UPDATE
If you own the first edition of the book LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward, you may benefit from the following update to Chapter 17, pages 206-207:
On these pages, I’m recommending that your 11th grade daughter record her current activities on her LinkedIn.com account. This would normally be a great idea, but…
On June 7th, 2017, LinkedIn made changes to its user agreement that increased LinkedIn’s minimum age from 14 to 16. Because of this change, your child may not have a LinkedIn.com account yet.
Here’s what to do.
1. If your child is younger than 16, just keep track of his or her activities the old fashioned way — on paper.
A spiral notebook will work great for this.
2. Once your child turns 16 (or as soon as possible after that) help him or her to open an account on LinkedIn.com.
If you’ll open your copy of LAUNCH to pages 53-55, and you’ll see all my best instructions on how and why to get your child on LinkedIn at the earliest time that LinkedIn policy allows.
Remember, your child needs one place to keep track of all of his or her accomplishments, achievements, work experiences, school and scouting awards, scholarship awards, job shadowing experiences, and volunteer and service hours and experiences.
Your child will also benefit greatly by connecting to working professionals he becomes acquainted with as a teen. LinkedIn is a spectacular place to do that, now starting at age 16.
Photo by Sheila Scarborough
Don’t stop here! Get more helpful advice from Jeannie Burlowski in her book, LAUNCH: How to Get Your Kids Through College Debt-Free and Into Jobs They Love Afterward,
Important—> It’s a reference book, so nobody reads the whole thing cover to cover. Pick out what you need to read in it using the fast-paced, 10-minute video instructions here.
You can see hundreds of reviews of this book on Amazon by going to:
You can see why financial advising professionals love LAUNCH, here.
You can see the top 9 questions parents are asking me about LAUNCH, here.
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 it—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.
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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, and 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.
No part of this page was written using AI.