On January 11th, 2017, the Department of Education joined NextGenVest for a live FaceBook event to answer questions concerning college finances. John B. King, the Secretary of Education, joined CEO and Founder of NextGenVest Kelly Peeler at Cardozo High School in Washington D.C. to give a brief talk about some of the biggest worries for students looking to attend college.

The plan was to talk about to discuss the college application process, the financial aid application process, and the repayment process and why they should not be obstacles to pursuing your dreams of going to college in front of a live audience of Cardozo High School students as well as being filmed live for viewing on Facebook! Quickly, it was shown that John King not seemed confident in the answers he was giving on college finance questions, but showed a human side many politicians fail to show to the public willingly.

NextGenVest.com is a company tackling the biggest problem that many young people in our society have to face during their senior year of high school: how in the world am I going to manage to pay for college? By being connected with your own Money Mentor who is a certified college student from a real school around the country, students are connected with a relatable, live person who can help them through the stressful process every step of the way - from the FAFSA to scholarships to negotiating tuition (yes you can do this!) to picking out loans.

For about forty minutes, Kelly Peeler moderated a talk by John B. King, the Secretary of Education, in front of a small live audience of real high school students. They were also joined by one of the NextGenVest.com Money Mentors, Amanda Cortes, who is currently a freshman at George Washington University.

Topics like student loans and FAFSA application changes were tackled in broader detail, and then specific questions asked by Facebook viewers and students at Cardozo High School were answered in more specifics. What was also very helpful was that while King and Peeler were speaking live, the Federal Student Aid FaceBook page was answering all other questions in the comments on the side to give viewers even more information!

What really made it so special in my opinion was how open and honest John B. King was about his own path to success. In between answering finance related questions about student loans and FAFSA applications, King told his own story; he grew up in Brooklyn, New York, unfortunately lost both of his parents while still attending high school, and ended up getting on a path leaned towards trouble rather than success.

With the help of many teachers who pushed him to take school more seriously, he went from a troubled teen to someone taking Advanced Placement Classes and going off to attend Harvard University. Having someone in such a high position, specifically appointed by President Barack Obama himself, tell a story of struggles to success made it seem more relatable to a student currently going through the process themself. He even mentioned that he’s still paying off his college loans, which made him seem more of a regular guy rather than a politician.

Towards the end of the live event, Peeler gave a great piece of advice with a two step plan of things students should be doing to further themselves in the process. “If you want to weigh the different options with a real college student’s perspective at eleven o’clock on a Sunday, to do two things. The first is to treat the cost of college seriously, and to actually have a plan.”

Peeler goes on to explain that you shouldn’t be intimidated by the cost of attending college, and how students should advocate for their own education, by talking to the financial aid office of your school of choice, fully understanding your financial aid package that comes with your acceptance letter, and ultimately being a consumer of your education. “Just like you would buy a burrito or a car,” Peeler goes on to say, “you are going to have to pay this thing off, so you should advocate for yourself.” Thankfully, Peelers creation of NextGenVest.com Money Mentors means that students have full access to someone who can help them do all of those things with ease.

After the event I spoke with Amanda Cortes, the Money Mentor and Georgetown University student who was lucky enough to sit on stage with King and Peeler. She mentioned how much NextGenVest.com is helping students already, but how there is so much work to be done to get the necessary information directly to the students. “Kelly asked the audience if they knew what FAFSA was,” Cortes said, “and only a handful knew, which is worrying because most, if not all, will be concerned about the price of higher education without knowing the resources to afford it.”

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