109. Treating Higher Ed as an Investment

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Being a parent is hard. Being a parent of a child who will one day graduate from high school and have to make decisions about what to do next is even more difficult. And they’re one and the same.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the United States, we live in a tragedy of student loan debt.</span> <a href= "https://www.investopedia.com/student-loan-debt-2019-statistics-and-outlook-4772007"> <span style="font-weight: 400;">According to Investopedia</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, Americans hold about $1.75 trillion in student loan debt. And while the government debates on whether to forgive some of that debt or continue to defer it, our youth continue to apply for student loans.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s time for a real conversation about the support that’s available to students, what parents’ responsibility should be, and why the school a child attends (if any) is no reflection on the parent. And shouldn’t be.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This week on the podcast, Ken Ruggiero, chairman and CEO of Ascent Funding shares what might be some unpopular (but very realistic) thoughts on higher education. He gets real about why students exit college without a degree or with loans they can’t pay back. It’s an equation, and Ken is sharing his organization’s (free) tool to determine whether the school a teen is choosing is a good investment or if they should look elsewhere.</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Be sure to tune in!</span></p> <h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">About Ken Ruggiero:</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ken, Chairman and CEO of Ascent Funding, is a veteran and innovator in higher education finance with more than 25 years spent managing start-up through Fortune 1000 companies, helping them create meaningful change and improvement in their delivery of financial services. Throughout his career Ken has worked tirelessly to improve access to hi