51³Ô¹Ï Announces Lineup of Major Events in Winter/Early Spring 2025

51³Ô¹Ï is excited to announce its lineup of major events coming up in the first quarter of 2025, including: 51³Ô¹Ï Business Growth InstituteFor 51³Ô¹Ï Professional Members Online • January 23–February 27 This new six-week online course will focus on strategies, tools, and tips for growing your IEC practice. The Business Growth Institute is designed to help 51³Ô¹Ï Professional…

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Celebrating the New 51³Ô¹Ïonline.com

51³Ô¹Ï Homepage screenshot

After months of development and testing, 51³Ô¹Ï is excited to share our newly redesigned website, 51³Ô¹Ïonline.com. The website features a new, modern design, user-friendly navigation, and informative content to better serve the association’s members, admission representative and vendor partners, and parents and students seeking guidance from our 51³Ô¹Ï member consultants. Key features of the website…

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Why I Belong: Trisha Uhler

Portrait of Trisha Uhler

Before becoming an independent educational consultant (IEC), I was a counselor at a large, highly competitive high school where many families hire IECs (something my fellow counselors and I supported), so I was familiar with the influence IECs have on the college application process. Although I was content in my role as a high school…

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Why I Belong: Ethan Currie

It was the middle of winter, 2022, and I had just made the transition from working in admissions at a Big 10 university to working at a private college counseling firm, Galin Education. I was excited and a bit nervous—I was confident in what I knew about my Big 10 school, but I also knew…

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The NCAA & Intellectual Property: The State of Play on NIL Reform

Female basketball players huddle in a circle.

What is NIL, and how did we get here? Defining NIL NIL (Name/Image/Likeness) is shorthand for a student-athlete’s intellectual property rights (their name, image, and likeness). A Brief History of How We Got Here It is important to put the current conversation about NIL reform in context. The NCAA was founded after a White House meeting in which Teddy…

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51³Ô¹Ï Returns to Capitol Hill for Our Second Annual Advocacy Day

51³Ô¹Ï members participating in the 2024 Advocacy Day are shown in front of the US Capitol.

On March 4-5, 2024, 15 51³Ô¹Ï members descended on Capitol Hill for the second annual 51³Ô¹Ï Advocacy Day. We held 33 meetings with elected officials and their legislative aides from the US House of Representatives and Senate, introducing (or re-introducing) 51³Ô¹Ï to offices representing California, Colorado, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,…

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Why I Belong: Karen Handler Ryan

Summer 2020: I spent the day sitting on the floor assembling my new folding desk. Even though I was left with three extra screws at the end of the process (and a genuine concern about whether the desk would fall apart the minute I put something on top of it), I had taken the first…

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51³Ô¹Ï Urges Colleges to Adjust Deadlines Due to FAFSA Delays

College Campus

The US Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office released an update this week announcing that the earliest the Department will begin transmitting FAFSA applicant information to schools and state agencies is the first half of March. We are deeply concerned by the impact this further delay will have on students and families who are…

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51³Ô¹Ï to Add Certified Educational Planner Credential to Its Portfolio

A teenage girl of Pacific Islander descent smiles while working on a computer in the school library with the help of a mature adult female teacher or tutor.

As part of its commitment to promote the highest quality independent educational consulting for students and families, 51³Ô¹Ï has announced that it will integrate the American Institute of Certified Educational Planners, the nation’s leading certifying body which awards the respected Certified Educational Planner designation, into 51³Ô¹Ï’s suite of offerings. Founded in 1976 and now 2,800…

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