Okay, let's talk about it: Degree Planning Masterclass

[jsd]

Obviously they're both playing coy and are too modest to self-promote beyond their new "innocent" signature lines, but i'm certainly not the only one to notice... 

 Cookderosa & Dfrecore's Degree Planning Masterclass

Sooo.... Tell us more!

Through your extensive histories here, no one would argue that you have both haven't earned the right to share this endeavor with us all!

Do tell!

[bluebooger]

https://hs4cc-academy.thinkific.com/cour...sterclass9
$340 for that ?

[cookderosa]

Obviously they're both playing coy and are too modest to self-promote beyond their new "innocent" signature lines, but i'm certainly not the only one to notice... 

 Cookderosa & Dfrecore's Degree Planning Masterclass

Sooo.... Tell us more!

Through your extensive histories here, no one would argue that you have both haven't earned the right to share this endeavor with us all!

Do tell!

Yes, Dfrecore and I (along with a third member Murdockb) spent the better part of 2019 developing a course for homeschool parents who want to degree plan while homeschooling.
The concept is simple, to line up a state's high school graduation requirements with high school curriculum and college-credit generating curriculum that results in a diploma and a degree. Of course the reason you would do this is to save over the cost of traditional college attendance at full price. Tuition in high school (when combined with alternative credit like used here) is much lower cost, and there are a lot of advantages to earning college credit in high school. For parents that want to really pour on the gas, accumulating a ton of credit without a plan can result in unused credit or credit that doesn't transfer. That's one of the things that the class teaches, how to navigate that maze and make sure everything lines up for you based on your goals.

While using the Big 3 is obviously a good choice for about 1/2 the states, the other 1/2 have access to dual enrollment (usually for free) so in those cases, their degree planning lines up with their state program and public universities. Many parents don't plan for their kids to do distance learning, so when their target ISN'T one of the big three, there aren't people out there who can offer non-bias advice. We have a unique skillset that lends itself to being able to help this group. It's a nice niche that we are both really excited to serve. Speaking for myself, I think it's important for parents to have guidance outside of the college staff simply because a college has no incentive to help, only to enroll (which they aren't super excited to do when you call with questions about your 9th grader). Homeschool parents, especially, don't have high school guidance counselors, so part of the role is to empower the parents to wear that hat too.

It takes about 2-4 years to help someone learn this from scratch, so it's a long term investment/relationship. The only other company serving this space charges $7400 per student per year and does it for them, whereas our mission is to TEACH parents how to do this for their family (especially considering homeschool families usually have more than one child they want to put through college and are usually doing it on one income). Even if you did have the big bucks to hire the company I'm referencing, they keep their techniques and methods private- they consider them proprietary, so you don't really learn anything using that system.

I'm super proud of the program we've built, and depending on how 2020 goes, we may be able to expand into other areas. It's hard finding people who (1) have the knowledge about alternative credit that also (2) know about /have homeschooled who also (3) have experience as a college advisor (4) have a platform to reach a lot of people (5) have the heart of a teacher and give good advice freely. I'm thankful that my team meets all of those skills, and my blog following is pretty good now, so it seemed like a good time to launch. Time will tell if it's useful or not, but so far, our user feedback has been excellent.

[dfrecore]

Obviously they're both playing coy and are too modest to self-promote beyond their new "innocent" signature lines, but i'm certainly not the only one to notice... 

 Cookderosa & Dfrecore's Degree Planning Masterclass

Sooo.... Tell us more!

Through your extensive histories here, no one would argue that you have both haven't earned the right to share this endeavor with us all!

Do tell!

Hey jsd, thanks for noticing!

So first, just want to let everyone know that we got permission to use the link in our signatures.

Second, I get MANY requests for help via PM all the time, and so this is a way for people just to go straight to the source if they wish to.  Obviously we're still helping people for free on here, but many times I get a request to just create a degree plan for someone, and tell them what to do.  Lots of people have more money than time to learn this stuff, I guess.

For the homeschooling community, Jennifer has built a brand about teaching, and so we decided to get more in-depth with the course, and also give the ability to degree plan.  So we are teaching homeschool parents about the process, and it pertains to earning college credit while in high school - so a bit different than what many are doing on this forum (although we point them this way too at times).  Many parents have multiple kids, so in teaching them what they need to know for one, they can use the info for the rest.  We do some coaching as well, on how to choose a school (lots of kids don't want the usual business or BALS degrees), help them with dual enrollment, help figure out state requirements, etc.

[cookderosa]

I forgot to say thanks for noticing lol, but thank you. I loved using my siggy line here when I was a learner and credit earner, I loved updating it when I earned my degree(s) and so it felt natural update it regarding my book and this class as they've evolved. Pretty much 99% of my time is spent in one way or another paying forward the generosity that helped me earn my degree. So, yes, it's a new and exciting adventure. Thank you for letting us explain it.

[dfrecore]

https://hs4cc-academy.thinkific.com/cour...sterclass9
$340 for that ?

We've taken our combined 20,000+ posts over 20+ years on this forum, 40+ years of homeschooling, 10+ years coaching students on college, and boiled down everything we know to this course.  We should probably be charging MORE.

[bjcheung77]

https://hs4cc-academy.thinkific.com/cour...sterclass9
$340 for that ?

We've taken our combined 20,000+ posts over 20+ years on this forum, 40+ years of homeschooling, 10+ years coaching students on college, and boiled down everything we know to this course.  We should probably be charging MORE.

Congrats! That's awesome, I actually noticed this a while back as I am regularly viewing the HSCC website often and love reading about the "resourceful planning" costs for other schools (not only the Big 3).

That's what I was thinking as well, charge this price for DegreeForum/DegreeInfo members, and charge $100 more for non members, haha... make an affiliate program out of it, people should get discounts only if they refer someone.

[sanantone]

https://hs4cc-academy.thinkific.com/cour...sterclass9
$340 for that ?

When valuable information is shared freely, expect that someone will monetize it. Several other companies have already monetized the collective information on this forum that comes from hundreds of members' legwork, so it's really a game of who can do it first and advertise it best. Just remember that, every time you share something that you've found, you are making someone else money.

[LevelUP]

https://hs4cc-academy.thinkific.com/cour...sterclass9
$340 for that ?

When valuable information is shared freely, expect that someone will monetize it. Several other companies have already monetized the collective information on this forum that comes from hundreds of members' legwork, so it's really a game of who can do it first and advertise it best. Just remember that, every time you share something that you've found, you are making someone else money.

As they say "don't hate the player, hate the game".

[sanantone]

https://hs4cc-academy.thinkific.com/cour...sterclass9
$340 for that ?

When valuable information is shared freely, expect that someone will monetize it. Several other companies have already monetized the collective information on this forum that comes from hundreds of members' legwork, so it's really a game of who can do it first and advertise it best. Just remember that, every time you share something that you've found, you are making someone else money.

As they say "don't hate the player, hate the game".

Yep. That's capitalism. You can either choose to be mooched off of by cunning entrepreneurs, or you can take control of your intellectual property and stop sharing it for free.