NYLF working to steal parents money again in 2008
It is March and the campaign to steal money from parents of high school students is begining in ernest again from the questionable National Youth Leadership Forum. The NYLF advertises itself as a forum for the education of students. It provides parental paid events for children with a tone of educational benefit and opportunity. What is it really?
The organization runs paid seminars and targets names they get from mailing lists. Nothing more.
If a senior member of the NYLF wants to be interviewed to dispute my concerns and opinions on their business practices, please let me know. I will be more then happy to do so, record it, and post it on the Internet for all to see. But parents, ask yourself, do you really think someone just decided to send you all this slick marketing material because Mrs. Jones loves little Billy and how well he is doing in English and nominated his name? All without your prior approval? And that Mrs. Jones has access to his academic record to state that your child is meeting the grade requirements on the nomination website?
The literature would have you believe that your child was nominated by a teacher or educator. Contact them when you get the well polished junk mail and ask them who released your students personal and confidential information. Then sue the local school board and send your child to college for free. This is when you will find out that your child checked a box on their SAT/PSAT or ACT.
What Jim, their marketing materials states -
“Students are nominated by educators, community mentors and alumni of NYLF programs. We also work with educational organizations such as the College Board and the National Research Center for College and University Admissions…”
They say right up front that they get information from mailing lists.
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. They do say it. AFTER they lead you with the your child is sooo special statement about being hand picked. This is the marketing trap that they use to lure you in.
Parents, if you have $2000 to throw away to the NYLF and send your child out of your hair this summer for a week or two, then go ahead. Pay all of their travel expenses, give them lunch and spending money, and get them out of your hair.
If you need to save for college, if you need your child to get a scholarship, financial aid, and great grades so they can get into college, then take the flyer, call the NYLF, ask them where exactly they obtained your information. Ask them to remove your minor childs name from their databases and cease all mailings immediately. They will agree and advise you that mailers have already been produced for future mailings and those might not stop in time. Future mailings? Oh yes parents, be prepared to receive 3 or more of these slick letters, pleadings and beggings for your hard earned money to send little Johnny or Suzy away to the NYLF and all of its events. All in high glossy color, with plenty of smiling pictures of happy children.
Interested in Medicine? Your son or daughter get an invite to the NYLF-MED events? Take them to your favorite physician and ask them about the benefits and merits of your child going away to this fully paid summer camp. And then as you throw the flyer away, talk to your child about those people in this world who will try and take advantage of you at any turn.
Does the NYLF run its seminars? Yes. Are they worth it? I do not care. So what is the big deal? Their business practices of luring in parents with statements about their special child being nominated. And of course that they hide behind their status as a not for profit organization.
Or that they steal names from unsuspecting parents and students who check off a box on the SAT letting the college board share this information with education institutions. You will not get a letter from Harvard saying your child was nominated by an unknown educator, please send them to us. Yale has your name from that same list, as do all of the other colleges that send you marketing postcards, letters or literature. None of them have the full press marketing effort that the NYLF sends it targets. Be warned.
Is the NYLF a scam? Is the National Youth Leadership Forum a waste of money? You as parents have to decide that between you and your child. Use all the junk mail you will get tragrted as a lesson to educate your child on the value of money and how used car lots target you with slick offers to tug at your heart while they open your purse strings.
where do we put fraud warnings in a wiki?
Parental warning - possible scam
Be aware that this organization gathers names from mailing lists and opted in examinations. Its primary source advertised in mailers and on its website and FAQ states “Students are nominated by educators, community mentors and alumni of NYLF programs. We also work with educational organizations such as the College Board and the National Research Center for College and University Admissions…”
This is a misleading statement. Parents are advised to contact the NYLF and ask them what teacher released their students personal and confidential information without your express written consent, thereby possibly violating federal, state and local school board policies. Then you will be informed that your childs name was provided because they may have selected a check box on their ACT, PSAT, SAT or other regional or national examination to receive marketing materials from educational institutions.
If your childs personal information has been released without your consent to the NYLF without your consent you should contact your local school board to pursue corrective action immediately for the safety of your child.
Popularity: 61%
It is always great when these organizations get someone to post responses about their organization using brand new email addresses. Take the response about Shashin Doshi, M.D. National Youth Leadership Forum, made by a smittyhoy. This ficticious individual, whos IP address IP I have, decided to “Hello, I just made an account only cause i came across this rediculous forum. For those of you wondering, no, NYLF is not a scam.” and ends with “Plus, this isnt even a credible website, so I personally wouldn’t believe anything on here for even a second.
Email me if any questions because I won’t be coming back here.” and then includes his email address.
Now the timing of this is funny, since it occured on several places at the same time. And doesn’t fail to answer the biggest issue with the NYLF. They are a scam organization that toughts with slick marketing that your kid is special and was nominated by an unknown, unnamed teacher or educator, so send us a few thousand dollars. Or, if you read the fine print, it might have gotten to you because of a check box on the PSAT, SAT or ACT.
Parents are urged to throw the junk mail from the NYLF in the trash, and wait and see if a second piece shows up. Then you will know it is junk mail.
Don’t want to throw it away? Call them and ask for the name of the teacher that nominated your child and gave your your name, childs name and your mailing address. Then call your school board and ask them how this was possible that your personal information was released without your consent.
Well, I know Jim will accuse me of being “someone to post responses about their organization using brand new email addresses,” but I promise, I’m not. I would just like to clarify something. Although I have not yet attended this program, I am this summer, and I did my homework before deciding to attend.
What I found in my researchis that NYLF is truly an inspiring program that intellectually, ethically, and socially exposes students to new things and ideas.
While this program most certainly will not get a student into college, it will tell them about and begin to equip them with the tools we will need to succeed our goals. So you’re saying just because the selection process isn’t so great that we should disregard this program completely? Well, I’m not OK with that.
You still think I’m someone hired by Envision EMI to say positive things about the program? If it makes you feel any better, you can check out my blog here:
Your blog starts out with -
Hey, I am Carissa and I would like to welcome you to my blog. I am just freshman in high school who knows that she’s destined to become a doctor.
And has less then 10 entries. Not much to go on there.
The issue is how they advertise and attempt to lure in parents and kids to give them money. Not wether the program is worth the costs.
MIT, Harvard, Princeton and Yale do not send out material like this.
OK, so I’m not a very dedicated blogger.
And, actually, just a clarification, I have recieved mail from MIT as well as many other reputable colleges. By checking off the “Student Search Service” box on the SATs or PSATs, you are consenting to having this information send to you.
And that is exactly the point - there are no nominated little sussies and johnnies - it is all advertising from a check box. A check box that parents and students this will get them flyers from MIT if their kids score well enough andhave a profile that fits. Not junk mail flyers for summer camps that lure you in with slick junk mail slogons and lies to pump up your ego while emptying your wallet
No, some people are nominated by teachers. And actually, according to collegeboard, “By simply saying “yes” to the Student Search you can receive educational and financial aid information from colleges, universities, scholarship programs, and non-profit educational opportunity organizations that are seeking students like you. These educational organizations will receive your name and address if you have, for example, a specific grade average, score range, intended major, or if you live in a particular state or zip code.”
So when you check the box, you are aware that you may recieve mail from organizations other than colleges. And it says it right there that it has nothing to do with your SAT scores.
Also, I recieve a lot of flyers from very respectable colleges (for example, MIT, WUSTL, Brown, etc.) that I would consider “slick junk mail slogons.” Are you saying that I shouldn’t apply to these colleges in a few years because of that? Well, I think otherwise.
1 - you are a Freshman. Why are you getting offers? Because you checked a box on a form.
2 - No senior or junior teacher nominated YOU. Or every anyone else most likely.
3 - If everyone or 99.9% comes from the check box, why do all the junk mail flyers and the web site start with “NOMINATED” and “Your child is special” if not for slick marketing hype to lure in suckers and their money
Look, I am sure you feel special replying to this post, but the reality is you are just verifying my point - seniors and juniors are not nominated by their teachers - they checked a box.
And even you as a freshman are getting the junk mail. Of course, why as a freshman are you taking your SAT’s?
I took my SATs in 7th and 8th grade with the gifted and talent program at my school and I took the PSATs this year because everyone at my school is required to take them. However, I don’t see why that is relevant.
And while, yes, I was nominated to attend because of my SATs (I know this because that’s what it said in my letter), a large portion of attendees are nominated by teachers. Want proof? Here’s the section of the NYLF website for teachers:
http://www.nylf.org/med/educators/index.cfm
And here is a search for “teacher” on the NYLF Message Boards:
http://community.nylf.org/eve/forums?a=search&reqWords=teacher
Also, if teachers didn’t nominate students, how would freshman and sophomores attend the program since most ninth and tenth graders don’t take the SAT, PSAT, or ACT?
If you actually read the links you provided you will see that one is a form for teachers to register and provide students private information,and the second, a forum search of kids thinking they must have been nominated by a teacher.
What we never see if the number of individuals contacted by the junk mail, flyers and SPAM sent out by NYLF and their programs, the number from a check box, and the number nominated by teachers.
Why don’t you look for NYLF on teachers forums and see how often you will find a teacher going out of their way to give away kids home addresses, which they themselves do not know, to encourage those kids parents’ to spend thousands of dollars, which those teachers don’t know if the parents have.
It is a very cheap and crappy business model that does not hold water. But again, your age shows in your not looking at the entire process from beginning to end.
I am here because I google searched NYLF scam. My son is considering attending the National Security program. His favorite teacher (and ours) at Cary-Grove HS in Illinois in fact nominated him and discussed the program with him. It does not mean we are sending him but we are considering it. We are not sure if we would comfortable sending him alone. Given what I have read in the last two days it seems to be not so much a honor and resume builder but more of a education trip on the merits of this field. I did not find the mailer much different than the heavy handed generic praise that the collages are sending on a daily basis.
And that is part of the problem with this program - they bill it 100% as an honor to prey on the motivation of parents to want your child to be great. They ride that and make you forget that it really is just junk mail advertising a day care program for a few days.
When is that last time you heard anyone who went through the program actually say how it benefited them AND how they got it? You never hear both, you just hear it was awesome I made friends for life, blah blah blah. Its marketing BS and an overpriced daycare program.