Q:  My daughter was honored by being nominated to be a National Youth Leader.  Participating in the program is very expensive.  I would hate not to let her attend because I believe it can open doors that would really benefit her. I want the best for her, but I really can’t afford it.  Am I expecting too much from the program, such as future scholarship opportunities if this program is listed on her resume?  Or should I wait and invest that money in college?

A:  You are a kind and wise parent!  Both of your instincts are right on target!  You want the best for your daughter, including helping her to enhance her experience and her college-admission profile.  At the same time you are correctly wondering if a high-priced program is really going to provide a high-level benefit.

This is not to minimize the fact that someone obviously thought highly enough of your daughter to submit her name to the program’s organizers, who write to high school principals and guidance offices asking for nominations of top students.  So someone at your daughter’s school — an administrator, counselor, or teacher — felt that she would be an excellent candidate.  The qualities that inspired someone to nominate her may be those qualities that will also make her a great college applicant.  But the success of her college applications will not depend upon her possible participation in this particular program.

Programs such as the National Youth Leadership Forum and the Congressional Youth Leadership Council can also procure lists of names from the College Board;  if a student checks, for instance, interests in law or medicine on the SAT registration form, programs dealing with law and medicine can ask for targeted lists.  Also, students who have participated in the programs are asked to suggest the names of others they think would enjoy the experience.

Every spring students have come to me with ‘nomination’ letters they have received, along with glossy folders and colorful brochures.  The programs often have the words ‘National’ or ‘Leadership’ in them (and have logos using symbols such as the Capitol dome or am American eagle), and they feel flattered.  The opportunities outlined in the mailings — traveling to the nation’s capital, networking with officials from government agencies, meeting students from all over the country — are exciting.  But what’s the difference between an “honor” and an “opportunity”?  An honor should not have a price tag attached to it.  An opportunity might or might not have a price tag.  Unfortunately, the college-admissions frenzy that has developed over the last 20 years has also spawned a huge ‘opportunities’ industry.  While there are many worthy, stimulating programs out there, for the most part they are money-making enterprises.

And colleges know that.  They are well aware that most students who list on their resumes “leadership conferences” or “community service” programs in exotic locales are affluent.  They have these lines on their resumes because they can afford them.

Your are right — these programs are indeed expensive.  The National Youth Leadership Forum ranges from $1440 (5 days) to $2465 (9 days), with variations depending upon program type and length.  Another organization offers 12-day programs ranging from $2840 to $5650.  Some programs team up with local colleges and offer (at an additional cost) participation in credit-bearing courses.  And then there are the community-service or volunteer programs that also charge hefty fees for participation.  Are all of these organizations offering worthy experiences?  Sure!  There’s no doubt these programs are fun and interesting, because the companies running them could not stay in business if they didn’t have satisfied customers.  Yes, these are businesses;  they provide educational experiences, but they are not schools, not government agencies, not non-profit cultural agencies.  They are businesses.  And they want to make you and your daughter feel that you just can’t pass up the once-in-a-lifetime “amazing experience” they offer.

While the National Youth Leadership Forum offers some scholarships, they also stress that they can’t assist everyone, so instead they suggest that students do their own fund-raising to come up with the program fees.  Their website even offers a fund-raising guide to help (it’s a pdf on their website).  With enough advance planning, persistence, and imagination, students are told, they can manage to come up with the funds they’ll need to participate in the program.

Would participating in this program be exciting for your daughter?  Undoubtedly!  It would be fun, and she’d meet students from all over the country.  Will participating add a line to her resume that will make a real impact in her college admissions?  The company organizing the program would like you to think so, but the real answer is: no.  What would make a real impact would be something, for instance, that your daughter initiates herself: starting a charity effort, organizing a conference at her school, getting students and teacher to unite on a project with a common goal. Save your money to use for visiting colleges!

Note:  The College Counselor thinks it might be interesting to apply all the fund-raising ideas suggested by the NYLF to raising money for one’s own community.  What if students took their own favorite causes — medical research, a local children’s hospital or child-care center, a senior center, animal shelter, neighborhood arts association — and mobilized campaigns on their behalf?  That would demonstrate planning, persistence, and imagination, too, and would benefit the local community instead of a company somewhere else.  Just an idea. 

Next time:  Can I get into college without doing community service?  And what about those community service programs you have to pay for?

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