What’s your Motivational DNA?

So YOU’ve decided your student should include earning college credits in their high school studies … now to let him or her in on your plan.  It really does work best if you both are on the same page.  As parents, we see the big picture and are motivated by things that, frankly, are not yet part of our teen’s world … things like debt, a long-term plan and time for opportunities that lead to employment.

Here is a online test that will give both you and your student some insight into what motivates them:  http://www.getmotivatedbook.com/Test.aspx

It really helps to talk the same language, or at least understand what motivates your student.  During a recent consultation appointment, I suggested to a parent who would like her daughter to CLEP some classes she is taking is high school  but is willing and able to fund her entire daughter’s college education, that she strike a deal — a financial incentive.

At the college her daughter is choosing each 3-credit class will cost $900 (just tuition — not including books or time living on campus).  Here’s the deal: For every high school course that her daughter earns credit with a CLEP exam, mom will put half of what she would have spent on those same credits had the daughter waited to take them in college and put that money into a Savings Account for her daughter.  It’s a win-win!

Sometimes it does take getting creative to speak our kids’ motivational language.  For my family, I spoke their language with Chinese Buffets after every exam, chocolate chip cookies when they dug into flashcards, coordinating study groups with other clepping-friends, but I also spoke with $$ and cents.  Our deal with our kids was that their dad and I would foot all educational bills while they were still in high school.  After high school graduation, any credits they had left to earn was on their dime.  Harsh?  Maybe, but it is our financial reality and to not share that with them when they have a choice about how much debt they want to own would have been unfair to them.

So what’s  your student’s Motivational DNA?