Kevin Tyler
Welcome back to Higher Voltage. I am so thrilled for our two guests today. We have Lisa Hennessy and Alex Boylan, co-founders of The College Tour and The Student Registry.
A bit about Alex, his love of adventure and passion for storytelling has made him a successful and dynamic artist in front of and behind the camera. After winning CBS's The Amazing Race, one of my favorite shows, at the age of 23, he quickly became a sought after on-screen personality, captivating audiences as the host of the number one food series on PBS called At the Chef's Table and the number one animal series on PBS called Animal Attractions, as well as over 100 segments for the Travel Channel. Alex's latest adventure has led him into the American higher education landscape as the creator, executive producer, and host of The College Tour. His expertise and passion for education has earned him recognition as a college expert, being named as one of EdTech Magazine's top 30 IT higher education influencers to follow in 2022.
Lisa Hennessey is an Emmy-nominated television executive producer, showrunner, content creator, and entrepreneur with a career spanning over three decades. She has earned executive producer credits for shows like The Biggest Loser, Eco Challenge, Survivor, Boarding House, and the documentary feature film Running the Sahara produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. She, too, is fiercely passionate about education and in 2020 with Alex, she co-founded The College Tour and in 2024 co-founded The Student Registry, which is what we are here to talk about today. Alex and Lisa, thank you so much for joining me on Higher Voltage.
Alex Boylan
Thank you for having me.
Lisa Hennessy
Thank you for having me.
Kevin Tyler
So, we are really here to talk about your newest project, The Student Registry, but I do want to share some space with you to talk about The College Tour that you created together in 2020. Can you tell us about what that is and how people can find it for those who might be unfamiliar?
Alex Boylan
Absolutely. The College Tour is a television series. Each episode tells the story of a different college campus through the authentic lens of real students. So it's real students on campus telling real stories. And you can check it out on Amazon Prime. Also go to thecollegetour.com and we're close to 200 episodes right now. So lots to choose from, from the small tribal colleges to the big state schools to small Christian schools, community colleges and everything in between. We want to bring equity to the college search process.
Kevin Tyler
And it's a really great way to talk about college, the college search with prospective students because you really highlight the real lives, the lived experience of students on the campus. And it's available on a platform that's typically readily available. I think it's an excellent example of innovation. One thing we talk about a lot on this show is how higher ed marketing and branding for that matter can be innovated upon so that we can attract the students that we need to get into these college campuses. So, I'm really excited about The College Tour series. I did not know there are already 200 episodes available. But I'm wondering what you have learned kind of in general from The College Tour series for yourself about the higher education landscape. Lisa?
Lisa Hennessy
Oh, I thought you were gonna go to Alex, he's the one who's been to all these colleges, which is incredible. What we've learned is, we've been now in, I think, it's 41 different states across the United States. And as Alex said, we've told the story of community colleges, big state schools. And what we've learned is that we love hearing the voices of students. And what we learned along the way is that one of the biggest problems students have is the financial one. And so not to segue quickly into The Student Registry, but that is why we created The Student Registry is to help support those students entering into their higher education journey and then continuing on their higher education journey. So the financial side is one of the most challenging side for the students. And then in terms of the colleges, getting the awareness out to students and how great their campuses are is what we created The College Tour for. Cause we really wanted them to, the story of the campus to be told through the lens of students. Because what better person to tell your story than through the lens of your current students? And so, really, there's two kinds of sides to it, is the colleges themselves and then the students themselves. So that's what we've learned along the way.
Alex Boylan
Yeah, and I'd love to follow up on that too. There's a path to higher education for everyone. And I think we want, we've learned that because, you know, we're communicating this, we're talking to typically a high school audience, right? And they all don't know that, and sometimes it's, I should go to a trade school because that's what I want to do, or I should go to this community college, right? You know what? I really want to go to this school. And so I think that's what we've learned is that students sometimes don't know.
We didn't know before we started the show, the many different pathways to higher education. I think, that's one of things we want to celebrate and that we've learned is that there is a way. And so what is right for you? There's a thousand different journeys in this, but you know, we're really blessed to be in a country that has so many different options.
And as we know from business, labor and statistics for every piece of education you get, starting in high school, your chances of employment go up, your chance of higher wages go up. And so it's really incredible what's happening across the landscape. And just knowing that there is an option available. And I'm going to say one small little piece, like, there's a community college right in our backyard here down in Orange County that will pay you, you know, if you hold a full course load of credits. And so there's a way to get to college one way or the other.
So I think that's something that we've learned along the way that there's just a lot of different options out there and we should be all celebrating that.
Kevin Tyler
I agree with you. I agree 100% that there's no one right way to get the education that you desire. Many of those pathways, though, do require quite a bit of cash. And so I'm so excited to talk with you both about The Student Registry, which to me kind of reflects or mimics like a crowdfunding. It's a gift registry, baby registry, but for financing your college experience. And I would love for you to talk about, A, how the idea came to mind and also how it actually works.
Alex Boylan
It's fun. Obviously, we've talked to now, we have featured thousands of students across the course of a couple hundred episodes of television. And I would say the financial barriers is probably the number one thing that is on the mind of not just the student, their families, their loved ones, whoever is part of that process. And as we've, you know, are on all these campuses and hear that story, we want to, you know, Lisa and I have all about fixing problems or helping young people. How do we help in this journey?
And then think about this. This is one time in this person's life that's really going to impact them for the rest of their life? And how do we support that? And what better way? There's registries for babies, there's registries for weddings, all these different milestones in your life. But maybe one of the most important pieces is the college journey. That's the time you're young, you don't have any money. You're trying to figure it all out. And it's the, if you think about the extended family, friends, community that's around it.
Who doesn't want to help a college student? So that's where The Student Registry was born, is how do we create a registry where students can build out their budget? And that's what they do. They create a profile, build out a budget, and it talks about, here's what my tuition is, here's what my transportation costs are, my dorm supplies, all the little things, those things add up, and then you can share this really fun student-facing profile explaining your story, and just anyone, uncles, aunts, family members, friends can click on, you know what? I'm gonna give you 500 bucks. I got your books this semester. Like how do we take the load off the student and collectively help them in this big critical time of their life?
Kevin Tyler
That's so important. Lisa, can you talk about the functional parts of The Student Registry and how it works? So I'm a student who wants to go to XYZ University. I set up the profile and then what happens?
Lisa Hennessy
Yeah, so first you can find it on thestudentregistry.com. Let's just start there in terms of the URL. So you head to thestudentregistry.com and then you create your profile and then you create your registry. So you filled out a lot of what we found also along the road is that a lot of students don't know how to make a budget. And so that's a big part of it too. It's really important when you're 16, 17, 18, 19, like a budget might be kind of a foreign concept for you. So we make it easy. We have default settings of some of the line items Alex just described. So tuition, accommodation, gas, books, computer, those are sort of the default settings to the line items in the budget. And so they create their budget. They put their profile up there, their photo up there with a little blurb on the background of why they're looking to have support. And then they share their registry. There's a QR code on their profile as well. And then they share that registry with their friends and family. Their friends and family may share that registry as well. And it's very easy for donors to then donate to those line items. And then the community is created in terms of helping that student on their journey per semester. And every semester they can create a new registry.
Campus Docket promo
Kevin Tyler
How do you currently market the registry to its intended audiences and who does that include? It's not just the student I would imagine, it's probably maybe counselors and parents, et cetera. How are you marketing the offer right now?
Lisa Hennessy
Yeah, so we just launched this year. So we just launched in 2025. And so due to The College Tour TV series, we have college partners over as Alex mentioned, almost 100 college partners. So we're letting them know about it because it's a great tool for them to share with their college-bound freshmen. And so the students that are accepting right now, I don't know when the podcast is going to air, but when the students are accepting in spring, it's a perfect time for incoming freshmen to create a registry for their freshman year. They need a lot of stuff, dorm supplies, all the things. And so it's perfect for the colleges to share with students.
And then we're also working with counselors across the United States. There's a database that we have about 60,000 counselors across the US. And so working very closely with high school counselors, with them sharing it to both the student and the parents. I think it's really important to let everyone know that it's a great tool for parents to know about, because the parents usually take a lot of the burden as well. And so we're working with counselors in terms of sharing that via newsletter, on social media, on the website of the high school, et cetera, as a tool that students can use as they continue their journey on to college. And then we're also looking, we're hiring brand ambassadors, both in high schools and colleges to help support too. So it's a peer-to-peer conversation.
Kevin Tyler
Makes a lot of sense. Alex, do you have anything to add to that?
Alex Boylan
Yeah, no, it's really fun. As Lisa mentioned, we're in the early stages, and so we're learning. We saw this because we saw the need from the students, but they're using it in all kinds of different ways. There's an institution that uses this platform called Slate for every admitted student builds out their profile, talks about their actual budget. This is what it's going to cost this year. This is what it's going to cost for four years. And here's some additional resources. So, they plug The Student Registry right into there. So as students are thinking, hey, you know, should I go here? This college might be a little bit more expensive than this option, but with The Student Registry, maybe that helps me. And so, it's been really fun to watch the different ways that the colleges and universities are able to implement this and really just support their students with the platform.
Kevin Tyler
I’m curious if you can share information about how this impacts, if it does at all, any like financial aid awards or is it considered income like what are like the nuts and bolts and those kinds of nuances?
Alex Boylan
Yeah, there's a lot of nuances to that. I'd say the biggest one that we have and it's is and it's one of the first things on the homepage when you're setting up your profiles. If you happen to be an NCAA athlete that you should check with your NCAA affiliate at that institution just to talk if there are any ramifications. But interestingly enough, I mean, we've had conversations with dozens and dozens of colleges that are now implementing this into them and, you know, obviously there's a sense of personal responsibility. Every student's situation is different and this is an open platform for everyone to use. I don't want to talk on some massive grand scale of how it affects every person in every different situation.
But so far, people are like, this is, you know, it's great. You're allowed to, I don't want to say we're not tax accountants, but you're allowed to take so many of gifts each year tax-free. That's a great, great thing. Lisa and I always joke, put yourself in the student's shoes. You could go and, know, which you probably will do go work all summer long and, you know, make your money, but there's governments going to take some of those taxes.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah.
Alex Boylan
And with The Student Registry, you're able to take a decent amount of money as gifts that aren't taxed.
Lisa Hennessy
$18,000 a year.
Alex Boylan
Debt and tax-free. So if you think about it, it's great.
Lisa Hennessy
Yeah, yeah. $18,000 a year is a good threshold in terms of donations, which I think it used to be $10,000 for a long time, and now it's $18,000.
Alex Boylan
Yeah. But everyone we've talked to so far, and obviously this has been talked about at many different institutions, there isn't any problem with the FAFSA or anything like that because it's a gift from family member really coming to you, so…
Lisa Hennessy
And what my understanding is that the money you get from graduation or bar mitzvah, that's not, that doesn't go against the FAFSA. So, this is in that category.
Kevin Tyler
Excellent. I want to make those things clear because I think there will be a lot of questions about how this gets counted and how the money gets to where it needs to go, which raises one of my next questions about how donors can confirm that the money that they've donated is being used for their intended purposes. How do you make sure that that happens?
Alex Boylan
That's a great question. I think we gotta like trust to a certain degree. This would be like, you know, if you gave $100 towards something of someone, you're hoping they're using it for that. Now granted, this is if the student gets $200 to go towards their books and they end up using that to their tuition, you know, there's no way for us to track that, nor do we want to track that. But I think it's the holistic, I mean, most of this is, you're reaching out to your community as loved ones, family members, extended community members. So, I don't think we'll be able to ever track exactly what someone is spending exactly where, but I think you're, you know, trusting in the human, you're helping them with their journey.
Interesting on this, a kind of a side point to this, but it was a college that has adopted this and pushing this out into the market to their students. And what they said, it was like, what they loved about it, you know, retention and finishing college is different than starting college. And they go, you know, what's, there's a, there's a statistic out there of when someone says it out loud and actually shares it with their community. I'm going to school here because I want to be an engineer of the chances of that person completing. It's a really interesting thing. And so, there's something that happens when a student's creating this profile. This is where the money is going, but this is what I'm going to go accomplish. The chances of them accomplishing that goal goes much higher up.
Kevin Tyler
Interesting.
Lisa Hennessy
In the other area of that too, Kevin, we can't track it, but it's important to Alex and I, these students sort of lack these days soft skills. I mentioned making a budget, they don't really have that skill yet. Also just the please and thank you and updating. And so part of the platform that's really important to us is that as they're raising money to get the support with the registry is to thank the person supporting them, give them updates about how it's supporting them.
And so, I donated money to one of our college ambassadors, and I covered her gas fund. And I have chills as I'm about to give you this update or tell you about it. Like she sent me an email saying, thank you so much, Lisa. Because of that support of you covering my gas fund, I was out of money and I was able to go to my job, which is allowing me to stay in school.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah.
Lisa Hennessy
And so to be able to get those type of updates, from the people supporting you, for both the student and the donor, I think it creates a really strong sense of community, and that's a big, big factor in what Alex and I are trying to do. Like, we really believe that the whole should help support the students on this journey, and so teaching them please and thank you, community, is really a big part of what the registry stands for.
Kevin Tyler
I really appreciate that notion of essentially stewardship, right? Like making sure that people who are giving the money or are interested in giving the money are thanked or at least informed about the status or the performance of progress that you're making in your educational journey. And I think that it makes the relationship more sticky, right? You might be able to get more support from folks who understand exactly what it is you're going after and how their support really helps you. And I think that's really, really important.
Lisa Hennessy
And accountability, what Alex just said, like there's some accountability. So if you have a village behind you, like I really truly believe it takes a village in really important milestones in life. That's what weddings and babies and all that stuff, that's the village that's behind you in your major milestone in life. And so you're in higher education. It helps you not drop out. You know, it helps you fight to succeed because you've got this team around you that's helping you both really like emotionally as well as financially, that's really powerful and really important.
Alex Boylan
Yeah, can I follow up on that, Lis? There was a story, this was early on when we were speaking with different institutions. And it was funny, one of the schools was like, you'd be surprised at what happens over like $500. A student is a junior, right, Kevin? And their car breaks down. It's a $500 problem or $400 problem. All of a sudden, the student's embarrassed, they can't fix their car, they don't show up. The college doesn't even know where they went. And eventually it's like six months later, they find out it's like, wait, there was a 500. So sometimes it's a small amount of money that stops the student from accomplishing their goal. They're not always like celebrated by the family and your larger community, but like we need as a society, as Americans in this country, to get educated students that are going to go into the workforce. And so, you follow that trickle down of like a small amount of money on how it's helping them accomplish their goal and then helping them become, you know, productive citizens, you know, who knows where they'll go on in life and create amazing things. So it's really, really fun to watch.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah, I mean, I think a great point that you raised, that there was a time at which the majority of Americans wouldn't be able to withstand a $400 inconvenience, right? Because of their finances. And imagining that kind of expense being required in our college years is completely detrimental, right? Like it can throw us off of our path towards progress so easily. And so, being able to have a network, a community, as you say, Lisa, around you to support through those kinds of real-life challenges that happen unexpectedly is really important for this effort. I think that's a really good point.
Lisa Hennessy
I think it's everything, honestly. Don't we want everyone to succeed? Especially a 17, 18 year old, we want them to succeed. And I can't wait for the day where there's a lot of students … we have these college partners, and so, as these freshmen are creating the registry, it's gonna be amazing once the profiles are up to then share that with alumni. That's gonna be a great tool to say, hey, look at these great students that are about to embark on their journey, do you wanna participate with them? And participate in this incredible journey that they're on that you were on once upon a time. So they think there's so much relatability to it.
I know, Kevin, you interviewed Scott Marshall at Semester at Sea. What an incredible journey those kids are about to go on in terms of that voyage and who doesn't wanna support? You might be an aunt in this small town that you know you're never gonna be able to do that, but now you get to participate in that journey with that young person and help them support their voyage around the world. I mean, there's just, there's so many things that I think are gonna help not only the student, but the people contributing as well.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah, I'm wondering just kind of brass tacks, like how does The Registry make money? Does that come from the donor side or from the student side or something else? Sponsorships?
Alex Boylan
In the transfer of money from donor to student, there's a 2% fee that it takes for us to run this whole operation that goes towards, you know, all the tech and business things that are needed to run it. So, that's how this model is working right now.
Kevin Tyler
That is excellent. What does success look like for this effort, for this platform? And what is the end goal and how are you measuring? Is it about student served? Is it something else? Is it degrees obtained?
Alex Boylan
I think it's all the above. Yeah, go ahead Lis.
Lisa Hennessy
Yeah, the exciting thing when you create something from an idea is we don't even know where it's gonna go. I mean, the baseline is Alex and I wanna help students. That's it.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah.
Lisa Hennessy
So the more students that are on here and the more community that's created, that's a win for us. But when you're starting something that can be this impactful, we have no idea where it could possibly go. Like, I mean, I have friends that I'm, you know, having produced shows around the world. I have a really big global tribe of people. And all my friends globally are so excited about this. And so, you know, very quickly this could go internationally as well. So really it's about us helping the students succeed and having a tribe around them to help them. So community is really important to us and as many people as we can help is super important. And Alex might have a different answer, so Alex, why don't you go as well?
Alex Boylan
No, I think that was very well said. In the early days, once again, we see problems and we've been trying to fix them. If you go back to The College Tour, my niece couldn't figure out where to go to school, and she didn't have. If you think about the percentages, 99% of students do not have funds to go travel to the campus. It's expensive to get to these campuses and go do tours and hotels and flights and all of that.
Transfer that over into the actual college, into the pain for colleges only, you know, it's a very small percentage of students out there. There's 20 million college students. You know, what small percentage are like, cool, my family has enough money, they write a check and I just got to go to school. That's not the norm, right? The 99% need that extra $500, need that $1000 to, like, make it all work. And so that's who w
e're trying to serve. We're trying to serve the average student trying to make it through school. You know, following up on Lisa, it's amazing where The College Tour started from just an idea. Who would have thought it's on so many platforms and so many areas and embedded into high schools and all kinds of stuff. That started from just this idea. And I think we're at that starting gates with The Student Registry. Like we're building the platform and now getting the word out that it's here and it's open. And I think in a year from now, it'll be fun to revisit, Kevin, and all of that because this will evolve and grow and change based on, you know, the people that we're serving with it.
Lisa Hennessy
And I can't wait to talk about more success stories, honestly. Like it's so fun right now, seeing students create their registry. I love it so much. Like I love seeing their little faces and them telling their stories and being excited about starting their college journey. Like there's nothing more fun than when the students decide on what school they're gonna go to, and they get their swag, and they get all excited, and they share with their friends like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna go to this school. And it's like, it's this incredible beginning. And to be part of a beginning is so powerful and fun. And if we can create a tool to celebrate that beginning and to help them succeed with that path, I can't wait to share more and more of the profiles and the success stories behind that.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah. I look forward to seeing those success stories as well, because I think that this is only for good, which I very much appreciate.
I'm curious, as a high school student, I don't know how prepared I was to be raising funds, right? Are there supports? Is there tutoring? Is there whatever available for prospective students and families who might feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the process of fundraising in this way?
Alex Boylan
Absolutely. We have videos to help every step along the way, not only to just build a robust and a great profile and to build out your registry. That's somewhat, I would say on the easy side and students are used to creating profiles on how many different platforms. Then, we have a number of different videos that walk them through. It's fun to see them say, okay, cool. They're sending out emails or texts to like their family saying, hey, family members, can you post, you know, on it? And then can you have your friends post it? And it's this growing collaboration in this community. And there's so many different ways to get your story. When you have your story and then you can start utilizing that in a way, I mean, students are printing out one-sheets and putting them up in local coffee shops in their area. But every piece of this we have videos and FAQs to answer everyone to help them and we're learning too. We're seeing students come up with new ideas.
We're close to graduation time. Lisa and I were on a call this morning where the high school was talking about not only putting up some big QR code about The Student Registry at the high school graduation, but then encouraging all their students to take their QR code from their profile, put it on their graduation cap. You know, you have fun with it, put something up at their graduation party. And so, making this fun, an event and a celebration as Lisa keeps talking about. Lots of FAQs and lots of ideas that have already come to fruition. But as this grows, we will continue to share great ideas as we watch students raise money for college.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah.
Lisa Hennessy
And we're in the process of doing, Kevin, which I think is really important when you're kind of stuck. Because I think these Gen Z'ers think differently than us. I think that's an important thing that you're going into your 17-year-old self. And so we're in the process, as I mentioned earlier, of hiring brand ambassadors, too. I think that's important. I think it's important for students to speak to other students. And so once a student is successful, helping their peers be successful, I think, is really important. And so that's what we're in the process of doing as well. Cause I think peer-to-peer brand interaction I think is going to be key.
Kevin Tyler
I think we may have answered the question already, but I'm gonna ask it anyway in case something new comes out in one of your responses. But I'm curious if you could share your perspective on what it means for a platform like this to be necessary in today's environment to pay for higher education.
Alex Boylan
I think from what we've learned from The College Tour, there's a personal responsibility to The College Tour journey. And there's 20 million students out there with all different pathways. So there are less expensive options. There are more expensive options based on a lot of variables. To me, I don't know. I'm like, I'm kind of agnostic on it. Who am I? I mean, some students go to spend $2,000 to get through their semester at a community college might be too high of a feat to go after. Another student, you know, the $25,000 a semester is too high to go after. And there's everything in between all of that, you know? And so, I just think, I don't know. I don't speak for Lisa, but I'll speak for myself. To me, it's like we're trying to celebrate college. You should go and find your path. You should think through what is the right school for you and where you're trying to go. That's personal responsibility. And then when it comes over to the financial side, that's another piece of the personal responsibility, but making sure. And so, I think, overall, I kind of just leaned back and did like, can we take some of the load out of their backpack?
Kevin Tyler
Right, right.
Alex Boylan
I don't know the whole macroeconomic question of where higher education is and the costs. But I think one of the things I will just lean back onto with The College Tour and our experience with that is like, there are so many solutions out there to get your degree, you know, where, as I mentioned that one, sending in a college that will pay you to go to college there.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah, yeah.
Alex Boylan
Amazing. And so, I just think there's so many different options. There's a pathway. There's just a piece of personal responsibility that that student and/or their family need to make as they go through that journey. And hopefully, we're through The College Tour, now The Student Registry, we can help you find it, and then we can help you afford it, whatever that pathway would be. I know I'm not 100% answering your question, Kevin.
Kevin Tyler
That's okay.
Alex Boylan
But it's best I can do in the sense of trying to explain from our heart what we're doing and why.
Lisa Hennessy
And I'd love to jump in too, just because I keep kind of redirecting so that everyone can imagine conceptually the registry idea. Because the registry concept is, I think, so important. Because you might be having a baby later in life and have plenty of money, but you're still going to do a baby registry. Because everyone wants to participate in that milestone and participate in, you know, this beautiful thing that you're celebrating. Same with the wedding. Like people that are older get married and you know, they may have everything that they need. They may have, you know, everything that they possibly could have because they're older, they're getting married in their forties, but they still do a registry because there's a whole bunch of people that want to support them.
And so I feel like the registry part is really the most important part. You know, it's creating something that hasn't existed yet. And really that support if a couple, that is in their 30s has a registry for their baby, I strongly feel like a student at 17-18 should be able to create a registry for their college journey. It's really that concept of that support, that celebration.
I keep saying that word celebration because it is a celebration. A lot of first-generation kids, a lot of young people have tried really hard to get into that college, any kind of college, they've worked really hard to achieve that next path for themselves. And so, for the community and their friends and their family and the community to celebrate that and to support that, that I think is the most important message that I would like to, kind of, relate to the audience.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah, and I think the other part of this is that so many of the bones of higher education's infrastructure have not kept pace with progress in the rest of the world, right? So when we look at Pell Grant award amounts, the proportion of education that the Pell Grant will cover is far less than it used to be. And so now we have to look at other ways to fund an educational experience that look like this, look like crowdfunding. Because we are now in a time where there are some advanced degrees that you can't get before paying $100,000. We are in six-figure tuition territory these days. And the Pell Grant gives you, whatever it is, is a drop in that bucket.
And so, I think that when we think about the price of getting an education, which is different than the cost, that the price of getting a college education has become so exorbitant that it requires this kind of innovation, this crowd-sourcing innovation in order to get the degree in the first place, right?
And I really appreciate the point that you made, Alex, about this is about the average student. This is about the 99% who know that they want to get a degree or know that they need to get a degree and have all the qualifications except for the checkbook, right? And I think that's what this is about is like making sure that people can get to where they need to go in a way that doesn't feel like they're giving up so much of their future just in order to get the educational experience, right?
Because what we know about debt is that it is heavy after getting out of college. So the institutions that are initiating like cost containment measures, the Paul Quinn colleges in Texas, and these other places that are saying you will not leave here with debt over $10,000, that is a helpful message. And so, I just really appreciate this way that you crafted this offer so that it doesn't feel out of reach for so many people.
Lisa Hennessy
And we want them to be able to graduate debt-free. We want to do our part in helping that. So I think this is a solution that's part of many solutions, but we want to give this solution that can kind of round out that journey for them financially.
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Kevin Tyler
The last question I have for both of you, is the question I ask every single guest that comes on this show, is what do you think higher education will look like in five or 10 years?
Alex Boylan
I think, first of all, I want to just talk about the college, if you don't mind. I'm amazed by these college students. If we, as society, are ever worried about the future of this country or this world, don't be. Go to a college campus. It's amazing what they have access to. I call it a lot when I'm out there. It's a playground. It's a playground to try all these different things.
But I always tell you, and I'm happy to use my alma mater, Jackson University, as an example. I think, in general, what I'm hearing, they're listening to students more. And I'll use my institution. It was little things. They're listening to what those needs are. And there's a lot more collaborations with businesses. What JU has done on the campus for what those students wanted for where it was at, it got implemented. And we're seeing a lot, and I think this is gonna just keep happening, a little cross-pollination with degrees.
There was a school we were filming not too long ago, and it's really cool. They have an engineering business building. Typically, those two worlds used to be as separate as it can be. But the businesses that are outside of that area literally came to school and were saying, hey, we need engineers, but we need engineers that have the business mind, they have the communication skills that can go into market.
So, I wish they had it when I was school. I would have loved that degree, right? They just cross-pollinate an engineering and business together. I just think you're going to see a lot more of that happening than ever before. I just think it's, there's no more relevant. The speed at which our economy, which our civilization is moving is fast. And I just watching the institutions collaborate with the businesses. That's it. It's like, we're preparing young people to go get, hopefully, their dream job out of college. Like that's what they're trying to do. And so I think it's really fun to watch this transform many of the campuses we're on. It's really innovative. So, sometimes in the news you get, there's this bad connotation with higher education every once in a while you hear about it. It's awesome.
Lisa Hennessy
It's awesome.
Alex Boylan
These students are doing so many things. They're out there trying to figure out their next path of life. It's an amazing piece. And I would just say, you know, from when I went to school and go get your business degree and take your business statistics and blah, blah, blah. It's different now. You are working with companies and just the collaboration between business, the area and the institution is just getting more and more collaborative I should just say. I just think it's going to go more and more in that direction. We hear it. I'll stop talking here in a second and, Lis, you can go.
But there's a ton of schools ,where they're working so much with a corporation where the corporation saying here, this is what I want your curriculum to be. You are guaranteed a job here at X salary. How cool is that? Like we're talking about a pathway, right? That was not going around when I was around. So I think, we're going to score more of these direct pathways. Come to this school, here's your path, here's the class we're gonna take. You're gonna be prepped for that exact job at that exact company.
Kevin Tyler
I think that's, I could not agree with you more, I think that's such a critical component of the evolution of education back in, I don't think it may be at this point, 10 or 15 years ago, Stanford did a study that showed that like some high, low 90s percent of provosts felt that their curriculum was directly in alignment with what the industry needed. And only 5% of HR professionals agreed with that. And so, that kind of disconnect is what we are trying to close, that gap. And I think that what you've just explained is exactly what's going to happen when this bridging up the gap between industry and education is going to be super, super important.
Lisa, what do you think the future of higher ed looks like looking forward?
Lisa Hennessy
Yeah, exactly what Alex said, but then kind of just going into tag teaming with him a little bit. Like I'm blown away, honestly. The stories that we tell and the access to really innovative ideas that students have are extraordinary. Honestly, it's such a pleasure for me to get on campus, to watch an episode of The College Tour because all the majors are also different too. I mean, there's so many new majors out there that I had no idea existed, and we learn about them all the time when we're doing the TV series.
And I do think that higher education, a 17-year-old needs a safe place with other 18, 19, 20-year-olds, not only just to learn but also to learn how to be an adult. And so, I think the college experience, whatever that may look like for that young adult is so important. Like it really is so important. It gives them time to both learn different skills, but also learn how to deal with other humans. And also to celebrate football games if you go to a school like that, you know, and to have this incredible college experience if you choose to go to a school like that in a campus town.
I think, you know, as with everything, things change, but I think there's a big evolution happening. And I do think that in five years, kids are still gonna want to dress up and go to football games at Alabama.
Kevin Tyler
Right.
Lisa Hennessy
You know, they're still gonna wanna go to UT football games in Austin, you know, University of Illinois where I went to school. Like, that is an incredible experience to be able to go away to Champaign-Urbana and have that college and experience. You know, as things change, I think there's some fundamental things that stay the same. I love getting my steps in and I love walking around and now the kids are accepting where they're gonna go to school.
I love seeing all the college sweatshirts.Those are the exact same that when I was in school. People love wearing their swag, they're proud of it. And so I think fundamentally curriculum might change, but I do think the college experience hopefully stays a little bit of the same.
Alex Boylan
Yeah, can I say one other thing too? Lisa, you couldn't have said it better. That was awesome. I was just on a campus last week in a rural town of Ohio. And I just think, this is like the world that we live in.
Lisa Hennessy
That's where Kevin's from. Kevin's from Ohio.
Alex Boylan
Okay, I'm at Shawnee State, Portsmouth, Ohio. And unbelievable. And I just think this is cool where we live now, where a lot of times, you know, I think college has become the accessibility to the dream job that you want. So we're here in Portsmouth, Ohio, pretty rural town in this area.
Kevin Tyler
Very.
Alex Boylan
Their game design studio. They're serving that area. You know what I mean? That Appalachian kind of area and their game design studio was as good as some of these big, big state schools. And it's just like, how cool is that a student in that backyard that maybe loves video games can now go to school in their backyard at an affordable cost and be able to achieve that.
Dependent on the type of school, the location, what it had access to that we're seeing a lot these not only newer majors, games, multi-billion dollar industry, lots of different opportunities, video games are a huge thing. But the ability for a spot like that to build such an incredible facility and to be able to create a pathway for that area. So I just think, it's a really cool time that we're living in and especially in higher education.
Kevin Tyler
Yes, I agree with you. I cannot thank you enough for joining me today on Higher Voltage. There are two things that I'm thinking about as we wrap up this episode.
One, I'm excited about the differentiation that you inspire in the way that you do The College Tour. I think that when you think about higher education marketing and branding, the joke is still as true today as it was when I first got into it. If you were just to take the name off of the view books of 10 random institutions, you would not be able to tell the difference between them just by virtue of looking at those materials. But I think the special thing about The College Tour is that not only does it feature and center students, but there's this next level of branding that then kind of shows itself because the people who choose to go to those campuses all believe in whatever it was they were sold from by the institution. And so, I think that's a really exciting kind of development in higher education marketing.
And I guess the second part I'd like to say, I guess, thank you for, is that building a platform that allows people access to an education that they want by this crowdsourcing, kind of, registry model. And I think those two things together are really what higher ed should look to in terms of inspiration and differentiation and just kind of being more spirited. Even though we are living in the times that we are with higher education being under attack in the way that it is, very intentionally and strategically, unfortunately. There is this bright light of leaning into who you are as an institution, really banging that drum as loudly as possible. And there's no better way to do that than through your students. And so, thank you for developing these pathways to tell better stories and to pay for those stories to get to these campuses. I think it's really, really exciting.
Lisa Hennessy
Thank you, Kevin. I mean, really, truly, The College Tour, we help students become stars. They're the stars, you know, and now we're helping those stars stay in school. And they are the most important thing to us. You know, they are our why. Like that is mine and Alex's why to help these students figure out where to go to school and then how to stay in school.
Kevin Tyler
Yeah, super important. Thank you so much, Alex and Lisa. I can't wait to have you back on for an update on how The Student Registry is going. And we'll have all the information for The College Tour and The Student Registry on our episode page. Lisa and Alex, thanks once again for joining me today on Higher Voltage.
Alex Boylan
Thank you so much.
Lisa Hennessy
Thank you for having us.
