Is a College Coach Worth the Investment?

Pros & Cons of Hiring an Admissions Consultant

A college coach advises a student via video conference.
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Vladimir Vladimirov / Getty Images

Getting into college can be a competitive business, especially if your student is aiming for a top-tier school. Bringing a college coach on board to help them navigate the admissions process could increase their odds of landing a spot at their dream university.

However, hiring a college coach can come with a hefty price tag. Before you commit to paying for the services, it's important to calculate your potential return on investment.

What Is a College Coach?

A college coach—also called a college admissions consultant—specializes in helping students achieve success in the college admissions process. These individuals are often former college admissions officers who have firsthand knowledge and expertise to share with prospective students.

Generally, the college coach's number-one job is helping a student to achieve their end goal of getting into the school of their choice. They do that by offering personalized advice to help students in selecting and applying for colleges. They can also help guide students' decision-making when it comes to things like extracurricular activities, curriculum choices, and college essay topics.

College coaches can help with the undergraduate and graduate school admissions process. Depending on which college or university your child wants to attend, the coaching process can begin as early as middle school. In addition to covering academics and extracurricular activities, a college coach can also discuss the financial aspects of choosing a college and applying for financial aid, scholarships, and grants.

All of these services can be offered through one-on-one coaching sessions, which can be conducted in person or online. Coaches can also provide additional support via email or phone, so you're not limited to only working with admissions consultants in your local area.

College Coach Fees

One of the most important aspects of college planning is considering the cost. Hiring a professional college coach can add to the total of what you spend on your child's education.

The fees can vary widely depending on the coaching or consulting firm you choose and the suite of services your student needs. Some coaches charge hourly rates, while others bill a flat fee when you purchase a coaching package. Hourly charges can easily run between $85 to $350, while comprehensive packages can range from $850 to $10,000. In one extreme case, a coaching firm charged one family $1.5 million to help their student gain admission to an Ivy League school.

Paying an additional $10,000 for coaching services may strain your budget if you're already planning to spend tens of thousands of dollars to cover tuition, fees, and other costs of attendance. On the other hand, spending $850 for college coaching may be more within your budget.

Is Hiring a College Coach Worth It?

The value of a college coach depends largely on your student's goals and what you expect the result of coaching to be.

College coaches don't guarantee that your student will be admitted to their dream school, so you're taking a gamble in paying for their services. Many factors can influence whether a student is admitted to a prestigious or highly competitive school, including:

  • Academic record
  • The overall strength of their curriculum
  • GPA
  • Class ranking
  • Extracurricular activities
  • Personal statement or admissions essay
  • Admissions interview
  • SAT/ACT scores
  • Level of interest in a particular school

A college coach can help students determine which areas they need to focus on to make themselves attractive candidates for admissions. Ultimately, though, it's up to your student to do the work. Their coach may advise them to join a student club or improve their GPA, for example, but unless they make an effort to follow the advice, your child may not see the results they want when it's time to begin applying to schools.

A coach can also be useful in developing strategies that you and your student might overlook. For instance, a student who's part of a racial, ethnic, or religious minority may want to attend a school that has a very diverse population. But because there are already so many students like them, their application gets lost in a sea of others. In that situation, a college coach may steer them instead toward a school that has a smaller representation of students from their background. The prospect of adding diversity to the school could make them more likely to be accepted.

Weighing Cost vs. Reward

It's important to weigh the investment against the quality and cost of a degree at your student's top school. Earning a degree from Harvard, for instance, could help your students enter the workforce at a median starting salary of $95,000, according to PayScale research. That's a payoff that may be well worth a fee for a college coach. On the other hand, if they're interested in a school whose grads earn a typical starting salary of $50,000, your ROI shrinks significantly.

If you're considering hiring a college coach, do your homework first. Check out the range of services offered and the pricing for those services. Ask how often a coach will be available and what their track record is for helping students get admitted. Get an idea of their methods, and be sure they're not offering to do your student's work for them. Steer clear of any service that asks for a large deposit before offering any services or one that guarantees results that seem unrealistic. As with anything else, if a coach seems too good to be true, they most likely are.

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Sources
The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
  1. Independent Educational Consultants Association. "State of the Profession 2018," Pages 20-21.

  2. Ivy Coach. "Elite College Counseling: A Legal, Prohibitively Expensive Pay-to-Win Game in Admissions."

  3. PayScale. "Salaries for Harvard University Graduates."

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