College as a financial decision

Marketplace All-in-One

Marketplace

News, Business

4.5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2025

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Do you get stressed out thinking about life after high school? Host Yanely Espinal talks to college counselor Ralph Johnson about choosing the right path for you and thinking of this as an important financial decision. They discuss the pros and cons of different types of colleges and the criteria you should consider when deciding where to go.

Think you’re financially inclined? Dig deeper into next steps after high school:

Read more about the different types of colleges from the College Board
Search for a college’s net price calculator here
Suggestions from the ACT on how to decide what to do after high school

Are you in an educational setting? Here’s a handy listening guide.

Thanks for listening to this episode of “Financially Inclined”! We’d love to hear what you learned or any questions you’d like us to answer in a future episode. You can shoot us an email at financiallyinclined@marketplace.org or tell us using this online form.

This podcast is presented in partnership with Greenlight: the money app for teens — with investing. For a limited time, our listeners can earn $10 when they sign up today for a Greenlight account.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hey parents and teens. Financially inclined is presented in partnership with Greenlight, the debit card and money app for teens. We're chatting today about a big decision. What to do after high school. There are a lot of options and just as many criteria to consider. No matter which path you choose, Greenlight helps you manage your money while planning for
0:22.4	what's next. Get a head start on your college savings plan. Grab your $10 bonus by signing up at
0:28.5	greenlight.com slash inclined. What's up everybody? I'm Janelli Espinal, and this is financially inclined for Marketplace.
0:39.7	We're sharing money lessons for living life your own way.
0:53.7	Finishing high school is a big accomplishment.
0:57.0	I know y'all have worked really hard to get where you are now.
1:00.4	And there are so many options for what can come next.
1:04.0	Like, do you want to go to college?
1:05.8	What kind of school is right for you?
1:07.8	Does a two-year or a four-year program make more sense for your goals?
1:12.0	All of these options are exciting to think about and maybe also a little bit overwhelming.
1:18.0	But I want you to remember that this is also a financial decision. In fact, choosing a college
1:24.4	is one of the biggest financial decisions you'll make in your life. It's going to
1:29.2	impact your career path, job opportunities, future income, and of course, your debt. To help us think
1:37.9	through your return on investment for your college choice, I'm talking with college counselor Ralph
1:42.8	Johnson. Ralph works at Democracy Prep Public Schools in New York City, where he's the vice president
1:48.6	of college success. Over the years, he's helped so many students navigate these big choices
1:54.7	and make sense of all of the associated costs. So I knew he'd be the perfect guest to help
2:00.6	us out today. And I'm really
2:02.0	excited to hear his expert advice. All right, let's get into it. Ralph, you've been in college
2:12.0	counseling for over 10 years and working with students, you know, day in and day out, how do you approach the conversation
2:19.0	with a student about this decision they're about to make what life looks like after high school,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.