Calling All THF Families With Middle & High School Students

Gratitude Initiative (Gl) is now accepting applications for our one-of-a-kind college and career prep program for students in grades 8-12. Our proven program is provided at no cost to qualified military and veteran families thanks to our great donors.

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Proven Results. Happy Parents. Successful Students.

Gratitude Initiative is a non-profit that focuses specifically on helping military and veteran teens achieve their college and career dreams. As part of Gl, you’ll receive the most comprehensive college and career counseling, SAT/ACT test prep, and financial aid counseling program available today.

QUICK FACTS

GI College Success Academy Program

  • Enroll as early as the 8th grade – support continues
    until college graduation!
  • Access our online program anywhere around the globe.
  • Degreed experts will work directly with you and your
    student via email, phone, or chat.
  • Our step-by-step program saves time and reduces the
    stress of preparing for your student’s future.
  • Customized action plan – you’ll know what to do and
    when to do it.
  • Unlimited access to your team of advisors.
  • Career counseling and major selection to ensure a
    successful future.
  • College selection and admissions counseling – We’ll
    help your student shine! Includes reviews for all
    applications.
  • Test prep for SAT®, ACT®, and PSAT®.
  • Financial aid and scholarship counseling – includes
    review of all financial aid forms.

Enrolled students are also eligible to apply for scholarships.

Challenges and Risks for Today’s Students
Detailed Program Overview
About GI Video

The constant support I've received during the program allowed me to succeed in my college journey beyond what I ever imagined.

Wyatt J. (Student)

Our Proven Approach Focuses on Long-Term
Success for Every Student

Focusing on the Right College, the Right Career, at the Right Price ensures students stay on
track and graduate in four years.

Saves Times

Reduces Stress

Saves Money

PROVEN PROGRAM= TANGIBLE RESULTS

Over the past five years, our students’ results show*:

*Results based on survey of high school seniors who successfully completed our program.

96

of seniors were accepted into one or both of their top 2 college choices.

100

of families said the program helped them save time and reduce stress in the home.

23,106

average financial aid awarded per student each year by their college or university.

Proud Sponsors

GI’s College Success Academy Program is provided free of charge thanks to our grateful donors.

As we prepare for another move, to another country no less, I continue to count my blessings that we can rely on your guidance for our daughter as she navigates her Senior year. Truly, it brings me comfort that we won't be alone over there."

Tabetha L. (Parent)

Let’s Get Started

(Apply soon: space fills up quickly so don’t delay.)

The Honor Foundation Families Receive Priority Enrollment.

Open to Active Duty, Veteran, Disabled Vet, and Gold Star Families.

Completing the application will take just a few minutes and should be completed by either the service member or spouse.

After you complete the form below and click submit, you will receive an email with your expedited application instructions as well as information about how your additional students (if applicable) can apply.

Enrollment-The Honor Foundation
First
Last
(current unit, last unit assigned, or unit affiliation)
(either service member or spouse)
Student's Name
Student's Name
First
Last

This enrollment page is intended solely for families associated with the specific organization listed above. If you are not part of this specific organization, please visit www.gratitudeinitiative.org for more information.

Please contact apply@gratitudeinitiative.org if you have questions.

Challenges and Risks for Today’s Students

Poor Planning Leads to Costly Mistakes for Students and Families.

The cost of a degree is rising while college admissions and scholarships are more competitive than ever

Per Year – Average Cost for Tuition, Fees, and Room/Board

In-State Public University: $25,864
Out-of-State Public University: $43,721
Private University: $54,501

Student Loan Debt is at an All-Time High

$37,584 – Average amount of debt held by students at graduation.

College is costly, not only while earning a degree but also in the years spent paying off student loans.

For most parents, outside of purchasing a home, paying for their children’s college education is the most expensive investment that they will ever make. Yet most parents leave the decision-making process to their teenager with no professional help in choosing their career path, major, or college.

Lack of formal career and college counseling leads to costly mistakes. Students are taking too long to graduate which dramatically increases the cost of their education.

The Reality of Costly Mistakes

More than 60% of students are taking six years or more to graduate, significantly increasing the cost of their college degree.*

  • This is due to little or no proper college and career planning as well as poor academic preparation in high school.
  • The difference between four and six years of college can be over $90,000.
  • In addition, the student’s opportunity costs also increase when they are still in college and not out in the workforce earning a living alongside their peers.

Over 30% of students in college end up changing their major at least once over the course of their college career.*

  • Changing majors almost always means additional classes which significantly increases time and costs.
  • This is the costly result of no formal career counseling before graduating high school.

*National Center for Education Statistics

Regret and Failure

Over half of college graduates surveyed would change their major, college, or degree plan.*

National freshman retention rate is a dismal 67.2%, meaning approximately one-third never return to their initial school after their first year.

While high school dropout rates are decreasing, the United States experiences a daunting 32.9% college dropout rate every year.

  • This has a direct impact on students and families attempting to navigate the high school-to-college transition process without professional help.
  • Most students drop out because they started college without a plan. They did not take steps to confirm their career path, choose an appropriate major, or select a college that was a good fit for them, academically, socially, emotionally, or financially.
  • Well-intentioned and motivated high school graduates end up attending a college that was not a good fit for them, studying for the wrong career, resulting in wasted time and money.
  • They leave with a sense of failure and unfortunately, many of them never pursue their college dream again.

*Strada-Gallup

To Prosper

A proprietary approach to college and career success based on two decades of experience helping thousands of students.

GI’s College Success Academy

We offer the most comprehensive career and college admissions counseling, test prep, and financial-aid counseling program available today.

Save Time – Reduce Stress – Save Money

Enrolling Students in Grades 8 – 11

Unlimited access and support from the time of enrollment through college graduation.

It has been great having a team of Advisors to guide us throughout the entire process and talk with any time we needed help."

Ethan (Student)
High school students
GI FAMILIES RECEIVE...

A Customized Plan and Expert Guidance Every Step of the Way

We’ll walk you and your student through the entire process.

A Team of Expert Advisors

Our highly-trained team of degreed college and career planning experts will work with you and your student from program enrollment all the way through college graduation.

24/7 Access to Your Password-protected Portal

Our interactive online platform lets students and parents access their program tools at home, school, or work. This includes advisor/family communications, saved documents, career assessment results, customized career and college lists and databases, test preparation, video/document resource library, and a lot more.

Unlimited Access to Your Advisory Team

You’ll have unlimited contacts with our team via phone, email, and chat.

Step-by-Step Guide

Key milestones to complete by grade/semester will ensure both you and your student will know when to get things done and how to do them.

A Custom Plan for Your Student

We create a custom, step-by-step action plan for each student because every student’s path is unique.

Timely Email Reminders

Sent to parents and students to keep everyone on track and ahead of deadlines.

Huddles

Scheduled calls or “huddles” at key decision points.

Unlimited Career Counseling

We start with the end goal in mind – a focus on the right potential careers for your student’s future job fulfillment and success. GI’s career experts will walk your student through a detailed career counseling process, creating excitement and focus.

  • Our impactful and detailed career assessment suite measures your student’s interests, aptitudes, and abilities.
  • Our custom list of recommended potential careers selected by our advisors based on interviews with your student, their assessment results, and additional data will get your student engaged in the process. We’ll further refine this list together each time we connect.
  • We’ll help refine your student’s career goals throughout high school by helping them research careers using our detailed career library, and providing guidance on job shadowing, career interviews, resumes, and special career- focused summer camps.
  • We’ll identify appropriate majors and colleges to reach your student’s goals.

Unlimited College Selection Counseling

GI wants to make sure your student doesn’t simply survive in college; we’re here to help them thrive in college.

  • Our advisors will develop a custom list of colleges that align with your student’s career goals and provide the best academic, social, and emotional fit for your student while providing detailed information from our library of over 4,000 colleges and universities.
  • We will assist you and your student in ensuring that their high school course schedule meets their specific college/university requirements.
  • Our experts will work with your student to create a personal action plan to ensure they are competitive at their best fit colleges.
  • We will huddle with you and your student at key intervals to check progress and refine objectives as needed.

Unlimited College Admissions Counseling

Our advisors are experts in helping students be competitive and stand out from the crowd.

  • We will coach your student on how to meet and exceed admission requirements to help increase the likelihood of acceptance at each of their target colleges.
  • Our advisors will review your student’s college applications to help ensure they are submitting their best work.
  • Our essay experts will review your student’s admission and scholarship essays, as well as resumes, to help ensure they stand out from the competition.
  • We will help your student ace key interviews at highly selective colleges through our in-depth coaching and prep.

Unlimited SAT®, ACT®, & PSAT/NMSQT® Test Prep

Our proven test prep methodology and unlimited access will help your student maximize their test scores to help increase their likelihood of admission and scholarships.

  • 24/7 access to your customized test prep plan allows students to work on test prep in a fun, engaging, stress-free environment that fits into their busy schedules.
  • The program uses adaptive learning by creating and modifying their customized plan to strengthen weaker subjects while maintaining stronger skills.
  • Parent access, so you always know when to praise and when to push.
  • Proven results – Average SAT® increase of 200 points and over 2-3 points on the ACT®

Unlimited Financial Aid Counseling

Knowledge is power when it comes to paying for college. GI families are educated on the financial aid process from start to finish to equip them to make wise choices.

  • We provide detailed education on understanding affordability and critical financial aid forms.
  • We help identify merit-aid scholarships that are available to your student, regardless of your family’s income, at their target schools reducing your family’s out-of-pocket cost even further.
  • Our experts provide unlimited financial aid form reviews for documents like the FAFSA, FSS, CSS Profile, state, and university-specific documents.
  • GI provides unlimited financial aid award letter reviews to help ensure your student is receiving a fair offer, help you compare offers at competing schools, and, if necessary, advise on how to properly appeal for more aid.

Proven Results. Happy Parents. Successful Students.

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