A new MBA student came to me with a problem. He needed to pay his tuition in two days;  he had the money, he just didn’t have access to it. The problem was that his money was in a bank in his home country from which he could withdraw only $1,000 a day— he owed $4000. If he took four days to get his money, his class schedule would be cancelled and he would be past the deadline to add the classes back again.

I asked the student if he had gone to the source of information– the Bursar’s Office where all fees are paid or the Registrar’s Office to discuss keeping his classes in the system. He hadn’t been to either office. I told him that whenever you need information or need a decision made, go to the source and/or the decider and no one else. Then and only then will you know what’s best to do.

Several days later, he came by my office with a smile on his face. He had taken my advice and gone to the Bursar’s Office first. He found out that he qualified for a $2,700 scholarship just for foreign students that could be applied to his fees immediately. Along with what he’d already withdrawn from his bank—he now had enough to pay his fees. He kept his classes and had a little extra money as well.

One of the cardinal rules in college, and in life, is go to the source for information and to go to the decider when a decision needs to be made. There is no substitute for information and authority, that’s good advice for students and everyone else.

 I just finished reading and reviewing a great book – The Prize: Who’s In Charge Of America’s Schools? by Dale Russakoff. It’s the story of how a $200 million dollar gift to the Newark New Jersey public school system was and is being mismanaged and wasted by Mark Zuckerberg, Governor Chris Christie and  Corey Booker who is the former mayor of Newark. This cautionary tale is a must read for any one who works in education or has children in a public school system. Let me know what you think about the book and the review.

The students in my Public Finance class asked me if they could have a 3 x 5 post card of notes for their first exam. I asked them if they really thought the cards would help them on the exam. They were all convinced that they would so I said yes, on one condition—after the test, they had to tell me how they created their note cards and how they used them.

After the test, they told me exactly what I expected. They tried to write as small as  possible to get the maximum amount of information on the cards. So I asked them if the card was big enough for everything they wanted to write. The answer was a resounding no. So I asked my students how they decided  what went on the cards and what didn’t. They read, reread and studied each piece of information to decide how it fit with all they needed to know for the exam. If they felt they really needed that bit of information on the card, they distilled it to its essence so they could fit it on that tiny card.

I asked if they did the card only once. They said “Oh no!  We had to do  the cards over several times to get them exactly right.”  Then I asked how much they used the cards in the test. At this point, the students began to see what I wanted them to understand. They said they didn’t use the  cards very much because they already knew what was on them. So I said, “In other words, you had to understand and learn what was going to be on the test in order to create the card.  That’s when the learning was really happening. Doing the card is just one way to learn what you needed to know.”

My students were surprised, they didn’t realize that their 3 x 5 “secret weapon,” what they thought  would give them that extra ability to do well on the test was really a great way of learning what they needed to know. I encouraged them to use this approach in any class even if they couldn’t bring the cards into the test. The cards make excellent study notes to use before tests and  are an example of how to study hard and smart for success in college.

Granville Sawyer on The Maggie Linton Show today! http://ow.ly/RadOI

I recently did a review of the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. In my review I discussed how important Coates parents were in helping him survive and thrive beyond his West Baltimore neighborhood – something he thought no one, including him, would do. What Coates did not realize that he had been born with the key element necessary to help him move beyond West Baltimore—parents who loved him and were willing and able to help him succeed.

Like Coates, we all begin life completely dependent on our caregivers. Typically our parents but they can be grandparents, aunts, uncles, even older siblings; They are our first role models – the people we learn from often by example more than explanation—and those lessons shape who we become. When I realized this I said to my wife that being a parent is, in some ways, frightening to me. When she asked why, I said,

“Because the kids don’t miss anything. They listen to what you say and watch what you do even when you don’t know they’re doing it. Then, one day, they say something or do something to let you know how much you’ve influenced them.”

My wife’s give me some excellent advice, “Be the person you want your children to be all the time.” Like most things worth doing, this is excellent advice is more easily said than done but still excellent advice.

Being the person you want your children to be is especially important for today’s youth. We are fed a steady diet by the media of the ills of black families but the media doesn’t give nearly enough credit to the black families like Ta-Nehisi Coates’ who are guiding and inspiring their children to achieve and succeed the way Coates did.

They exist, they are legion. As a university professor at an historically black university, I know this, I see these success stories every semester. They are first generation college students whose families and friends have sacrificed and invested in them because they love them. They don’t want anything from these precious children—just for them to be successful. They inspire me to mentor and assist these students whenever they need it. I know the students are standing on the strong shoulders of so many people who love them and are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to help them. Because of that, I do everything I can to support the students, and the parents, in their determination to succeed.

For students planning on going to college, taking standardized tests, the SAT and/or the ACT,  can be one of the most stressful parts of the admissions process.  So much seems to be riding on the student’s performance on this single exam. It’s almost as though the four years of high school don’t count – only the four hours of the Saturday they took the test. More and more colleges and universities across the country are deciding that too much emphasis on standardized test scores may be keeping qualified students out of colleges where they could do well as  predicted by their high school performance over four years. This is particularly true for students who may not have access to test preparation and tutoring resources. Studies done at The Ohio State University and the University of Pennsylvania found that students from higher-income families are the ones most likely to use SAT preparation classes and tutors  which gives them a 60 point or higher advantage over students who didn’t take the classes. This puts students from lower income families or families without a college tradition who don’t know about or can’t afford to access this additional help, at a distinct disadvantage when applying to colleges with lower test scores.

The pros and cons of these tests have been debated and defended for years and now  more than 125 private college and universities do not require the standardized tests to be considered for admission and 185 have a test optional or test-flexible admission policy . This list (current as of Summer 2015) details which U.S. schools de-emphasize standardized tests.  I would strongly advise every student to think carefully about whether they need to take the SAT or ACT to attend the college of their choice. Use what information is available to you and make a decision based on your needs, knowing the advantages and disadvantages of traditional testing can impact your choice of college and your future.

I am a professor of finance so when I watched Serena Williams’ recent Wimbledon win I took great pleasure in watching the athlete and the investor. She is certainly one of the greatest professional tennis players ever. I, along with many others, think that she will leave the game as the greatest tennis player ever. But there’s more than tennis to admire about Serena Williams and her sister, Venus. They are as smart and able off the court as on.

They recently purchased part ownership in the Miami Dolphins football franchise and are now the first African American women to become professional sports franchise owners. Together, Venus and Serena have earned almost $100 million dollars playing professional tennis but their combined net worth exceeds $200 million dollars! That is the result of smart investing – excellent play on the court and excellent investing off the court. As Nina Simone famously sang,  “When you’re young, gifted and black, that’s where it’s at.”

I am also a serious auto racing fan and one of my favorite drivers is Lewis Hamilton,  the defending Formula One world driving champion, and another example of a young, gifted and black athlete. This year, he is headed for his third overall and second consecutive championship. He is the first and only black Formula One driver and, the sport’s first black champion. This year, Hamilton signed a three year extension with his current team, Mercedes, for over $40 million a year with bonuses if he wins another championship. Hamilton negotiated the contract himself and, as a result of his tremendous success on the track and his excellent business acumen, he has become one of the five most marketable athletes in the world and, according to Forbes magazine, is the 15^th highest paid athlete in the world . He is also building a $15 million resort hotel on the Caribbean island of Granada. Lewis is showing he is world class on and off the track.

If you rely on media coverage of the men and women who play professional sports you often hear about the athletes who squander their money and rarely hear about minority athletes who are successfully earning and investing their wealth now and for the future. This is news everyone should know about – in a world that celebrates the culture of consumption – the Williams sisters and Lewis Hamilton are examples of what happens when athletes are skilled in their sport and their finances.

Forbes Link: http://www.forbes.com/profile/lewis-hamilton/

I just finished reading Frank Buni’s book “Where You Go Is Not Who You’ll Be.” The book  explores the value of an undergraduate degree from an Ivy League school versus state or private schools that have solid reputations but are much less expensive. I was interested in his proposition and discussion because I have degrees from both a flagship state institution, the University of Tennessee, and an Ivy League school, Carnegie Mellow University. Furthermore, I have been in higher education as a professor for over thirty three years so I have some knowledge and experiences relevant to the book and I paid for my daughters’ undergraduate degrees.

If you or someone you know is deciding on where to go to college, please read this book.  Bruni quotes some compelling statistics and talks about student experiences that suggest an Ivy League education at the undergraduate level is not worth the cost. He has done his homework well enough to warrant serious consideration of  his position,   especially in light of the fact that if trends continue, an Ivy League undergraduate education that is now $63,000 a year, will cost over $500,000 eighteen years from now!

The horror stories of parents who racked up excessive student loan debt so that their children could go to elite schools are painful to hear and even more painful to experience. The issue is currently on the agenda of senators and presidential candidates, but despite the student loan discussion, reform, if it happens, is years away. In the interim, it is up to individual families to determine the costs versus  benefits of an Ivy – Frank Bruni’s book makes a great contribution to the discussion.