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Mary Nickeson, MCM '03
Marketing Director, Archimedes Systems
mary@archimedes.com

Reducing Informational and Financial Barriers of Access to Postsecondary Education: An Online Planning Resource Center

"I was having trouble choosing a topic," admits Mary Nickeson. "I had been working in college financial planning for a long time and it made sense to focus on that but I wasn't sure I wanted to do something related to work."

She explained that Archimedes, a technical and communications company that focuses on financial planning, had separate components of college financial planning but they weren't really pulled together. New college savings programs and tax incentives were coming into the market but a lot of people - financial planners, parents, students - weren't aware of them. And yet, Mary notes, "the idea of designing an online college resource center sounded interesting but not really inspired. At the same time, I realized I didn't have time to do this at work and as my ALP, it gave me the opportunity to explore the subject in greater depth. I decided to go for it and I'm really glad."

Her research predicts that in 10 years, half the people who want to go to college won't be able to afford it. In addition, college costs are expected to increase to 10 times the rate of income growth.

Mary explored obstacles parents and students when trying to save for college and what prevents them from doing so. She found that they either fell victim to the media hype of skyrocketing college costs and totally overestimated the costs or, conversely, severely underestimated them."

She compiled information on the newer programs available, placing the data into an accessible and understandable framework to help parents and students make better decisions and choices. As part of her work to centralize the information, she designed a site map and rationale for how and why it would work. "My company was mildly interested at first," she noted. "They weren't sure how much time and resources they wanted to expend." College planning makes up ten percent of the company's business (they also do retirement, financial and benefits planning) but this is emerging as a growth area.

The site, which was launched in January, includes tools such as a state tax deduction calculator that allows people to quantify benefits based on tax rate and other factors. It also identifies what each state offers and if a tax deduction is available. The planning resource website has entered in its second phase and going through updating and reworking.

"It was challenging," Mary says, "and I can't believe I pulled it off. I did some things I didn't know I could do.

"I wasn't sure about the ALP when I first went into it but it turned out to be the most rewarding part of the program. It was an opportunity to put into practice a lot of the skills I had learned and give something back to my company."

For an online demonstration of how the college planning resource website works, visit www.archimedes.com .