Admission Questions

April Crabtree Admissions Video Answering Top Parent Questions - transcript

Hello, Sun Devil family. My name is April Crabtree. I'm the associate vice president for enrollment and admissions services here at Arizona State University.

Okay. Yeah. You got it, little guy. Hey. Yeah, yeah. All right, all right, we got this.

So our first question today: what will the true total eclipse look like that's coming up soon? So mark your calendars for that. It should be a spectacle.

What will the true total cost of an education be? And how do we make it affordable for our family?

This is probably the number one question that we receive from families for a very good reason. College is a huge investment for any family, and thinking about costs is not just about tuition. It's thinking about housing, meals, books, supplies, personal transportation.

All of those factor into a family's decision on whether or not a particular college fits their financial plan. And for ASU, we try to make sure that we provide as much clarity as we can as early as we can in the process.

So maybe that's using the net price calculator when students are in their sophomore or junior year of high school, then using tools like our cost estimator and our scholarship estimator. Once your student has more information and they have their admission offer and know what kind of scholarships they have, they can use our new cost comparison tool. That allows you to put in information on ASU's award offer, but also compare to other schools as well.

We want to make sure that families have a very clear sense of what their bottom line commitment is going to be to make an ASU education possible.

Connected to this question, I get a lot of parents who are very anxious, for good reasons, about student loan debt. That's a big part of our national conversation right now. It's important to remember that at ASU, about half of our undergraduates graduate with no student debt at all. For those who do walk away with some student loan debt, it's about $25,000, which is less than the national average.

So when we're talking about affordability, we're talking about the long-term investment of you, your family and your student in an ASU education.

Just remember that cost is what you pay, but value is what your student's degree is going to generate and build over time. What we're committed to doing is not just making sure that you know what your final cost is, but what that value is going to be as well.

What will my role be in the next Star Trek television series? Or maybe that's just my question.

We are going to ask: what will my role as a parent look like in college, and how does ASU partner with families?

This is such an interesting time in any family's experience. A major transition is happening for students, but we also have a big transition happening for families as well.

When I talk to parents at events or on the phone, there's a mix of pride in what their student is going out to do and all they've accomplished. There's also a sense of nervousness, which is really normal at this point—wondering, are they ready? Am I ready for everything that is going to come next for them?

We want to make sure families understand that this is not the end of your journey with your student. You've been so crucial to them up to this point, but you're not checking their homework every day anymore, and you're not driving them to their rehearsals.

Now you're doing something that is a lot harder, which is practicing their independence. They are doing that in concert with you, but with us as well.

As families, one of the things you can do is use one of our many resources to stay connected. Join a parent and family orientation, a family chat, or a family connection event.

We offer over 100 different events for parents and families every year, including our Sun Devil Day celebration. So when you're thinking about this partnership, know that we're there with you. We are going to help you help your student on the journey of who they're supposed to become.

All right, the third question: what makes an ASU experience better than any other experience your student could have? I could give you 100 reasons, but let's see if that's actually the question.

The question is: what makes an ASU degree valuable, and where can we expect it to take our student?

This is probably the second most asked question I get. There's a lot of interest in what this degree is going to mean and what it means for students once they graduate.

When we talk about value and an ASU education, we're not talking only about what happens in those first few years after graduation.

But that's probably of interest to many students and families as well. The first place to start is to look at your student's specific degree program. We have literally hundreds of degrees, and many of them are ranked in the top 25 nationally.

We're also ranked number one in innovation, number two in employability, number three in first-year experiences and number five in internships. We have the top honors college in the country and so much more than that.

But rankings really only matter if they're connected to outcomes. When we think about your student's degree program and the value of what they're going to walk away with, we're thinking about all the work we're doing to ensure they have access to hands-on experiences, research, internships and network connections.

We also have one of the largest alumni networks in the country. So it isn't just a moment—it’s a continuity. This is a trajectory that they're on.

We know, and you know, that the world is constantly changing. It is evolving rapidly, and ASU is one of the few institutions I believe can keep up with that.

We want students to have the kind of education that is not just going to prepare them for their first job, but for their second job and their fifth job. We care about what their success looks like five years from now and ten years from now.

An ASU degree prepares students for a lifetime of relevance. Opportunity favors the prepared, and at ASU we're making sure students walk through our doors prepared for whatever comes next.

All right, our last question: how does ASU manage to find people with such fabulous taste in shoes?

No—here it is.

How does ASU help students feel safe, supported and connected? Those are really the big three.

When families think about sending their student away to college, they think about all of these things at the same time. Especially when you're thinking about a university of our size, it's easy to wonder if your student might get lost.

Will they find that safety, that security, that connection, that sense of belonging they’re looking for? The answer is yes.

ASU is a large university, but we design it with intentionally small support systems.

From a safety perspective, we have 24-hour security on campus. Students can always call for an escort. We have well-lit areas and great relationships across our campuses and within our communities.

From a support perspective, students have access to advisors and a variety of individuals across the campus committed to making sure they are successful. We also have 24/7 counseling services.

No matter where your student is in their journey, we have people here to support them, to listen to them and help them figure out what they need to do next.

Connection—finding your people—is just as important as safety.

When we talk about the ways students connect, we talk about clubs and organizations and all the opportunities students have to connect with others who share their interests. That’s how they build community and explore with confidence.

Whether we're talking about professors in the classroom or staff invested in every element of your student's success, we're not just employees at Arizona State University. We're also moms and dads and aunts and uncles and big brothers and sisters.

We're all here to ensure that your student is successful, so that nothing they do, they ever have to do alone.

I'm a mom too. My son will start middle school next year, so in a few years I'll be looking to you for some advice on how to navigate the college journey.

But I can't help thinking that we're still worried about the same things. We're still asking the same quiet questions we asked when they started kindergarten.

Will they make friends? Who is going to notice if they're having a hard day? Will someone else recognize the way I do how talented, smart, funny and capable they are?

When I think about ASU and this community, yes—we are here to stand with your student and with you on their journey to who they are becoming.

And that's it, everyone. I'll see you at ASU.

Perfect. That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

And today I'm here to answer your top four questions on things related to your student's potential journey to ASU.

Because there are 100 buses today. Yeah. Nobody’s airport up there. Yeah, yeah.

What makes an ASU experience better than any other? Well, I could give you a lot of reasons, but that may not actually be your question.

Approach. You know, we weren't expecting it to come that way, right? Like, you know, I'll get it that way. You had it. You were lasered in on that direction. One more time. Yeah. I want to see if anybody's back here.