessarily aboutgoing to selective No, but still
being successful at CUNY aswell.
Sheila Akbar (13:02):
Yeah, and there's so many opportunities within
those state the publicinstitutions, let's say, you
know, I live in California, andI just can't say enough about
the city college system here,and the Cal States. And, of
course, everybody knows the UCs,but like, there's so much of a
pipeline leading up to that,that, you know, they've really
invested in educating thestudents in their in their
(13:24):
state, and New York has asimilarly robust program, you
know, you've got the cunys andthe Sunnis and a whole bunch of
other things in between that arereally amazing opportunities for
students. So let's go back tothat, the idea of a first
generation college student,right? Like, not only were you
not raised in a household wherepeople were talking about
(13:46):
college, you were also not in acommunity where people were
really talking about college,right? How much was it a topic
at school for you?
Danny Tejada (13:54):
It wasn't really something that was talked about.
I feel like these days, I'm notsure about regular public
schools. But I feel like thesedays, schools are starting to
adapt this model. I've beennoticing even in different
private schools here in New YorkCity, who are having like these
college prep courses wherethey're doing the applications
or learning about the processand and things like that. And I
(14:16):
think the only experience that Ihad in terms of college stuff
with the high school itself, istaking AP Chemistry at City
College across the street, CUNYcollege. So of course, I did a
lot of stuff with peace, youknow, going on trips, things
like that. But I think it's alot for one person, full time
(14:37):
college advisor, you're the onlyone, and you have hundreds of
seniors to be able to work with,so it's kind of hard to have any
sense of quality collegecounseling and things like that,
unless the student is reallylike, self advocating for
themselves and or not in aprogram like, like I was,
Sheila Akbar (14:56):
Yeah, and I mean, certainly things have improved
over time. I still think we havea long way to go, but we've seen
that the earlier and not to putthe pressure on students, but
just let them know this is apossibility for you, and hear
like the different pathways tolet them know at an earlier
stage in their education. Iremember I was working with the
YMCA in New York City for alittle while, and they've got a
(15:18):
program that starts in sixthgrade. And again, it's not to
put the pressure on and say, yougot to do this exactly right, so
that you get into XYZ college.
It's more like, this is apossibility for you. This is a
reality for you, and you canreally, you can do this. And
it's not just for you know, thisother population that the one
that we hear about in the newsall the time, right? Like these
are the people who go to collegethese rich kids from fancy
(15:40):
schools in the suburbs. It'sit's everybody, right? So I'm
really encouraged by that. I'mcurious how you use your
knowledge, you know, your ownexperience, and the different
institutions you've worked withand for how that impacts how you
coach students, whether they'reat your charter school or, you
know, they're your privateclients. How does that affect
(16:02):
your philosophy about this?
Danny Tejada (16:06):
I think for me, my biggest thing, at least these
days, and definitely since thebeginning of my career. But as
more tools start to come out, Istart to refine this a lot more.
But you know the idea of returnon investment, like, of course,
you go to college to learn,discover yourself, but at the
end of the day, you know, yougot to make sure that you have a
(16:27):
job, or at least starting careerwhen you come out. You know what
kind of opportunities is thecollege going to bring you? So
one of the biggest things that Ilearned over time is to get
families to really think abouthow before they apply, whether
it's during net price calculatoror of a particular school, or
using my favorite website call ascorecard to look at starting
(16:50):
salaries, to be able to look atloan repayment rates, or data on
Parent Plus loans. Because youknow, having having this kind of
knowledge can help prevent a lotof heartbreak when those time
actually packages come in Aprilor in March, if it's a normal
year, but it's something that Ithink is very important to be
able to have that conversationwith with families of all
(17:12):
economic backgrounds, because Ihad the opportunity to work with
students And families from allworks of life, income, different
identities and whatnot. And onething I learned, you know,
throughout all of that, is theimportance of costs. So whether
I'm talking to one family aboutmarriage scholarships, I'm
talking to another family aboutwho needs schools, that
(17:34):
conversation still ends up beingabout finances still ends up
being about return on investmentand what have you now, I'm
having more nuancedconversations with students
about cost of living, whetherit's in New York City or the
college that you're going tothis is what it's currently
like. It's only going to gethigher by the time you become an
(17:55):
adult. So this is, this is somethings you have to think about,
and just have a outlook of whatthe job growth might look like
for that particular industrythat you're looking at what kind
of things that you need to beable to put yourself in a great
position within that career aswell. So it's I've definitely
gone through a lot of differentmotions throughout my career,
(18:17):
but I'm glad I'm to be back inthe space where I'm working with
mostly students, either directlyor indirectly, whether it's in
my full time role, or workingwith high schools or CBOs, who
are working with mostly lowincome, black and brown students
that cost factors like it reallygets thought about a lot. What I
stand to make when I come outand I think now I'm sitting here
(18:39):
talking about it, I think a lotof that has to do with, nothing
wrong I love my time toSkidmore, but one thing I always
tell my students is, because Ihave, like, five pillars of what
makes a good college. So there'snot necessarily in a name, like
I talk to students about, whatare the career services office
like, what services in thatoffice do they provide, you
(19:01):
know, whether there's jobshadowing, resume help, cover
letter. I don't even know how towrite a cover letter into some
years after I graduated college,right, right, yeah. Or like, how
to forge connections in thealumni network. What's the
alumni network like? You know,in terms of helping students
with the internships or or jobsor things like that, and in
(19:23):
college, not having, you know,not although I did try to do an
internship at one of the hip hopmagazines I was writing for.
Unfortunately, I didn't do itbecause I had to pay for the
credits. So the magazinerequires that I take the
internship for a credit. So forme, I lean on bad experience and
lean on like, that first fullyear that I didn't have a full
(19:44):
time job after I graduatedcollege. And then, of course,
you know, the four, four yearsthat it took me to get started
in my career after and I'mtrying to, like, get students to
think more critically aboutthose, those kind of things,
more particularly like. Thecareer stuff at a particular
college, another thing I talk tostudents about, ask them about
(20:06):
what kind of companies recruit?
Do they have Career Fairs andthings like that?
Sheila Akbar (20:11):
I think that that's really smart. I mean
number one, just to front thefinancial discussion, because
too many people go through thewhole process of applying, maybe
paying hefty application fees,only to find out we can't afford
to go to any of these greatschools that you got into.
That's really just tragic,right? It's very heartbreaking,
and they've spent so much timeand energy on this. But the
(20:33):
other piece of it of looking atearning potential, job
prospects, the network, all ofthat when you're researching
schools, I think is reallysmart. I actually got into it a
little bit with the dad of oneof my students, who basically
wanted to throw out all the workwe did on the college list and
say, Well, I'm looking at therankings. And I had to tell him,
I'm like, You know what? I don'tput any stock in those like, if
(20:58):
you want to rank these collegesby potential for your daughter
landing a job in a field thatshe's actually interested in,
not this other one that you keeptalking about, that you think
she should go into, because Iknow she's not interested in
that. Like, if you want to rankthem by that, like, Fine, we'll
come up with our own rankingsystem. But like, you can't just
buy someone else's rankings forand apply it to your, you know,
(21:18):
nuanced financial situation, andnever mind the students interest
right now, when she's 17, like,that's gonna change as she
actually learned some stuffabout herself in the world, and,
you know, all of these things.
So I think it's really smart toget a sense of, you know, what's
the infrastructure there to helpstudents get internships, to be
able to afford to take aninternship, to be able to
(21:41):
actually apply for jobs, yeah?
Really, really smart advicethere. Well, I feel like we're
just scratching the surface.
We're coming to the end of ourtime here. I want to highlight
that you do, you know? I want tostate it really clearly. You do
three really awesome things,right? You work in a school as a
college counselor, you consultwith institutions on their
(22:03):
access programs and dei issues,and you work with students
individually, helping themnavigate this process.
Danny Tejada (22:13):
Yes, and you mentioned in the second thing I
forgot to mention this too. I doconsult with colleges as well on
their recruitment ofunderrepresented students?
Sheila Akbar (22:22):
Yeah, I just think that's just so amazing that
you're like connecting all ofthese, you know, different
institutions and networks ofpeople that all have the same
goal, but they're not oftentalking directly to each other.
So I feel like you're a reallygreat hub in that way. And I'll
also say, you know, you came onmy radar because you started
showing up in my LinkedIn feed.
You're very active on LinkedIn.
(22:45):
I feel like everything you postis like, yep, you and I are on
the same page about a lot ofthings. And I especially loved
the series that you did as wewere waiting for the FAFSA to
come online. You had all theselittle rolling memes. Yeah, I
loved it. I was like, Oh, thisis good. So if you don't
already, you should follow Dannyon LinkedIn. I'm gonna link your
(23:09):
consulting page and yourLinkedIn in the show notes so
people can find you easily. Butthank you so much for your time
and sharing some of your storywith us.
Danny Tejada (23:16):
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Sheila Akbar (23:19):
All right, folks, I hope that you will follow
Danny on LinkedIn, and, youknow, learn more about the work
that he does with students, withhigh schools, with colleges and
other types of organizations.
He's definitely someone tolisten to. I'm going to keep
these remarks short just becauseit's the middle of October and
we've got looming earlydeadlines, and everybody's got
so much work to do still, but Iwish you all good luck, and I
(23:43):
hope that you're getting thehelp you need. If you need more,
please don't hesitate to reachout. Thanks. We'll see you next
time.
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