myKlovr and College Return on Investment
We at myKlovr don’t have to tell high school teachers and counselors like you that college costs are only increasing. This fact of life makes your job preparing students and their families for college admissions and the financial aid process more challenging than ever. And, of course, no two families’ financial situations are the same.
myKlovr wants to help you provide the best advice to college-bound students of all backgrounds. In this article, we’ll discuss how focusing the college conversation on return on investment (ROI) can help students and their families make informed decisions. We’ll also examine how myKlovr’s tools help with calculating potential ROI.
What is ROI?
Think of buying a stock. You buy a share for $10. Its value goes up to $11 the next day, and you sell. You’ve made 10%, or $1, on your investment. Not bad.
A similar but not wholly identical thing is going on with choosing the right college or trade school. Like with stocks, there are a lot of options. BUT…your students are making a choice where it’ll take much longer than a day to find out if they’ve made the right investment. Everything from their preferences to economic conditions can change overnight. You know this, but your students and their parents may not. What seems like a wise decision today may not be the correct one in four years when they graduate or 10 years when they establish themselves in a career.
So, calculating ROI for colleges is a tricky proposition, especially if your students are applying to schools with a hefty price tag. And you have enough on your plate as it is. Here’s where myKlovr can come in.
First and Foremost
myKlovr recommends schools to users based on what they want out of life and their academic/extracurricular performance. We do not consider colleges’ prestige/cost/etc. when making recommendations. In other words, no one is paying us to recommend School A over School B.
How We Help Students Find the ROI Sweet Spot
Students interact with myKlovr by first completing interest and academic questionnaires. Our artificial intelligence analyzes this information and produces options that meet the following criteria:
- They offer majors aligning with users’ interests.
- Their admissions statistics align with users’ grades/test scores.
- We also recommend some schools just out of reach. After all, freshmen and sophomores who sign up have plenty of time to improve.
These recommendations come at a variety of price points. Harvard University may be on the same list as the state college just a few miles away. It all depends on the user. And if you are part of your students’ myKlovr support networks, you can review these recommendations just as easily as they can.
Considering Academic Interests
You know it’s not right to push talented students into a field just because people in that field make more than their U.S. median salary. Of course, going into STEM or something similar makes taking on student debt less of a risk. (We’ll discuss debt more in the next section.) However, what do you do if your learners want to pursue a major associated with less lucrative careers?
Your first instinct might be to recommend the cheapest colleges, such as your local community college or state university. However, your students’ list of recommended schools gives them a starting point to research these institutions’ career services and graduate outcomes. Perhaps a more expensive school offers better resources, such as regular on-campus networking events. These and other factors can help degree-seekers in all majors land a well-paying first job or prepare for graduate school admissions.
Considering Financial Aid
Let’s talk about how financial aid affects your students’ ROI calculations.
Let’s say you’re helping a myKlovr user review their list of recommended schools. Do you automatically tell them to ignore the most expensive ones?
The answer depends on their financial aid situation.
Attending a great school with a full ride presents an excellent ROI opportunity for your learners. No matter what, they will not graduate with the debt burden so many undergraduate and graduate students face.
But all students’ situations aren’t that simple, such as some learners not hearing back about private scholarships until after they have picked a college. However, these students can use myKlovr to plan for eventualities and weigh the financial pros/cons well in advance of making a final decision.
Final Thoughts
myKlovr isn’t a crystal ball. No matter how much data we gather, we don’t know what the economy will look like 10 years down the line, let alone one. That’s why you, the human touch, is more important than ever in helping students and their families make sound academic and financial planning decisions.
Finally, please visit us at myKlovr.com to learn more about us. We look forward to providing your students with the best college and career planning tools.
