The Duggars and CollegePlus

[Daithi]

@Westerner,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post. Your post did in fact help me to understand the services provided by CP. If CP is providing all this information in a one-on-one personal basis to help their customers then I could see where people are willing to pay for this help. Many parents are interested in homeschooling their kids. Others are looking for cost effective alternatives to traditional degrees. While it is true that these parents could save even more money by doing the research on their own -- or just buying Jennifer's book -- I can understand hiring someone who specializes in this field. I imagine the money buys a certain piece of mind.

According to a recent College Board report, the average "moderate" college budget for an in-state public college for the 2012–2013 academic year averaged $22,261. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $43,289. That is a year. So, I have to believe CP is saving people money in the long run, even though it could be done cheaper by doing it yourself.

So, I think I'm coming around to see the value in CP, even though I couldn't imagine paying them myself, and I do still have problems with some of their marketing.

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P.S. Are we at page 27 yet?

[sanantone]

@Westerner,

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my post. Your post did in fact help me to understand the services provided by CP. If CP is providing all this information in a one-on-one personal basis to help their customers then I could see where people are willing to pay for this help. Many parents are interested in homeschooling their kids. Others are looking for cost effective alternatives to traditional degrees. While it is true that these parents could save even more money by doing the research on their own -- or just buying Jennifer's book -- I can understand hiring someone who specializes in this field. I imagine the money buys a certain piece of mind.

According to a recent College Board report, the average "moderate" college budget for an in-state public college for the 2012–2013 academic year averaged $22,261. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $43,289. That is a year. So, I have to believe CP is saving people money in the long run, even though it could be done cheaper by doing it yourself.

So, I think I'm coming around to see the value in CP, even though I couldn't imagine paying them myself, and I do still have problems with some of their marketing.

-----

P.S. Are we at page 27 yet?

Does that budget include living expenses? Signing up for CP doesn't make your living expenses disappear.

[Jonathan Whatley]

According to a recent College Board report, the average "moderate" college budget for an in-state public college for the 2012–2013 academic year averaged $22,261. A moderate budget at a private college averaged $43,289. That is a year. So, I have to believe CP is saving people money in the long run, even though it could be done cheaper by doing it yourself.

So, I think I'm coming around to see the value in CP, even though I couldn't imagine paying them myself, and I do still have problems with some of their marketing.

Fair point… although those college budgets do include room and board and transportation. 46% of that in-state public college budget is allocated to "Room and Board" and "Transportation."

[ncpenn]

How is that exactly right? Where did I call CP customers idiots? Find the post if it exists.

More clearly, what I mean in general is that putting the word "hate" in all caps was over the top (your first post). That's what sparked this, I think. And again, this is coming from someone (i.e. me) who things CP is a bad idea, as well.

Also, I think you have used the word idiotic pages back, but not sure if you directly called anyone an idiot. Still, one could infer that one is to some extent defined by what they do. If their actions are idiotic, they are idiots on some level.

QED, you've called someone an idiot, indirectly.

[ncpenn]

Oh, and I also think CP is way over-priced and unaffordable by those who may need it most. In fact, I think one could make the case that it's almost usurious to charge fellow Christians so much for knowledge/help that can be had for far less . . .

[Daithi]

Yes, the College Board report does include room and board. However, earning a degree using CBEs and through a one of the Big 3 still saves on these expenses too. So, I see that as just an additional benefit.

[sanantone]

More clearly, what I mean in general is that putting the word "hate" in all caps was over the top (your first post). That's what sparked this, I think. And again, this is coming from someone (i.e. me) who things CP is a bad idea, as well.

Also, I think you have used the word idiotic pages back, but not sure if you directly called anyone an idiot. Still, one could infer that one is to some extent defined by what they do. If their actions are idiotic, they are idiots on some level.

QED, you've called someone an idiot, indirectly.

But I didn't say that CP members performed an idiotic action. I said that a lot of people do idiotic things meaning that just because a lot of people do something, it doesn't automatically make it a good idea. I was responding to someone who implied that.

Yes, the College Board report does include room and board. However, earning a degree using CBEs and through a one of the Big 3 still saves on these expenses too. So, I see that as just an additional benefit.

There are room and board expenses for those who live on campus, those who live with their parents, and those who live on their own. Room and board expenses for those who live on campus are the only ones that don't apply to the Big 3. These expenses also don't apply to the potentially millions of students who don't live on campus. Transportation expenses can be saved by anyone who attends college online. If a program doesn't require proctored testing at a facility, then that's even more transportation savings.

When you fill out the FAFSA application, it asks for your planned living arrangement to determine your estimated total cost of attendance.

[mrs.b]

Many families don't have the kind of money to pay CP. I don't know why that's so hard to understand.

This is another assumption based on only one person's personal experience. Perhaps this is part of the disconnect that has driven the thread 27 pages deep. These are the seemingly illogical decisions a lot of parents will make, whereas prior to a kiddo coming along, that same person probably NEVER would have seen themself dropping a reasonably significant chunk of cash on something that could have been done differently and cheaper.

My son is nowhere near college age, but recent circumstances a couple weeks ago required my husband and I to pull him out of public school to begin homeschooling and we needed to do it quickly. Due to the ridiculous homeschooling laws in my state, I dropped over a grand for ELEMENTARY school, with less than 24-hours notice. I could have done it a lot cheaper than I ultimately did, but immediate haste needs combined with some longer-term considerations made me decide to bite the bullet and spend more than was absolutely necessary. My family did NOT have $1,000 sitting around collecting dust, but it's my kid and my kid's education we're talking about. I did not want to goof anything, so we dug a bit out of grocery budget (we'll skip our weekly night of eating out for a while), paid minimums on some bills instead of the extra we like to put on them, and dug into savings for the rest.

Many families may not have that kind of money, but if they're at all uncertain about what they're doing and/or do not have the time or energy to do the research, $3,000 may be a bargain worth scrimping and saving to receive the peace of mind that someone who knows what they're doing is going to handle the task.

[rebel100]

thirty thirty thirty thirty thirty thirty

[sanantone]

This is another assumption based on only one person's personal experience. Perhaps this is part of the disconnect that has driven the thread 27 pages deep. These are the seemingly illogical decisions a lot of parents will make, whereas prior to a kiddo coming along, that same person probably NEVER would have seen themself dropping a reasonably significant chunk of cash on something that could have been done differently and cheaper.

My son is nowhere near college age, but recent circumstances a couple weeks ago required my husband and I to pull him out of public school to begin homeschooling and we needed to do it quickly. Due to the ridiculous homeschooling laws in my state, I dropped over a grand for ELEMENTARY school, with less than 24-hours notice. I could have done it a lot cheaper than I ultimately did, but immediate haste needs combined with some longer-term considerations made me decide to bite the bullet and spend more than was absolutely necessary. My family did NOT have $1,000 sitting around collecting dust, but it's my kid and my kid's education we're talking about. I did not want to goof anything, so we dug a bit out of grocery budget (we'll skip our weekly night of eating out for a while), paid minimums on some bills instead of the extra we like to put on them, and dug into savings for the rest.

Many families may not have that kind of money, but if they're at all uncertain about what they're doing and/or do not have the time or energy to do the research, $3,000 may be a bargain worth scrimping and saving to receive the peace of mind that someone who knows what they're doing is going to handle the task.

That is an assumption that every family that is financially struggling is able to scrape together a few thousand dollars from somewhere. Many families don't even have savings and can barely pay the minimum on bills. Many families have lost their homes in recent years. Eating out wasn't even an option for them in the first place. Our local food banks are still struggling to keep up with demand and our unemployment rate is lower than the national average. This is not an assumption on my part. Not only did I come from a poor family, but I used to work in a homeless shelter. These kinds of circumstances are more common than many Americans might think. 14.9% of households in 2011 had low to very low food security.

USDA ERS - Food Security in the U.S.: Key Statistics & Graphics

About a quarter of Texas children don't even have health insurance.