College Prep U takes the stress out of college planning

Former recruiter and college ministry leader Jay Johnson has discovered a niche in the Trussville community and is taking the stress out of college planning. Johnson discovered a passion in higher education at Miles College while watching students succeed. 

“I fell in love with being able to recruit kids to a school,” Johnson said. “For me, it wasn’t about students coming to a school, but that they would be in an environment that will take care of them.”

Johnson explained that his conversations with students developed into personal relationships. After a couple of years at Miles College, Johnson realized that success in higher education required a path that was not his track. 

“For financial reasons, I knew it was time to go back to working in corporate America,” said Johnson, adding that the demands of traveling led Johnson to pray for another career direction. A parent told him parents would pay the work he did with college-bound students, he said, but he wondered if parents could just make time for college planning.

“Someone gave me a different perspective. A parent told me that it wasn’t just that we had limited time to help, but we didn’t know how to help,” Johnson said

Johnson started writing a business plan and opened College Prep U in October. His mission would be “to help parents and students ease the stresses of college planning.” 

In situations when high school students and their parents are uncertain or anxious about the college admission process, Johnson and College Prep U can help. Johnson said that school counselors may oversee 300 or more students. “It is tough to map out college plans for 300 students along with other administrative duties,” he said. “[It is] resulting in students fending for themselves.”

College Prep U helps students and their parents strategically prepare for college and learn what it takes to get accepted in the right school.

“Most students’ decisions about going to college are emotional,” he said, but there should be much more to these decisions that involves strategic planning. 

College visits, sitting in classrooms, talking to professors are some of those listed. “This provides students with view beyond a college fair,” he said. 

“There are many questions to ask when looking for a school,” he said. “Once we can break down these questions, students can start seeing the big picture. I want to show students many different aspects of colleges in many different sizes to find the best fit for them.” 

Johnson tailors plans based on the needs of students by helping them focus on what they want to do for the next four or five years of their lives.

This is what college represents: the transition from teenage years to adulthood. “We have to make sure this is the right decisions when selecting a college,” Johnson said. 

College Prep U is located on 4643 Camp Coleman Road in Trussville.