The Homeschool Highschool Podcast - Working with a College

Mar 03 2025 22 mins 4

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This week on Homeschool Highschool Podcast: Working with a College Admissions Advisor with Kristi Steele.

Working with a College Admissions Advisor with Kristi Steele

If you have college-bound homeschool high schoolers, you will be glad you checked out this interview with Kristi Steele, a college admissions advisor at kc360.co.

Kristi has the most unique job. She is an advisor who helps students with college search and admissions advice.

Kristi’s Story

Kristi is a third culture kid. She grew up I grew up in Central America. She loved it. Her dad was a musician and her mom was a counselor.

When Kristi grew up, she worked in international business for a while. Then she was hired as a recruiter for a university. Some of her recruiting work took her from the US to Latin America, where she enjoyed talking to families. These families needed to know two things:

There are university options beyond recognizable names such as the Ivy League schools.

How to go through the process of finding and applying to college.

Kristi then launched kc360.co, her own advising organization that provides resources to fill those gaps. She knows that college choice and admissions can be overwhelming.

Let’s talk about college searches

There is not always good advising available to all homeschool high schoolers, so Kristi has some tips. She uses the acronym FIT:

financial,

intuitive, and

time.

Really look at the finances

We all know that college is expensive. One question parents and students need to ask is whether a college of choice is feasible? How much debt do you want to go into?

Kristi uses a tool that really helps students and parents look at the finances. With the tool, families can see three schools: what their affordability would be, even with loans, as well as what the average graduate earns in the student’s chosen major and degree.

Kristi then helps parents and students look at the budget post-graduation, estimating expenses such as:

student loan

car payment

rent

Realistically look at grants and scholarships

Many universities offer students scholarships based on merit and talent. Usually families must file a FAFSA or CSS. This is worth doing, even if your family makes more income than allowed for Pell Grants. While your teen may not qualify for a Pell Grant, that does not mean your student cannot qualify for other aid. You might be surprised.

Also, for many schools, your college application is a scholarship application.

I stands for “intuitive or individual”

Kristi uses both of those words. She knows that if you have the opportunity to do college visits, you might just intuitively know, “I can see myself here”. Or, “gosh, I need some clarifying conversations to see myself here”.

Or ‘individually”, you can ask, “is this a school that individually fits your needs?” Such as:

Does the classroom size suits you?

Do you need more customized care?

You maybe do not need to be in a hall of 300 students with a professor that is really not teaching, it’s the TA.

Another individual question to ask is, “do they have a series of majors that interest me?”

This is because most students change their major. If you get to college and that school does not have a range of majors (ideally three, four, five that you’re interested in and could pivot to), that really puts your teen in a hard position. So having that ability to pivot is really important.

Note: You can go into a school undecided. That is not a bad thing, but give yourself the grace and the margin to really be at a place that has places where you can pivot if you need to, or that you can tack on a minor.

Find a combination of majors and minors that works for your teen. One of Kristi’s favorite student stories is a girl that was fantastic at science. I mean, just a natural, but she really had a heart and passion for illustration. She ended up at Hope College with major in biology and a minor in illustration. She works as an illustrator for a biology textbook company.

The other individual and intuitive thing is size

Talk about size in terms of the physical community that the college is in.

Is it in a rural area?

Is it in an urban center?

And also the size of the university?

Time is the T in FIT

Your homeschool graduates will be spending a lot of time at college. Find out about their dorm requirements. Are they

required two years in the dorms or

their dorm requirements only one year or

students can live off campus from year one.

Also, what kind of time is your teen going to be spending on campus?

If they will not have a car, is there a shuttle to target or the store?

Are there, amenities nearby?

Think about how your homeschooler will be spending time on campus

It is good for students to find organizations and clubs. What is available on campus?

Can they commute from home?

Some teens need their introvert time.

For teens who need to choose a college major

Kristi suggest that high schoolers go to college majors fairs. (And if your teen is really type A, make appointments with your admission counselor to talk about majors.)

Ask: Where are graduates being hired?

Also, where are your students interning?

Check out Kristi’s college admissions tips podcast and resources

The podcast covers college search and admission tips in fifteen minutes or less. She also hosts a virtual college fair every semester.

The two paid things that Kristi offers homeschool students are the college project. This is a self-paced course kind in lieu of a college counselor. If you are not sure what you want to major in this is a good thing to do!

Not only that, but Kristi offers a mini career assessment in there and a mini character assessment.

Find Kristi at kc360. co and at LinkedIn.