New Swampscott venture provides college coaching

SWAMPSCOTT – College can be an expensive investment and the admissions process can be challenging and competitive, so a new Swampscott-based business has launched to offer personalized help to students and their parents.Swampscott resident and sports lawyer Phil Sloan founded CollegeBound Coaching and Campus Connections, which had its official start last month. Sloan, who is also certified in life coaching and educational consulting, said he began working with students and parents last year because he thought a comprehensive, individual approach to college admissions would best prepare students for higher education.Sloan partnered with Steve Maislin, an independent educational consultant and life coach from Toronto who was Sloan?s classmate at Harvard College, to start the company. He also recruited Marblehead financial consultant and college planning expert Jim Femia.The CollegeBound Coaching Team, which includes retired teachers and guidance counselors, typically works with families in their homes, and provides services such as financial aid consulting, essay-writing assistance and tutoring for the SAT and ACT.Sloan said the unique part of CollegeBound Coaching is its “student life coaching,” which focuses on goal setting, time management and prioritization with students as young as 13.?We?re better positioning them for the college admissions process and helping them be successful once they get to college,” he said.By mentoring students through high school, Sloan said, the students can keep a focus on college while better balancing schoolwork, extracurricular activities and other uses of free time, like going on Facebook or socializing with friends.?With all the distractions out there, it?s a challenging environment,” he said.In the Campus Connections part of the business, which Sloan said will begin this April, the company plans to arrange college visits tailored to the interests of the student, with a college student at the particular campus as the tour guide. Sloan said he hopes to build a network of these college student guides across the country.?It?s a better model for the college visit process, so students really understand what it?s like at the colleges they?re visiting,” Sloan said.However, he said he does recommend that students and their families arrange for a traditional campus tour while at the school.?We?re not trying to compete with colleges themselves,” Sloan said. “We?re trying to benefit on top of that.”Sloan said he has also started Campus Coaching, a subset of Campus Connections, which would introduce college students, who have already gone through the admissions and college preparation process, into the “student life coaching.”?It helps me work with and connect with these high school students through working with these college students,” he said.Although there is a fee for the CollegeBound Coaching and Campus Connections services, the company will be offering free financial aid and educational workshops for the North Shore community next week. The sessions will be led by Femia, a certified college planning specialist with the National Institute of Certified College Planners. There will be a workshop on Monday, March 12 at Swampscott Public Library, on Tuesday, March 13 at Abbott Public Library in Marblehead and on Thursday, March 15 at the Salem Police Department. All sessions will start at 7 p.m. and registration is required. Anyone interested in attending can call 1-800-689-5195 or send a message to [email protected] Mupo can be reached at [email protected].