You’d love to increase enrollment at your co-op college!
Here, author Jeannie Burlowski provides a creative idea for this that you’ve likely never thought of before.
(A transcript is below in case you prefer to read.)
Here’s a transcript:
Picture this. A teen and a parent—sitting at a kitchen table—writing out a list of colleges to apply to. Why is your college not at the very top of that list?
It’s because parents don’t understand what co-op college is.
When parents imagine college, they still think about old-style college—where students take random college classes and come out at the end with few job skills and no job prospects.
How do you reach families to let them know—that at your college, students figure out career goal early on, and then get real-world work experience that launches them toward that goal—like an arrow straight to a bullseye—not one wasted dollar, not one wasted class?
Hi, I’m Jeannie Burlowski, and I’m the author of the book LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward.
It’s a step-by-step guide that gets parents and students to that goal—even if the kid never gets a single scholarship.
I was doing research for this book when I first discovered co-op, experiential, and work-integrated learning like what you have.
“This is absolutely brilliant,” I thought. “Why doesn’t every college operate this way?”
As I learned more about co-op colleges, I became more and more an advocate for them.
Chapter 14 of this book strongly encourages parents to nudge their kids toward co-op colleges. My online classes strongly urge parents to consider mainly co-op colleges.
And—most important for you to know right now—I stand on high school auditorium stages where I give parents and students a great broad overview of a bunch of different clever ways to get through college debt-free without scholarships—and then at the end I explain how brilliant co-op college programs are. And right on that high school auditorium stage, I suggest that parents and students mainly consider colleges just like yours.
Parents lean forward, pens out, taking notes—and then afterward, I conduct live Q&A where I answer parent questions and help them feel great and confident about all of this. I’ve been an academic strategist for 25 years—so parents believe what I’m telling them.
If you work in a college admissions office, here’s what you need to know right now.
High schools love to bring in speakers. Parents pack out high school auditoriums when the topic is about clever debt-free college strategy that works even for kids who aren’t getting any scholarships. This is especially true when the focus of the evening is a clear path to actual jobs in the real world after college.
Schools love to bring in speakers, but they’re not likely to say yes to your college coming in to speak.
“We can’t put one college on our high school auditorium stage,” the counseling staff will say. “That wouldn’t be fair to other colleges.” So they won’t put you on the stage, but they will put me on the stage.
Because I’m the author of this book, and this book has a lot of cachet and gets a lot of parental attention.
And if your admissions staff has made all the arrangements for me to be on that stage? Then I highlight your institution from that stage in a way that resonates with parents.
I make sure your school is one they remember on the drive home.
And at the end of this presentation—I ask people to complete a brief evaluation form that asks them to enter an email address if they’d like to hear from you. This gives you a way to reach out to students and families later. Invite them for a campus visit!
If this sounds good to you, I can make a way for you to try this out at no cost to your school.
I’m a professional speaker who has one laser-focused mission.
I want to get as many students as possible through college debt-free without scholarships—and straight into careers those kids excel at and love afterward.
As part of this laser-focused mission, I give away 10 auditorium speeches for free each year.
When your admissions office staff sets one of these events up, and I show up and speak—at no charge to your school—big results can happen.
If this sounds helpful, reach out to me and we’ll talk details. Start the ball rolling by texting my personal cell phone number at 651-230-4240.
Then, take 30 seconds to look at my website: DebtFreeCollege.US. You’ll see what parents see when they find me online before they drive across town to hear the presentation you set up.
And then one other thing?
I’m asking you to really value the co-op office at your college. Advocate for this office to get more visibility and more funding. Because in the eyes of a professional academic strategist, your college having this co-op, experiential, work-integrated learning office is the #1 selling point for your school.
Text me at 651-230-4240, and then visit me here:
You can get clear, step-by-step help strategizing for debt-free college for your own kids in this book:
Important—> It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
You can see hundreds of reviews of this book on Amazon by going to:
Read just one chapter of LAUNCH every 1–3 months while your child’s in middle school and high school, and you’ll know every viable strategy for debt-free college at exactly the right time to implement it.
And if your child’s already well past middle school? That’s OK; you can run to catch up. But the process of getting your kids through college debt-free goes more smoothly the earlier you start—especially if you’re not planning to save up any money to pay for college.
Let's you and I walk together toward the goal of debt-free college for your kids.
We can accomplish this no matter your current income level—even if your kids never get a single scholarship.
Your first step is getting regularly scheduled, free helpful articles from me—right in your email inbox. Quick, sign up here.
Do you have very specific questions for me about debt-free college and career for your kids?
My TRIBE Members get the most direct access to me—while feeling good that the pennies per day they spend on the TRIBE help me bring debt-free college strategy to families who could never afford to pay for it. Join my TRIBE Membership waiting list here. (The parent testimonials you'll see there are so encouraging!)
Who is Jeannie Burlowski?
Jeannie is a full-time academic strategist, podcast host, and sought-after speaker for students ages 12–26, their parents, and the professionals who serve them. Her writing, speaking, and podcasting help parents set their kids up to graduate college debt-free, ready to jump directly into careers they excel at and love. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Huffington Post, USA Today, Parents Magazine, and US News & World Report, as well as on CBS News.
Jeannie also helps students apply to law, medical, business, and grad school at her website GetIntoMedSchool.com. You can follow her on Bluesky @jburlowski.bsky.social.
This article was written by a caring human expert. AI tools may have assisted with research or editing.