Talking About College on National TV

On Friday I was one of the guests on The Early Show on CBS talking about who should be responsible for paying for college — students or parents.
Obviously, the answer for most families is both parents and students. So the CBS segment didn’t break any new ground nor was it particularly illuminating, but it was great to be on national TV. It was a fluke that I was able to be on the show. A producer emailed me last week asking if I was going to be in New York City. When the producer sent the email I happened to be on a plane heading to NYC.
Here is the CBS segment. Sorry, but you have to watch a commercial first.

Who Should Pay For College and How?

I’m also sharing some photos of my experience at CBS. My daughter Caitlin insisted that I take some pictures and I did even though I felt like a dork. Here are the photos:
 

I asked my friendly driver if he liked driving celebrities around. He said most of them were very nice and his No. 1 favorite is Bill Cosby.
 
Don’t try to take a photo of yourself in a mirror. It doesn’t work. I was sitting in the makeup/hair room. They redid my makeup and brushed out my hair and started over. I guess I shouldn’t have even attempted to do it myself at the hotel.
 
The green room, where guests wait, was stocked with food, but no one was eating anything. By the way, the green room is blue.
 
Also waiting to appear on air was a woman who is The Early Show’s British royal family expert. She had a British accent and her phone matched her pink dress. A tall, skinny guy, who is the show’s movie expert, was also waiting to go on.
This is where the guests get “miked up.” To the right is the door to the studio. Not thrilled with my photo below.
 
Also in the segment was my friend Zac Bissonnette, the author of Debt Free U, who is working on another book. We have talked before and emailed each other many times, but we had never met so it was great seeing him in person. Zac, who paid his way through college, just graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
 
Here is the actual set. I could only take a quick photo during the commercial because they don’t allow flash photography during the show and I couldn’t figure out how to turn it off.
Before I knew it, the 3 1/2-minute segment was over and a producer escorted us outside to the drivers, who whisked us back to our hotels.
 
Lynn O’Shaughnessy is the author of  Shrinking the Cost of College workbook.  She also writes a college blog for  CBSMoneyWatch and US News. Follow her on Twitter.

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