Seeing The Bigger Picture of College Funding with Cozy Wittman

Today, Ed is joined by Cozy Wittman, Education and Partnership Manager at College Inside Track, who helps families navigate the complex college search process, find the right fit and decrease their student debt load.

“Ten years ago,” says Cozy, “if you had told me that I would be talking to people about how to think more creatively and strategically about how to pay for college, I would have laughed.”

Having five kids of her own, however, helped Cozy realize that every person has their own unique path—that there was no one-size-fits-all journey from youth to adulthood. If that path involves college, there is a real need to think creatively and strategically in today’s world.

Listen in as Cozy discusses the importance of discovering your child’s strengths and passions, alongside their particular learning style, and thinking about the path that aligns these two foundations. She unpacks the direct link between college savings and debt and how parents can navigate the financial side of the whole process.

Cozy addresses common parent concerns surrounding the current college landscape, such as ensuring that your savings won’t ultimately be wasted, finding the right school for your child, and an explanation on why it’s never worth the extra debt to seek a less-than-ideal school for a potentially higher salary.

“I tell every single family: If your child wants to go to college, there’s a college that will be excited to have them, and a college that you can afford.”

Key Topics:

• Why Cozy chose to specialize in college funding (01:30)
• Why it’s okay to not know what you want to do upon graduating high school (05:55)
• The importance of discovering your child’s unique interests and learning style (08:17)
• What parents need to know about the financial side of navigating college (12:54)
• Addressing worries that all of those college savings will be wasted (21:31)
• Finding the right school for your child (28:19)
• “The internet is not your friend—the university is.” (31:42)
• Why it’s never going to be worth the debt (37:22)
• Going deeper than the superficial benefits of a given university (40:47)
• What most parents don’t realize about today’s college landscape (44:06)

Resources:

• Cozy Wittman on LinkedIn

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