THE DEAN’S DESK
FREE LIVE WORKSHOP FOR PARENTS OF HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS
Are You Planning For College Admission Or Attendance?
Getting in is only half the plan.
Your student can do everything right this fall, build a strong college list, submit great applications, and earn multiple acceptances...
...and still arrive in April without a college your family can comfortably afford.
Join Christina Lopez, former Dean of Enrollment Management at Barnard College, for a free 45-min, live workshop about the financial decisions senior families need to make before applications lock in choices that may be difficult to change next spring.
Live On Zoom
Thursday, September 10
8:00 PM ET
Register for Free
An acceptance letter isn't the same thing as an option.
Most families spend senior year focused on one question:
Where can my student get in?
But there is another question being answered at exactly the same time:
Which of those colleges will make it financially possible for my student to attend?
Those aren't separate processes.
Every college on your student's list has its own enrollment priorities, financial aid policies, approach to merit aid, and reasons for discounting its price.
That means your student could receive several acceptance letters this spring and still discover that only one or two of those schools are financially realistic for your family.
That's the difference between getting admitted and being able to attend.
And if you wait until the financial aid offers arrive to start thinking strategically about cost, many of the decisions that created those offers have already been made.
This workshop is for you if:
✅ Your student is a high school senior applying to college this fall.
✅ You're looking at $70,000, $80,000, even $90,000+ annual college prices and wondering what your family would actually be expected to pay.
✅ Your family earns too much to expect significant need-based aid, but paying full price for four years isn't a comfortable or realistic plan.
✅ You're trying to make decisions about college lists, early decision, merit aid and affordability now, before applications lock in your student's choices.
In this free live class, you'll discover:
Why getting accepted and being able to attend are two different outcomes, and why senior families need to plan for both.
Why colleges that look similar on paper can produce dramatically different prices for the same student, and what that tells you about the colleges on your student's list.
Why waiting for financial aid offers to determine affordability is too late to begin your financial strategy, and which senior-year decisions are already shaping the choices you'll have next spring.
The one shift in how you think about your student's college list that can help you create options that work academically and financially.
Meet Christina
Featured in Town & Country Magazine
“Meet College's New Forensic Accountant” - July 2026
Christina Lopez spent more than 20 years inside college admissions, financial aid, and enrollment management, including serving as Dean of Enrollment Management at Barnard College.
I've spent my career looking at college from the institutional side: how colleges build classes, allocate financial aid, manage enrollment and make decisions about price.
Today, I help families use that understanding to make smarter financial decisions about college before they're staring at an acceptance letter and a bill they weren't expecting.