I got the okay from my middle school parent group to coordinate the PTO Today's College Funding Night model for early April, 2004.

So far the planning process is going extremely well. The press releases and professional posters included in the kit is making this event a "no brainer"!

I'm looking for any feedback from parent leaders who have used this model.

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Okay, I took the bull by the horns and scheduled the College Funding Night.

On a scale of 1-5 - with 5 being fantastic, I would have to give it a 2.

It was held the day after the spring time change and a monday night, however 12 parents did show up, which was more than I was expecting.

I was disappointed with the seminar.

The AMEX rep talked waaay too fast and READ TO US from a script! I hate that.

I think she talked over many of the attendee's heads with too much financial-geek speak.

She was so concerned about getting everyone's feedback sheets (which had the attendee's contact info on it). She mentioned it a few times.

On the up side. It was a good first try and I was amazed that anyone bothered to showed up. She gave references to some great website links, and talked about the EDVEST program where you can prepay college expenses at today's prices.

I think there is definitely an interest here, especially at the elementary and middle school level - if 12 people bothered to show up on a spring evening, imagine what we could get on a Tuesday night in January or February!!!

I think the workshop needs to be expanded to look more in depth into scholarships, student loans, what money is out there, what money is disappearing, what can you do about financial damage control (stock market dips), etc.

Do a reality check. Is your kid REALLY college material? If not, how about trade school? (you can't outsource plumbers to Asia!)

Many of the parents who attended lost their kids college money in the post 9/11 market crash. How to recover from that dip wasn't addressed.

Maybe a video talking about scholarships vs. saving on your own would be a good break for the speaker during the workshop.

Just my $.02
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We are attempting to set-up this event for September and i am wondering if this is just a big commercial for AMEX. I expect that they will be touting their own products and services but if it leaves a bad impression on parents they might not be back.

Any thoughts?

Hey Dad--

It's definitely not a big ad for AmEx. Part of the deal when we took on AmEx as a sponsor of the Nights was that PTO Today would get approval of the messaging and commerciality of the event. AmEx has been great in this regard.

This recent story from a Detroit paper actually references your exact concern:

http://www.freep.com/news/cfp/2/npay6_20040506.htm

As to momski's feedback (I must have missed this post back a couple of months ago): I'm sorry your Night fell below expectations. The survey feedback we've received on the Nights has been really positive. Sounds like perhaps your particular speaker wasn't as engaging as others have been.

Tim

My co-pres would like to sponsor a college night next year. we are an elementry school. And although she has a high school student I think she is stuck in a "I wish someone had told me" phase. Personally although I think college is important and I have my college funds going i don't think parents want to spend an evening hearing about what they should be doing. I'm trying to get my co-pres to just have a table in the front office with information and parents can collect pamphlets. I don't mean to be negative because it is important information and really should be put out there. But honestly I don't think people want to here it. A more sucessful seminar may be Family Vacation fun on a budget and with all the money they save can go to a college fund .

We hosted a family night last month. Although we are a K-8 school, I don't think that our parents are focused on college right now, so our attendance was very low. However, the representatives from AMEX were very knowledgeable and worked with the parents that were there. They even offered to make the presentation again and have it catered at their expense to possibly draw more parents in. All in all, I think it went well.