Before applications. Before deadlines.
Before the pressure begins.
We've spent decades inside university enrollment offices watching which families arrive prepared — and which arrive wishing they had started sooner. We help families build the knowledge, communication, and strategy to navigate the college journey together.
Start With Your Student's Grade →Researching in 7th grade? You're right on time →
If your child is in 7th, 8th, or 9th grade, you're not behind — and you're not too early. You're approaching college the same way you've approached every other parenting milestone: you want to understand what's coming before it arrives.
Most college counselors won't return your call until junior year. Most schools don't have the resources to guide families before then. The industry has decided you should wait.
That instinct that brought you here? Trust it. The families who arrive at junior year with clarity and confidence started the conversation now.
"This was the first time our entire family understood the college process. We stopped guessing and started planning together."Parent Testimonial — Early Risers Family
College planning is often treated as a student-only process. We believe it's a family milestone — one that touches aspirations, expectations, financial realities, and the future your child is beginning to imagine.
Our programs intentionally include parents alongside students so the entire family develops the knowledge, strategy, and shared understanding needed to navigate what's ahead.
Students gain ownership. Parents gain confidence. Families gain clarity.
Families enter the process at different points. Our programs meet students where they are and guide the whole family forward with intention.
Grades 8–9
College planning is not just a student process — it's a family transition. Our programs bring students and parents into the conversation early so families can move forward together.
Students and parents participate in guided discussions about aspirations, expectations, and possibilities — creating space for every voice in the family.
Families learn how admissions, financial aid, and timelines actually work — from counselors who spent decades inside enrollment offices — so decisions are built on knowledge rather than assumptions.
With shared information and stronger communication, families approach high school ready to make thoughtful choices with less stress and more confidence.
Outcome: Families approach the college journey informed, aligned, and confident.
THE FAMILIES WHO STARTED EARLY WERE DIFFERENT
We spent decades inside university enrollment offices. We reviewed thousands of applications. We watched the patterns repeat. The families who arrived at junior year already understanding how admissions works, how financial aid is structured, and what their student actually wanted — those families made calmer, more strategic decisions.
The families who waited found themselves reacting to timelines they couldn't control — course selections already locked in, extracurriculars chosen without direction, financial aid conversations starting too late.
Starting early isn't about accelerating childhood.
It's about giving families time, clarity, and choice.
College planning is one of the first major transitions families navigate together. It involves aspirations, expectations, financial realities, and important conversations about the future.
We built SUM TOTAL because we saw — from inside university enrollment offices — that the families who started these conversations earlier arrived in a fundamentally different position. Not because they were wealthier or more connected, but because they were informed.
By starting early and including parents in the process, families gain the clarity and shared understanding needed to approach the college journey thoughtfully — rather than reactively. We don't rush childhood. We give families time, perspective, and the opportunity to make decisions from a place of knowledge rather than uncertainty.
You're asking this question because you're a planner. That instinct is exactly right.
Our early work isn't about college applications — those are years away. It's about helping your family understand what motivates your student, how to make thoughtful academic and extracurricular choices, and how to have productive conversations about the future before those conversations carry the weight of deadlines.
Eighth and ninth grade are the last years your student has the freedom to explore without a transcript being evaluated. Course decisions made in 9th grade shape the academic profile colleges will eventually see. Starting now means more time, more options, and better decisions later.
Most college counselors begin working with families in junior or senior year and focus primarily on the student. We start earlier — because we've seen from inside enrollment offices what happens when families wait — and we include the whole family, because the decisions ahead aren't just the student's to make.
From choosing colleges to understanding how education will be funded, parents are part of every major decision. Our approach creates space for shared conversations, aligned expectations, and informed decision-making. Your counselor serves as a navigator — helping the entire family move forward with clarity while discovering opportunities and possibilities along the way.
We deeply value our colleagues in school-based college counseling. In fact, our curriculum was shaped by the very conversations counselors have with families every year — especially what they wish families had known earlier.
Our programs prepare families to fully benefit from the services already available at their schools. When students reach junior and senior year, they arrive informed, organized, and ready to engage with their school counselor from a position of knowledge rather than uncertainty. If families choose to continue working with us, we ensure our guidance aligns with the school's timelines, processes, and expectations.
We do not promise admissions to specific colleges — no ethical counselor can. What families gain is clarity, strategy, and preparation: a student who understands their interests and goals, a family aligned on expectations and financial realities, a thoughtful academic plan, and the communication tools to navigate the years ahead together.
Families consistently tell us the most valuable outcome is the shift in how they talk about the future — from guessing and worrying to planning and understanding.
This is common — especially with 8th and 9th graders. Thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds don't typically volunteer for conversations about their future.
What we've found is that when a young person feels genuinely listened to — not lectured, not directed — they open up. Our student sessions are designed to be engaging and student-centered. We meet them where they are, not where we think they should be.
SUM TOTAL is a new company, but our experience is not. Our founders have spent decades inside university enrollment offices — one as a Vice President of Enrollment, the other as a Director of Enrollment. Both have served as presidents of major regional college counseling organizations.
We started this practice because we saw the same pattern year after year: families arriving at junior year with decisions behind them that couldn't be undone. We believed the counseling industry should serve families earlier — and when no one else did, we built it ourselves.
Choose your student's grade level to explore program details, pricing, and how to get started. Or schedule a 20-minute introductory conversation — no commitment, no pressure.
Schedule an Intro Conversation →A 20-minute conversation — no commitment, no pressure. We'll learn about your family and help you decide if this is the right time to begin.