Kitchen Table College Chats

It happens weekly and it happens without notice.  Marc and Gary talk about the history of program cuts and what you can do to lower the risk or move on if it happens.

What does college really cost? In this episode of Kitchen Table College Chat , Gary Stocker and Marc DeBoer challenge one of the biggest misconceptions in higher education: tuition is not the same as cost . They unpack how private colleges routinely discount tuition by more than 50%, why sticker prices often have little connection to what families actually pay, and how fees, room and board, books,...

In this episode of Kitchen Table College Chat , Gary Stocker and Marc DeBoer take opposing viewpoints on one of the biggest questions facing education today: Should high school students embrace artificial intelligence? Framing the discussion as a debate between an AI skeptic and an AI advocate, they explore whether AI is primarily a learning tool or a shortcut that discourages critical thinking. G...

This episode of Kitchen Table College Chat focuses on a central question for families: What actually makes a “good” college decision? Gary Stocker and Marc DeBoer challenge the traditional ways families evaluate colleges and argue that most students and parents focus on the wrong factors during the college search process. The episode begins with listener questions about college pricing, admissions...

Marc and Gary go back and forth on how is responsible for a student's success in college. Gary notes that too many colleges don't even graduate 50% of their students in 4 years.  Marc shares that too many parents assign responsibility to colleges for their student's success. Share your thoughts to me at gary@collegeviability.com

Marc and Gary discuss some easy-to-find key indicators of financially strong college and financially weak colleges. Available in the new College Viability Inspection Report, these are the top 3 they discussed. 1. Enrollment trends 2. Endowment value (effectively a college's savings account) 3. 4-year graduation rates Here is the link to the College Viability Inspection Report . Here is an example...

Will a pothole or dingy dorms at your child's college campus be the final straw? This week Marc and Gary look at retention (staying at a college) from perspective not normally shared in the higher education news media. We sit around our virtual table and provide that perspective that students and parents need to make the best possible college decision. Join us as we sit at your kitchen table for o...

In this podcast episode of Kitchen Table College Chats , Marc Deboer and Gary Stocker continue their virtual kitchen table chats for colleges students and their families. Most students fall in love with a college campus.  In this episode, we ask parents and students alike to make sure that colleges they love during the tour can deliver the college education needed. From Emotion to Evaluation Befor...

If you listen to enough college admissions advice, you might start to believe a few things: That everyone should go to college. Going to college guarantees you a good job.  That students must discover their life passion at age 17.  Or that the best strategy is simply applying to as many schools as possible and hoping for the best. The problem?  A lot of that advice is based more on tradition and u...

What if the college you choose doesn’t make it to your graduation day? It sounds dramatic—but it’s becoming a very real question. Across the country, colleges are quietly cutting majors, merging programs, and in some cases closing altogether. In this episode, Marc and Gary talk about the question families rarely ask during campus tours: Is this college financially healthy enough to get my student...

It is not just tuition along with room & board that are cost considerations of a college education.  Here are two other items Marc and Gary talk about. Almost everyone assumes their student will graduate in 4 years.  Yet only 43% of American 4-year public and private colleges graduates students in 4 years.  Every additional year needed adds additional costs.  It also leads to  . . . .  Opportu...

As students and parents make plans for college visits, Marc and Gary offer questions to ask that many would not think to ask.  In addition, they provide expected answers to questions and how to analyze those college responses. If you are a student or parent and take a spin with the new College Viability Transparency Tool, click here . Do you want to see how many students completed your major and a...

Gary Stocker and Marc DeBoer provide the type of guidance and perspective students and their parents rarely get during the college search and decision process.  This week they share and discuss the most useful and informative questions to ask during the college tour.  Marc also offers how to get answers to questions tour guides typically don't have.