Baby Boomers, who fueled a rise in company-supported day care nearly a generation ago, are driving a new employee benefit: help with their kids’ college admissions.
With an assist from admissions-savvy entrepreneurs, a small but growing number of employers offer options ranging from brown-bag lunches on college-related topics to sessions with former Ivy League admissions officers to Web-based programs that let parents manage their child’s progress.
"It’s all geared at attracting and retaining the best" employees, says Gary Kushner of Kushner & Co., a benefits consulting firm in Portage, Mich. He and others say another appeal for companies is that the perk reaches employees ages 35 to 55, a key segment of the workforce.
"It’s a very low-cost benefit, which is critically important as health insurance and other benefits become more expensive," says Chris Duble of Fred C. Church Insurance, a Lowell, Mass., broker that has offered free admissions help to its 125 employees since April.
"You really don’t expect counselors to really, truly know your kids, so parental involvement is very important," says Accenture employee Katy Wu of Lilburn, Ga. Her 17 year-old twins, Timothy and Tiffany Soo, are looking at colleges.
The benefit, part of an expanding category sometimes called work/life, is still in its infancy.
A 2005 survey of more than 350 employers by The Society for Human Resource Management says about 9% offer benefits to help select a school.
But "it’s very fast-growing because the (admissions) process hasn’t gotten any easier," says Michael London of College Coach, a Newton, Mass., counseling firm. That has taken on about 50 corporate clients since 1998. Texas Instruments and Chevron are among those he says signed on in 2005.
College Coach charges companies a flat fee, which London says ranges from about $20,000 to $750,000, based on the number of employees and topics offered. Those include workshops on topics such as paying for college, and counseling by former admissions officials. On their own, families might pay $2,000 to $10,000 for similar advising, London says.
Other companies have developed programs internally. At New York’s Credit Suisse First Boston, about 300 employees and their kids spent a Friday in September talking with experts, including counselors and deans from Columbia and New York universities. The sessions were organized by a parent’s network; the company offered space and supported the program.
Giving workers "time to find out what’s out there and how to prepare their children for something that weighs on everyone’s mind so heavily is really invaluable," employee Jackie Espinal says.
