We are excited to announce our most expansive program of three-hour seminars and learning events to be offered as part of the IECA Fall Conference. These were developed based on feedback from members as well as school and college attendees. Collectively they cover a wide variety of topics that offer something for all:


Whether in admissions or consulting, customer service should be on everyone’s agenda. And no company has a better reputation for getting service “right” than the Walt Disney Company. Leading a pre-conference participatory seminar on Disney’s principles of service is a former trainer with the Disney Institute staff who will apply these rules to schools, colleges, consultants and programs. (Offered twice: Wednesday, Nov. 11 morning and Thursday, Nov. 12 afternoon).


Financial Aid has become a core service of an increasing number of college consultants and new formulas and other changes are in the works. In this three-hour pre-conference seminar, the latest on financial aid will be explored. (Offered Wednesday November 11 morning)

Rarely do consultants or admission staff administer tests to determine a student’s learning disabilities. Yet each is called on to understand and interpret test results. This three-hour pre-conference seminar will examine the range of tests, interpreting results, and more. (Offered Wednesday November 11 morning.


We’ve heard our attendees loud and clear. What schools, programs, and consultants all want, more than anything else, are enhanced opportunities to share information, examine a school’s offerings in a more relaxed, quiet but interactive atmosphere. We are pleased this year to introduce two three-hour “SPEED MEETINGS” opportunities. On Wednesday morning (November 11 for traditional boarding schools) and Thursday afternoon (November 12 for therapeutic schools and programs) we present a new concept designed to meet these requests. On each day, up to 40 schools or programs can opt into the pre-conference Speed Meetings (as well as 80 consultants). During each session school representatives will have the chance to meet with one or two consultants for a six minute private sharing session. After six minutes the consultants will shift and the next six minute session will begin. Each consultant will get to hear directly from over 20 schools and each school will meet with up to 40 consultants. The final piece of the program will provide for networking to ensure all attendees get to meet each other. An exclusive packet with detailed information on participating schools or programs will be distributed each day. As a pre-conference event, interested schools and consultants will need to apply for participation.


Finally, what do we do when a speaker is widely lauded and everyone wants him back with calls for deeper, more detailed content? We have created, for Charlotte, our first-ever MASTER CLASS featuring Duke University adolescent brain expert Jeff Georgi. This three-hour master class on Saturday morning will provide the detail everyone was craving following his keynote in San Francisco. Attendance will be offered to all conference attendees, but those interested will be asked to indicate their intent to participate when they register.


Of course a number of pre- and post-conference campus tours have been announced (see my blog of June 24) and watch the IECA conference Web page for further details, with registration opening in early August.
Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

I had a wonderful opportunity yesterday to meet with two officials of the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC to explore Canadian options for teens in the U.S. and abroad. What I discovered are two professionals committed to adolescent opportunities and enthusiastic about outreach to IECA member educational consultants.

I learned much in my conversations with Dr. Daniel Abele (daniel.abele@international.gc.ca), the head of research and academic relations at the embassy, and Alexander Leipziger who works in public affairs in the same department. Alex was a Virginia high school student who went to college in Canada, so when he speaks it is both with the authority of his work at the embassy and the passion of his own experiences. Both noted that ten or fifteen years ago a small number of Americans went to study in Canada and most sought specific programs in large universities. Today, many more from the States—as many as 9,000—study in Canada’s universities, both large and small from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.

As expected, many seek to study there because of the strength of the U.S. dollar resulting in a less expensive alternative to private colleges or out-of-state tuition in the United States. Others choose Canada for the environmental and cultural opportunities, among others. Alex explains that the greatest concern he hears from parents is about whether a degree awarded in Canada will be accepted by U.S.-based companies and graduate schools. He assures families that degrees granted in Canada are considered equal to degrees awarded stateside.



There is additional evidence of the commitment Canadian Universities have made to working with consultants. Fully half of the participants in this summer’s counselor tour of colleges in Nova Scotia, sponsored by EduNova are IECA members, and next fall IECA will be coordinating tours of Ontario colleges, with additional tours in other provinces quite likely. In May, IECA’s annual spring conference will be held in Toronto and colleges throughout the area, along with schools and programs, will be joining in the planning. I am thrilled to state that college representatives from both coasts—Nova Scotia and British Columbia—have already agreed to attend a planning meeting to help make the gathering a nationwide event. We hope to reach out to schools and colleges in the Quebec province as well.
 All of this comes at a time when parents are looking at affordability as well as “match issues” for their child’s education. We are fortunate that Canadian colleges are reaching out and helping to educate educational consultants at a time when the breadth and quality of schools throughout the country are worth a second look by all high schoolers in the U.S.

Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director 

Today’s announcement by the Obama administration to simplify the FAFSA application (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is a most welcome admission that the form, with its 150+ questions, has become so complex and cumbersome that the very families the process should be helping has, instead, chased them away. Today’s announcement of minor changes for the coming year—eliminating as many as 20 duplicative questions—will help, but the real benefits will come in another year or two.

The goal is to feed financial information directly from a family’s tax return into the FAFSA form. This obvious move will improve accuracy and make the process far easier for families. In particular, this will greatly assist lower income families (and often those of first-generation college students) who have struggled with areas of the form dealing with net worth, investment portfolios, and the like.

The overall strategy is that this simplified process will bring increased numbers of students into the college search process by demonstrating that college is achievable and affordable. For consultants, this begins one more step in gaining greater expertise in understanding the broad range of financial aid possibilities, including need-based financial aid, merit aid, loans, work-study and 529 plans, among others. Anything that simplifies this process for families is a positive change for all.

Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director 

Among the many benefits an educational consultant brings to a student in their school or college search is direct knowledge from having visited scores of campuses, conducting evaluative visits. Such visits give Independent Educational Consultant Association members an eye-witness, ear-to-the-ground, personal way of understanding what makes a campus tick: its social and academic balance, the relationship between faculty and students, emotional support or sense of competition among classmates, the campus-wide support for the arts, the political climate, religious tolerance, acceptance of and offerings to students with learning disabilities, relationship with the local community, among hundreds of other factors.

Only by walking through a campus, reading the student paper, scanning the bulletin boards, talking with students, observing the dining hall, can you begin to get a real feel for a school that no guidebook, Web site or blog (even this one) can accurately describe. That’s why many IECA members can count 200 or more campus visits among their background work to better serve clients and families. Of course, every consultant supplements these tours with student surveys, books, conversations with IECA colleagues and much more. But nothing replaces the value of walking in the path of a student.

This is the primary reason we commit so many resources to making our campus tours a central part of what we offer our members. Members often tell us of the great value in touring campuses with other educational consultants: sharing insights, raising questions, etc.

As we look ahead to our fall conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, we know that our Special Needs and Schools committees will soon be announcing special campus tours. The college tours are now set and include campus visits and presentations at:

Monday November 9:
High Point University, Elon University and Wake Forest University;

Tuesday November 10:
Davidson College, UNC-Charlotte and Queens University of Charlotte;

Wednesday November 11:
Wingate University and the IECA conference kicks off at 1:00 p.m.

Registration for these tours begins in August, along with the IECA Conference registration.Details on the school and special needs tours will be announced soon.

Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

For the first time in decades, IECA has launched its annual membership renewal drive in the middle of an economic recession. In many parts of the country, notably the industrial Midwest and much of California, conditions are beyond a recession. It is only fair to assume that members (and potential members) wonder if they should renew, or more specifically if the economy is going to cause a reduction in services or any decrease in our marketing and outreach efforts, or what IECA has planned to help members improve their own outreach to potential students and client families.

I am pleased to note that the Independent Educational Consultants Association has maintained its dues—with no increase—for 28 years, almost certainly a record in the world of associations. And each year we seek to add to our member services in ways that directly and positively impact our members. We have committed to significant improvements on our Web site for the year ahead that will deliver new member services through a members-only, password-protected portal. This will allow for greater exchange of information among members, permit the posting of upcoming tours and educational programs in an improved format, and increase the availability of services exclusive for IECA members that will keep your costs down. As you know by reading this blog, we have dramatically increased our use of new technologies, from social networking to communication sites, that have increased our ability to promote an understanding of the educational consulting profession to the general public, and thereby drive additional traffic to the IECA Web site, to our online searchable database, and to you.

We have worked hard to ensure that workshop and seminar topics are timely and valuable. We have explored the economic impact, marketing issues, social networking, and new therapeutic approaches at our conferences. We conducted our first webinar with much success and anticipate many more in the coming year. Experts say that remaining connected to one’s professional association is crucial during periods of a downward economy, because it is this connection that assists members in discovering new trends and conditions that can make a real difference in one’s own practice and assist them in speeding a recovery. We take this role seriously as we examine ways we can be of great help to members—many, many of whom call for advice and support—in trying creative efforts in their home community. In addition, IECA’s national outreach does bring many potential clients to the IECA Web site—thousands each month search our online directory.

Our goal is four-fold: (1) be a primary resource for you in gaining valuable information and knowledge of admissions, schools, colleges, and programs; (2) provide the best resource for outreach to potential client families; (3) aide in connecting you to resources and colleagues around the country; (4) be your partner in reducing the cost of running a consulting practice. Over the next several months you will see these new, real benefits join those that have made the Independent Educational Consultants Association the nation’s authoritative go-to resource for parents, educators, and the media. We look forward to serving all of our members (current and new) in the coming year.

Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

The Association of Boarding Schools has just changed its Web address from schools.com to www.TABS.org. The new address is up and running but next month they will unveil a newly designed Web site. Among the new features will be a searchable database of IECA member educational consultants, including all specialty areas. This inclusion marks a wonderful partnership with TABS and expands our reach to more families looking for help.

Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

A new report by the Brookings Institution may offer a solid explanation for a phenomenon that I’ve written about in recent blogs and noted by many IECA members: the dramatically varying impact of the recession on consultants’ practices, with some reporting “best year ever” and others reporting declines of 40% and more.

The new study surveys the 100 largest metropolitan areas and ranks the cities from strongest to weakest economic performance based on six key indicators, including unemployment rate, housing prices, foreclosure rates and wages.

Focusing on areas where IECA membership is strong, several come out near the top, suggesting a strong economy even during the recession. Among these metro areas are:

San Antonio, Austin, Houston and Dallas, TX
Baton Rouge, LA
Washington DC/MD/VA/WV
Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, PA
New Haven, CT
Rochester, NY

Of course, some areas where IECA consultants are found are fairing very poorly with a sinking economy. In these areas, consultants may be experiencing a particularly difficult year. These include:

Riverside, Oxnard, Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno, Modesto, and Los Angeles, CA
Detroit and Grand Rapids, MI
Palm Bay, Miami, Cape Coral, Jacksonville, Lakeland and Tampa, FL
Las Vegas, NV
Youngstown, OH/PA
Providence, RI/MA

Looking at the figures for a few other cities:

Philadelphia, Boston and Hartford, CT are fairing better than average
Baltimore, Seattle, Charlotte, St. Louis and Chicago about average
Cleveland, Cincinnati/Louisville, Portland, OR and San Francisco are all below average

While such an economic report card can’t explain everything consultants are seeing, it may help to explain some of the regional differences we see and seem certain to suggest a more sluggish recovery in the more deeply impacted communities.

Link to the study: http://www.brookings.edu/metro/MetroMonitor/overall_performance.aspx

Posted by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

I spent about 40 minutes speaking with Graham Frey, chancellor of Kaplan Virtual Education, this afternoon. The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) gave me confidence that the curriculum was serious and the online course guide confirmed this. The list of honors courses was reassuring as well.

What I wondered about was not the WHAT but the WHO. For which students does an online high school education make the most sense? I think most of us would agree that the best environment for most students is with their peers in a brick and mortar setting.

According to Graham, there are specific sets of students for whom an online education could make sense: Very serious athletes, for example Olympians and others for whom practice eats away at the school day; or performing artists, including dancers and musicians who in the past might have forgone a high school education completely.

Another group includes families, who love their home, but where the local school option may not meet their needs; perhaps an area where gentrification is just beginning or where local schools have a philosophical view that is abhorrent to a family.

Another area I heard about is hybrids, where a private school may combine in-person education with distance options. For example, imagine a school that emphasizes experiential opportunities. How can students visit Barcelona or work on healthcare in Mexico while continuing their pursuit of AP Physics? Might distance learning provide the tools to make this possible?

As virtual study becomes more accepted at the university level, and as organizations—like IECA—begin using Web-based learning to inform our membership, there may be a growing value in virtual education for the right high schoolers. It’s certainly worth learning more.

Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director

I have begun to hear reports from members—and colleges—across the United States that indicate an unusual year shaping up for state colleges. Most have reported overall increases in applications, and it appears, from what I’m hearing, that it is in-state applicants driving this increase. Out-of-state applications appear to be about even with years past.

The increase among in-state students should come as no surprise, as the current economy has all families looking harder at in-state options as well as other choices that might be sweetened with financial assistance.

But I am hearing that while out-of-state APPLICATIONS are even, the number choosing to enroll has fallen. The result for many of these state universities is two-fold. First, many are going much deeper into their pool of wait-listed students. Second, there are major budgetary implications. While many states mandate a significant number of their own in-state applicants based on tax-payer support, it is the higher-paying distant applicants that universities must rely on to balance their books.

A serious long-term decline in out-of-state students means a real loss of income. Aggravating this loss is that it comes at the same time that states are unable to increase support for colleges, and in many places the subsidies for state universities is being cut or facing that possibility should the economy remain weak within that state.

That’s what I’ve been hearing. I welcome comments from colleges and consultants letting others know what you are hearing in your state.

Posted by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA

Last night I had the opportunity to have dinner with colleagues representing a number of educational associations, both college and independent school focused.  Each expressed concern that the outlook for the rest of this year and through 2010 is poor, predicting declines in conference attendance  by as much as one-third, and anticipating declines in membership, training programs, and other areas that would require cutbacks in member benefits and services.

Today, the entire staff of IECA has gathered to plan for the next 18 months, setting in motion new developments to a members-only area of the IECA Web site, planning for enhancements to our social media capabilities, making improvements to the conference schedule, and much more, including our first study in five years on the state of the profession and a member-needs analysis that will guide both the staff and the Board.

As we look ahead we are encouraged, seeing a different landscape than these other educational organizations.  We see a membership that will continue to grow by 5% or more.  We hope to make specific outreach to Associate members who are now qualified and should therefore seek professional status.  Today our membership stands at over 725–our highest ever.  Our Summer Training Institute in Swarthmore, still two months away, has registered almost 50 attendees and seems likely to fill.  Inquiries about our fall conference are up, and we have fully engaged members, schools, programs, and colleges throughout both North and South Carolina involved in the planning.

Rather than reducing efforts in the current economy, we believe that the best thing we can do for our membership is to INCREASE our commitment to marketing and public outreach, helping to spread further word of the good work and high ethical standards our membership represents.  Our embracing of Facebook, blogs, Flickr and other technologies has aided this effort and has kept IECA ahead of so many other groups.  In the year ahead we’ll train our members to better use these same technologies to help their businesses.

Where others see difficulties, we truly see exciting opportunities.  Our best days lie just ahead.

posted by Mark Sklarow, Executive Director, IECA