On January 4th, 2016 I announced exciting news about my upcoming book LAUNCH:  How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward.

If you missed that exciting post, you can read it here.

In that post I asked my readers to complete a short survey designed to help me be sure that my book covers absolutely everything parents need to know about getting kids age 13-22 through college debt-free.

The number of responses I got to that survey was absolutely overwhelming!

I got at least 60 times as many responses as I ever expected.  I feel stunned and humbled that so many people took time to jump in and help me with this!  If you were one of my responders — thank you so much!!!  For those of you who typed in detailed questions for me, I’ll be answering those in my future free email newsletter articles — so make sure you’ve subscribed using the form on this site and are opening my email newsletter every week.

(If you haven’t yet taken the survey, it’s not too late.  You can still let me know your biggest questions about debt-free college by clicking here.)

Here’s a sneak peek at the top five biggest questions parents and grandparents are sharing with me — along with my responses:

#1   We make too much money to qualify for any financial aid for college. Does this book contain other strategies we can use to get our kids through college debt free?  (56.58%)

A:  The answer is yes, yes, yes.  The book contains massive numbers of strategies for very high, high, and middle income families as well as lower-income families.

#2  We can’t save up any money to help pay for our kids’ college. Does this book contain additional strategies that will help us?  (47.37%)

A:  Yes.  Absolutely.  I completely understand that many parents simply can’t save.  If you know anyone in this category, though, tell them to get this book as early as possible — preferably when their kids are in middle school or younger.  “Non-saving” strategies have the most power the earlier parents start them.

#3  Our child is not at all motivated to fill out scholarship applications. Does this book contain strategies other than applying for private scholarships? (35.53%)

A:  Yes.  This book contains enormous numbers of strategies that have nothing to do with applying for scholarships.  Getting scholarships is actually a very minor part of the picture when it comes to getting kids through college debt free.  That said, I may very well be able to light a fire under your teen and influence him or her to actually get excited about applying for college scholarships — even if you’ve already suggested it multiple times without success.  If this was your question, be sure to check out my upcoming class where I teach parents and students how to write brilliant college and scholarship application essays!  The registration info for all my upcoming classes is here.

#4  When I was 20, I just took random college classes to see what I was interested in.  Are there better, more effective ways of choosing career now? (23.68%)

A.  Yes, there sure are.  I spend a good chunk of this book laying out clear, specific strategies that help students to figure out excellent-fit career goals early on, before they even pick out the colleges they’re going to apply to.  Why?  Because why should we tell students to pull the arrow back on the bowstring, shoot, and then years later look around for the target?!?   Students who do career clarification work early on end up paying only for college training that leads them directly to well-thought-through career goals.  It’s a huge money-saver for students and families, and I tell you exactly the steps to take to get it done.

#5  Our high school guidance counselor invited us to a 90-minute presentation on paying for college. Does this book go deeper into this subject than that? (15.79%)

A. First of all, let me say that I am tremendously grateful for guidance counselors who arrange these types of evening presentations for parents.  In many public and private high schools the guidance offices are so underfunded and the staff so overworked that they simply can’t provide presentations of this nature.  Even the counselors that do provide them, though, will tell you that 90 minutes is never long enough.  Counselors wish they had 100 hours to teach parents everything they need to know about paying for college and helping kids to be successful at it.  The purpose of my book is to fill in the gaps that guidance counselors would love to cover but can’t.  Perhaps most important, though, this book spreads advice for parents out over the months and years between 8th grade and college, so that moms and dads get exactly what they need, exactly when they need it — whether the high school happens to have a financial aid presentation that month or not.

A lot of parents at this time of year also have questions about the best way for kids to earn college credit in high school.

I’ll provide a detailed answer to that question on this site on January 14th, 2016.  (Hint:  It’s not “AP.”)

If you missed the big announcement about my upcoming book last week, here’s the most exciting part you missed!

I’ll be providing my readers an early-bird opportunity to order discounted copies of this book through kickstarter.com starting at January 18th, 2016 at 6:00 am CST.  Write that date on your calendar because quantities will be limited.  To find the link to order on January 18th, just log onto JeannieBurlowski.com starting at 6:00 am CST that day.

I’d love to hear more comments on this subject!  What are you hoping I’ll for sure cover in this book?  Comment below, or LIKE Jeannie Burlowski, Author on Facebook, find this post on that page, and comment there.  Do you have friends who are currently parenting kids age 13-22?  SHARE this post on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin right now.

Would you like free, clear, step-by-step help getting your kids through college debt free — starting next Monday?  

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