“Has your child enrolled in a volunteer filling class yet? “
With the college entrance exams around the corner, similar messages and discussions keep popping up in the parents’ group where Ms. Xiao is. According to Xinhua News Agency, the number of applicants for the National College Entrance Examination in 2021 reached 10.78 million, another record high. The parents of these 10.78 million candidates, the college entrance examination volunteer application is the child’s “lifelong event “, “how to apply for the volunteer “has also become their top concern.
With the new college entrance examination reform policy in more provinces on the ground, “professional + college “, “parallel + order “, Beijing undergraduate general batch set 30 parallel volunteers, some areas of the general category can fill up to 112 volunteers under the admissions model, parents originally nervous emotions, more “tense”. Under the banner of “professional volunteering “The banner of various institutions also heard the wind and move, a variety of lectures have been held, all kinds of “inside information “the famous teacher recommended advertising constantly;” one-to-one “consulting services are often tens of thousands of yuan, in order to make anxious parents feel at ease, you can also sign “guaranteed agreement”.
College entrance examination application, how did it become a “hot “business?
Spend 30,000 to help fill the volunteer, harvesting parental anxiety
Want to let candidates choose to the heart of the school and professional, to shell out thousands of consulting fees, nowadays is not an uncommon thing.
According to the reporter, for the college entrance examination volunteer service, different institutions in different parts of the country, the fees vary, but offline consulting, basically in the level of several thousand dollars or even tens of thousands of dollars. One agency in Changsha, Hunan Province, quoted that its fee for ordinary candidates was 9,800 yuan, while the fee for art students almost doubled to 16,800 yuan. Even before the new college entrance exam reform, this agency had been charging as much as 7,980 yuan and 12,800 yuan for the above two categories of candidates. In cities with high average consumption levels, some institutions can charge up to 20,000-30,000 yuan.
Even the former “famous teacher of the examination “The company was founded by Zhang Zibiao (Zhang Xuefeng) as the executive director and legal representative, who is also the majority shareholder of the company, with a 75% shareholding. After the establishment of the company, it launched its product “Fengxue Volunteers After the company was established, it launched its product “Peak Learning Volunteer”.
Charging up to ten thousand yuan for “college entrance examination volunteer service What are the contents?
According to the home page of the peak learning volunteer APP shows that the cost of the college entrance examination volunteer course taught by Zhang Xuefeng is 618 yuan / section, a total of 60 lectures; group price of 14,999 yuan. Its course catalog mainly includes: how to choose a subject without loss, the new college entrance examination without transfer volunteer application method, what kind of city is worth going to, etc., as well as the introduction of each major.
“College entrance examination filling volunteer service “The business has existed for a long time. In fact, there has been a college entrance examination volunteer planner industry since 2015, but its not taken seriously at that time. This business is mainly to help candidates and parents to understand the situation of different colleges and universities, different majors, interpreting the latest policy trends; of course, the most important thing is to help them choose the right colleges and majors to apply for according to the candidates’ scores, family situation, interests and hobbies, to avoid the occurrence of drop, slippery file, high score and low.
The college entrance examination is supposed to be a fierce competition of “thousands of horses fighting to cross the one-way bridge “The fierce competition, the application for the volunteer for parents, is the same as for their children to decide the “life event The “life event”. “Children do not have experience, and we do not have. If there is professional guidance, the score as much as possible to use, it is worth the money. “One parent said. “After all, in case the wrong choice, it will be another years of wasted time for the child. “
Parents’ anxiety comes with the pressure. They are looking for a touch of “security “, even if it costs money, but also at all costs.
Various types of college entrance examination volunteer service agencies, also came into being. In this industry, there is no shortage of veteran educational institutions, such as Yuanda cloud network, Dragonfly, 100 years of education, excellent volunteer, XuDe education, WinDing education, the Planning Institute of the Bridge, etc.. Among them, YouVolunteer was established in 2014 and has received six rounds of financing so far; in May 2020, YouVolunteer announced that it had received a Series B financing of ten million yuan. Centennial Education, on the other hand, was listed on the New Third Board in 2017.
In addition, two other companies, Xude Education and Winning Education, are also listed on the New Third Board, but both are not doing well. Among them, Xude Education experienced continuous losses from 2017-2019, with a net profit of only 0.05 billion yuan in FY2020.
When Winning Education was listed on the New Third Board in 2015, the company’s “teaching people to fill in college entrance exams voluntarily ” business revenue was as high as 135 million yuan; however, in 2018, its annual mid-year report showed that the revenue share of college entrance examination-related business plummeted to 9% from 52% in 2017, and the company has not updated its performance report since then. The company’s stock has been suspended for more than two years due to an investigation by the Securities Regulatory Commission for alleged illegal disclosure violations, and there is a risk of delisting.
But what exists more often in this industry are small and medium-sized organizations that are less than three years old.
This market has also become more lively after the new college entrance examination reform has been gradually landed. According to the data of Enterprise Chacha, there are now 1,529 enterprises related to college entrance examination volunteer filling in China, 78% of which were established within the past three years; among them, 558 new enterprises were registered in 2020, up 77.1% year-on-year, and 301 new enterprises were registered in the first five months of this year, up 90.5% year-on-year. In terms of regional distribution, Hebei Province tops the list with 963 enterprises, accounting for 63% of the national total; Inner Mongolia and Shandong are second and third.
Scrambling to enter this track, not only Zhang Xuefeng such as “famous teachers “. Tijuana in a third-tier city in Shandong, on the full-time opening of a college entrance examination volunteer consulting agency, the current team of only six people, each candidate consulting services charge is 5,000 yuan. “It’s barely profitable. ” he said. But in his city, he said, a high school this year, the total number of high school candidates is only 1,200, surprisingly at the same time eight agencies into the school to promote the “grab students “.
Each such institution has its own set of “sales pitch The “way. Some claim that they have a team of teachers who have been in the business for three or five years, and can also get “inside information The “inside information” can improve the accuracy of the application rate; individual institutions will also be through the endless “meeting sales The individual institutions will be through the endless “meeting” to grab parents, and then use the low price to grab a single.
Tee explained to the reporter, the so-called “meeting marketing “marketing methods, mainly divided into two, one is the agency and the school to talk about cooperation, into the school, in the form of parent-teacher conferences for parents to popularize the knowledge of the examination; the second is outside the school stronghold to hold their own promotional seminars.
Constantly “meeting sales “, also baked up the anxiety of candidates and parents. One parent said he had no desire to enroll, but after listening to several lectures, he ended up shelling out money, “feeling like he came all the way over here and lost out if he didn’t enroll. “
But Ms. Xiao faced with the overwhelming college entrance examination “volunteer class “publicity, still hesitating. She told reporters that last year one of her relatives, is to spend more than 5,000 yuan for the family’s high school candidates enrolled in an offline college entrance examination volunteering agencies. After registration, the other side first gave a questionnaire, that is, let the candidates fill in their interests, and then the “teacher” responsible for consulting services The “teacher” in charge of consulting services then recommended schools and majors according to this questionnaire. This relative thought he could spend money to “go to a famous school with a low score But after getting this institution’s recommended college entrance examination volunteers, she was disappointed to the extreme, “all blind command, I did not use one “.
The “consulting service” that can easily be ten thousand yuan “, who are to provide services, and how to ensure that the “gold content The “gold”?
The high school entrance exam planner: a three-day crash course, the day into the gold?
According to a related agency practitioners, many small consulting agencies opened around the school, do not need to apply for any education-related qualifications, and many other stores, they need a business license to open. “The registered address of individual companies is also off-site, usually operating other businesses. When it comes to May and June near the college entrance exams, they rent a hotel in the corresponding city as a temporary office, do volunteer consulting, circle the money and run, and come back the next year for the college entrance exams. “
In the industry, like Qisan Shangxing, Blue Whale International, Xiang Yang career, PolyMing division and some other institutions that have formed a certain scale, not only the candidates volunteer consulting services, but also for the college entrance examination planner related courses.
Hu Sheng told reporters that his company is “doing 20 years of college entrance examination volunteer consulting business, delivered to students are market-tested technical system, there are 80,000 successful cases “. At the same time, can also provide training for college entrance examination planners.
He sent the reporter a “UAPM college entrance examination volunteer planner” training course curriculum, said that after training will be “designated by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the Ministry of Commerce Professional Identification Guidance Center issued UAPM college entrance examination volunteer The company’s main goal is to provide a high level of service to its customers. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
Another agency practitioner, Shang Jing, also claimed that his agency’s planners are required to have 3-5 years of experience in the field and hold the official “planner certificate” issued by the China Youth Foundation. The company’s main goal is to provide the best possible service to its customers.
But a number of industry insiders told reporters, for the college entrance examination volunteer planner this occupation, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security currently has no unified provisions related to the certificate. “The so-called planner certificate, at best, can only be considered a training course after the ‘consolation prize’. And, now this industry to be a consultant in fact, there are not too many requirements for education and past career experience, college degree or above. “
Qualifications are in doubt, and the agency’s training process and onboarding requirements for planning them are equally outrageous.
Hu Sheng told reporters that “zero threshold “People after three weeks (each week only includes Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday night and all day Saturday) of live online lectures, and then a full score of 100 points, 60 points passing the online exam, after passing can be awarded this UAPM certificate; and if you choose then the offline way is even simpler, just need to carry out a three-day intensive face-to-face teaching can be.
Enrolling as a trainer is not cheap. Agency practitioner Blue Winter offered a fee quote of the original price of 6,980 yuan, but he enthusiastically said that now is a good time to sign up for the training planner. “If you sign up now, you will not only enjoy a discount of 1,000 yuan, but you will also be able to catch the high enrollment period this year. The enrolled person only needs to spend 40 minutes to an hour a day, and after a month to complete the study, they can get the so-called The certificate is provided by the Ministry of Human Services.
After the training, the planners have several options for employment. According to Tijuana, one is directly attached to the agency, the agency platform to allocate students, the platform commission, the planners take a commission; the second is the planners themselves “support booths The third is to start their own business alone and set up a consulting center that “only need a business license”.
Blue winter is warmly recommended that this profession has a broad market prospects and high income, fast returns, and those who participate in training to get a certificate, there is a “knock on the door” to enter the industry The first thing you can do is to become a volunteer teacher’s assistant and gain experience; when the experience has accumulated enough, it’s time to make money. “The initial charge can be lower, to accumulate experience, and then gradually raise the price later. If the price is set to 3,000 yuan, Beijing parents will squeeze through. “
According to him, each trainer employment in the early stages, the platform will first recommend 5-20 candidates over for “practice “, so that the training costs can quickly earn back in the short term. “The second year and then independent filling work, on the platform like drops to take orders, about 30-40 per year, the income and the platform for thirty-seven percent. “To do voluntary application planner, full-time, part-time can be “More suitable for part-time, using free time to take orders, the income is very considerable. Like the main teacher of a training institution in Haidian, Beijing, using part-time time a year to serve 30 candidates, each candidate charges 29,800 yuan, adding up to earn 890,000 yuan. The college entrance examination reform is currently implemented in only 14 provinces, and all reforms are expected to be completed by 2023, an absolute blue ocean market. “
“There is absolutely no need to worry about a short period of time to get on board, fill in the results will be secondary review by experts to ensure that each candidate’s volunteer, are not any risk. “To further dispel the concerns of the enrollees, he also reassured that “The time spent for a candidate, there is half a day to a day is sufficient. If time and place do not allow, and want to make more money, remote through the online can also complete the service. “
But the embankment on the registration “training crash course ” scoffed. “If you really want to do this line, buy a few books online to learn carefully. Parents look for the teacher to understand enough about the profession and the institution, the later service students or rely on communication and experience. “
For these “planners For these “planners”, the ability to find enough students is the most important. This is also the “go-it-alone ” planners have to face the main problem. Some of them, through various means, will “bundle” with local schools “, in the school to hold seminars on volunteer application.
Blue winter told reporters: “a teacher last year in a high school in Shandong held a lecture, the presence of more than 2,000 parents, on the spot registration of more than 1,000 people, the price to go the group offer, about 3500 yuan or so. “
“guaranteed to pass “publicity, hidden mysteries
Numerous consulting services agencies, in order to obtain parents and candidates are “each show their skills “, but there are many hidden “mysteries “.
Each organization has its own “success stories” used to promote The “success stories”. A case provided to the reporter by an agency said that a candidate in Hunan last year scored 508 points in the college entrance examination, 20 additional points for ethnic minorities, a total of 528 points, while the first grade line last year was 507 points. In the case of only 21 points higher than the first grade line, the agency’s planner helped the candidate successfully fill in Hunan Normal University, which is a 211 institution with a grade line of 608 points.
However, the reporter found that the candidate was successful because he enjoyed the special program for colleges and universities (mainly for rural students below the county level in remote, poor and ethnic areas), which in fact does not apply to most candidates, so it does not exclude that the agency exaggerated publicity The case is not applicable to most of the candidates.
“One-on-one consulting services “is the sign of consulting agencies to charge high fees. But the embankment reveals that there can also be “fishy “. “A teacher will also serve a number of candidates at the same time, as long as to ensure that the meeting and communication with each family is one-to-one is not considered a violation of the rules. The normal consultation process is three rounds of face-to-face communication, but some institutions and teachers, will use three hours to throw a set dead program to parents in the form of ‘once formed Refuse all subsequent meeting and communication sessions to leave more time to receive more parents and candidates. “
“Internal data ” is the “killer app” in the propaganda of some institutions The “internal data” is a “killer” in the propaganda of some institutions. Shang Jing said mysteriously, his own institution, there is a work experience of eight years of chief experts, have their own news channels, you can internally get in advance to fill out the volunteer book.
According to the reporter understands, many institutions so-called “internal data The “internal data”, in fact, is mostly the admissions examinations of the public file table of the past years, the agency to do the work is only to integrate the data, and then hang on the name of the agency, to their own application system or volunteer card form to provide parents. For parents, this is not paid to get things at all, for teachers, it is just a tool to improve efficiency.
“In fact, it is commonly known as The difference between getting it sooner and later is not much. In fact, because of the great risk, teachers want to get more inside information is basically unlikely. “A practitioner said.
The dike said that some institutions, will also specialize in selling this kind of college entrance examination volunteer card, hundreds of thousands of dollars price range, anyway, sell one without paying any costs, and do not have to bear any responsibility for slippage.
In fact, every year on the eve of the college entrance examination volunteer application, there are always intermediaries or websites claiming to have internal big data. Therefore, the local education examination institute has long made it clear that there has been no cooperation with any social institutions or enterprises, the examination institute will be in accordance with the Ministry of Education information disclosure work requirements, the enrollment plan, admission results and other data to the public.
However, there are still waves of anxious parents who are putting their money into various consulting agencies that have no industry standards.
In order to give parents “peace of mind “, some organizations also sign “guarantee agreements” with parents The “guarantee agreement”. But according to industry insiders, in fact, to do “not to slip the grade, not to drop the grade The actual “simple”, so that students will volunteer “as low as possible to report The actual “no slip, no drop” is very simple, let the student will volunteer “as low as possible” can be. “For example, let a candidate with more than 600 points, enrolled in a school with more than 500 points. In case of a slippage, the big deal is to refund the money. “But what this is likely to ruin, is a student’s future.
(At the request of the interviewee, Hu Sheng, Blue Winter, Shang Jing, and Dike are all pseudonyms)
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