Frequently asked questions.

The PATH Program is a 3-year career mentorship program for college students. Starting freshman year, your child is paired with a dedicated career coach and matched with active C-suite executives in their target industry for monthly one-on-one sessions. The program spans six career areas (Entertainment & Media, Finance & Professional Services, Tech & AI, Sports, Entrepreneurship, and Real Estate), each with its own structured curriculum, track system, and mentor pool. There is also a structured Exploratory path for the genuinely undecided student, and a one-semester Direction Sprint for the student who needs to decide now.

Because the highest-leverage career decisions happen early. In finance, IB recruiting begins sophomore year, 18 months before the internship. In entertainment, relationships take years to build. In tech, the strongest candidates have portfolios built over multiple years. Students who wait until junior or senior year to engage with career planning have already missed the most impactful windows. Our program ensures your child is positioned from Day 1.

Each month, your child receives two one-on-one sessions with their dedicated career coach (45–60 minutes each), one mentor session with a C-suite executive in their target industry (45–60 minutes on Google Meet), and one group workshop or skills session (60–90 minutes). Plus ongoing async support from their coach for time-sensitive questions. Total commitment: 6–8 hours per month, structured enough to keep them on track, flexible enough to fit college life.

During the enrollment process, families select an initial career area based on the student's interests. The first semester is designed for exploration: mentor sessions expose your child to different sectors within their career area, and coach sessions help them narrow focus. Students select a specific track within their career area by the end of Semester 2. Track changes are possible through Semester 3. By Semester 4, the track drives the internship campaign and cannot be changed.

The average university career-services office serves thousands of students per staff member (NACE benchmarks). Career centers offer generic advice across all industries. The PATH Program provides a dedicated coach who manages your child's 3-year career strategy, industry-specific curriculum developed for each career area, and monthly access to C-suite executives who can open doors that career centers simply cannot. It's the difference between a group tour and a private guide.

The program covers freshman through junior year: six semesters plus three summers. By the end of junior year, the student has a professional network, demonstrated skills, a complete portfolio, and a Senior Year Launch Plan, a clear roadmap built with their coach during the final program semester. Senior year itself is independent by design: the student runs the plan.

The program is $36,000, the same total whether your student joins for one year or three. Half is paid at the start; the rest is split into equal annual payments through their graduation date. A freshman makes three of those annual payments, a junior makes one, and both families pay $36,000. The one exception is the Direction Sprint, a single semester priced separately at $8,000.

No. Half at the start, then equal annual payments through graduation. That is the only structure. This is intentional: monthly payments create a different relationship between family and program. We want families committed to the arc, not month-to-month evaluators.

Founding-cohort pricing is still being decided, and nothing is offered at a founding rate today. What founding families do get is the chance to shape the program through direct feedback to the co-founders during Year 1. Every family enrolling now enrolls at the standard $36,000.

Tell your coach, and tell us, early. Most fit problems turn out to be the mentor match or the track, and both can change inside the program: a coach reassigns a mentor when a match is not working, and a student can change track through Semester 3. If the question is whether to leave, the terms that apply are the ones written into the enrollment agreement you review before you accept it. Ask us on your call and we will read them with you.

The average four-year degree costs $150,000–$300,000+. Yet 42.5% of recent graduates are underemployed in their first job. The degree opens the door, but it doesn't guarantee a career on the other side. PATH is the work in between: a dedicated career coach, a monthly session with an active C-suite executive in your child's career area, a textbook for that area taught in class format, and a portfolio and an internship campaign built across three years, freshman year through first offer. We will tell you exactly what your child gets for $36,000. We will not tell you where they will land, because nobody honestly can.

Our mentors are active C-suite executives: CEOs, presidents, managing directors, partners, and VPs at leading companies across all six career areas. The primary mentor pipeline is YPO, a global network of chief executives that both co-founders belong to. We also draw mentors from co-founder networks, industry connections, and alumni. Every mentor is personally vetted and matched to your child's target industry and career track.

Matching is based on the student's career area, track, career interests, and geographic considerations. Your child's coach manages the matching process, ensuring the mentor's industry experience and expertise align with the student's goals. Mentor assignments may rotate across semesters so students gain exposure to different perspectives within their industry.

One 45–60 minute Google Meet session per month. We designed the mentor experience to be as frictionless as possible: these are busy executives, and we respect their time. Before each session, the student receives prep materials and specific discussion topics from their coach. After each session, the mentor completes a brief 2-minute feedback form. That's it.

No. Our mentors are unpaid volunteers who participate because they believe in developing the next generation of leaders. Many are parents themselves who understand the value of early career guidance. The YPO community has a strong culture of giving back, and mentoring is a natural extension of that ethos.

Your child's coach monitors every mentor relationship. If a match isn't productive, whether it's a personality mismatch, scheduling conflict, or misaligned expertise, the coach will reassign a new mentor. We'd rather get the match right than force a relationship that isn't working.

Yes. The PATH Program is university-agnostic. Because all sessions happen on Google Meet and our curriculum is delivered through our platform, your child can attend any college or university and participate fully. Whether they're at an Ivy League school, a state university, or a liberal arts college, the program works the same way.

Approximately 6–8 hours per month during the academic year (slightly more for Finance students during recruiting seasons). That breaks down to roughly two coach sessions, one mentor session, one workshop, plus preparation and follow-up. The program is designed to complement college, not compete with it.

Absolutely. We have specific programming for international students, including U.S. professional culture orientation, visa-aware career planning (OPT, CPT, H-1B considerations), and guidance on companies with international hiring track records. Tech is particularly strong for international students: STEM OPT provides 36 months of work authorization. Our mentors are drawn from YPO's global network, which means if the U.S. path is uncertain, we can connect students with executives in their home markets.

Parents enroll the student and handle billing. Beyond that, the level of involvement is up to you. You'll receive a monthly progress summary from your child's coach, access to a parent portal with milestone tracking, and a monthly client newsletter with program updates. You're always welcome to reach out to the co-founders directly. But the day-to-day relationship is between your child and their coach.

The program begins in the fall semester of your child's freshman year. Enrollment typically happens during the summer before college starts. We recommend scheduling a call as early as possible; the first cohort is deliberately small.

No, and no honest program can. What we will put in writing is the work: a dedicated career coach, a monthly session with an active C-suite executive in your child's career area, a textbook for that area taught in class format, and three years of it, freshman year through first offer. Your child does that work, the coach and the mentor shape it, and you see it month by month. Where it leads is your child's to earn, and we would rather say so plainly than quote you odds we cannot stand behind.

By the end of the program, your child should have a clear professional identity, a network of industry executives who know them by name, multiple relevant internship experiences, a polished portfolio appropriate to their industry, and a defined next step: an active campaign, a graduate-school plan, or a business being built. The Senior Year Launch Plan created in their final semester maps the specific path forward.

The PATH Program is launching with its founding cohort. We don't have outcome data yet, and we won't pretend otherwise. What we do have is the track record of our co-founders: Guidewell Education has served 20,000+ students across 9 education brands. And our mentor network through YPO gives students access to executives at a level that no other program can match.

Two reasons. First, the founders: this team has built PE-backed education companies serving 20,000+ students. They know how to build and run education programs at scale. Second, the mentor network: YPO isn't something you build from scratch. Both co-founders are YPO members with immediate access to its global network of chief executives.