Perks: Why these San Diego companies offer college counseling services to workers’ children

It’s not uncommon for companies to offer employees child care services. Now, more businesses are providing academic aid to their workers’ children as well. 

Companies recognize these services can help alleviate employee stress and improve productivity. So more firms, including several in this year’s Top Workplaces survey, offer their workers’ children academic tutoring or college application services that include SAT and ACT prep and help writing application essays.  

One popular outfit companies use is Bright Horizons. Just last year, Duane Morris, a Philadelphia law firm with nearly 70 employees in San Diego County, began offering in-person academic tutoring through Bright Horizons. Duane Morris employees’ teens also have access to SAT or ACT test prep for a $15 copay. And while the Duane Morris benefit does not currently include the college application and essay help, employees can take advantage of these Bright Horizon services at a discounted rate. 

“As a global law firm, we have a collegial, collaborative and performance-based culture while at the same time building and sustaining initiatives that promote well-being at home and work,” said Edward M. Cramp, managing partner of the Duane Morris San Diego office. “And, in today’s busy times, we strive to create opportunities to enhance that culture and improve productivity by reducing parent stress. Programs like Bright Horizons, we feel, offer a competitive advantage for our firm.”

Duane Morris first began offering Bright Horizons’ online tutoring in 2022.    

Bright Horizons, a 35-year-old company with $2.7 billion in sales last year, is mostly known for its child care centers. It has sought to expand beyond that. Nearly two decades ago, Bright Horizons bought College Coach to broaden its scope to serve families with college-bound teens.

Roughly three years later in 2009, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, a Boston company with 275 employees in San Diego County, began providing Bright Horizons College Coach at no cost to employees.

“This program was introduced to mitigate the financial, logistical and emotional challenges employees may encounter as they support their children’s educational journeys,” said Kathleen M. Quirk, senior director of global benefits and mobility for Vertex.

High school counselors have limited time to help because they are assigned many students. The national student to school counselor ratio for the 2023-24 school year was 376 to 1, according to the American School Counselor Association. That’s 50% more than the association’s recommended ratio of 250 to 1. 

Therefore, many families pay for private counselors. The average total cost of services per student was $5,838 in 2024, up 11% from the previous year, according to a CollegePlannerPro pricing survey this year of more than 600 independent educational consultants. So it’s a nice perk for employees when their companies offer college counseling services.

At Vertex, employees can also use Bright Horizons College Coach for private consultations with admissions experts to develop high school academic plans, curate custom college lists and get feedback on college essays. Its consultants include former application readers from Brown University and Boston College as well as a former admissions officer from Yale University.

Vertex said Bright Horizons also offers guidance on selecting a college savings plan and financing higher education, including help with the financial aid process and scholarship applications. Its college finance consultants include a former director of financial aid at Harvard Graduate School of Education and a former vice president of education finance for Citizens Bank.

According to Bright Horizons’ website, “College admissions and college finance experts make this a truly unique resource that many can’t afford on their own.” 

Also, Vertex has been offering access to discounted tutoring services for about a decade through Bright Horizons. The vetted tutors help with math, language or other homework. 

The goal, Quirk said, is to “alleviate stress, save time and support the overall wellbeing of our employees and their families.”

Hang Nguyen is a freelance writer for the U-T.