So just to be clear I told you not to or at least have a few meetings. Our friend is a college counselor. She met over lunch with each of our kids. Talked to them to find interested, discussed school options and answered questions. This was one hour total. We paid for lunch.
She offered to look at their essay. Each kid sent it to her and she made some comments. Basic sentence structure things that any English teacher would do…
I asked her a few questions through email. That’s it.
She did help my son pick his essay. He had 3 and one was really him but wouldn’t listen to us. When he told her the ideas of essays she immediately went to the one that we all thought would be perfect and explained to him how it would make him unique and stand out. So yes, that was helpful.
Just as a FYI help can come from many different avenues. My friends daughter is having her essay reviewed by their relative who is a short film producer/writer in LA. Her whole job is to tell stories. Guess what she does on the side? Yep, help all those kids write essays to tell their own unique stories…
So my point is there are many avenue to get help. Many sites for like even graduate students to review essays that have this knowledge and it would most likely be a lot cheaper.
Having a consult to hone a school list kinda thing might be helpful. My kids were able to navigate the application on their own. We did review it for mistakes (yes there were a few) before they hit sent.
Again ask lots of questions here. You’ll be amazed at what you can learn.
For DS20, no. He was fairly straightforward in his process
For DS21, hired one to help with the BSMD process and seriously the best choice ever. I am a school counselor but even after 15 years in my profession, I have little experience in this niche, competitive process. The consultant has helped tremendously with the essays and interview prep. We also utilized the consultant for ACT prep- my son went from a 26 to a 36 in Math, his composite score from a 32 to 35 (single sitting). Kiddo has two paths going- BSMD and traditional applications where he is shotgunning some T20s- and the essay revision help is priceless. Plus my kid and I don’t fight over it either.
We did go into it with a college list ready. I don’t need financial advice since that part I know backwards and forwards. We were ale to just pay for the services we needed.
“We are trying to decide whether to just hire them for the financial part…”
Without digging too far into your financials, what help do you think you need or want with that? Every college and university in the country has a Net Price Calculator right on its website. Yes, those often don’t work well if you have a business or own property other than your home or have divorce/remarriage situations. But they will give you a notion of what you are likely to be expected to pay.
Ultimately, paying for college will come down to some combination of savings, current income, and loans. Do you have college savings already? Do you have income sufficient to cover $XX each year? Are you willing to take on debt other than the standard federal student loans that your children are eligible for?
There are rare cases in which restructuring a family’s financials can result in increased financial aid, but most of what is possible has already been seen by the folks in the Financial Aid Forum. Pop over there, and ask your questions.
I know folks who hired one and felt it was a total waste of money, others who thought it was money well spent.
I think it depends on how realistic your goals are.
Can a counselor get you significantly more need-based aid than your finances suggest? Not by doing anything legal if your kids are already seniors. Marginally more money? Yes. If you are divorced and have a complicated financial situation then a counselor (who is really experience with YOUR particulars) might be helpful, especially if it defuses a toxic relationship with an ex-spouse.
Can a counselor get your kid merit aid? Yes- by suggesting schools you might not have thought of on your own- but you can find those colleges all by yourself, and with suggestions from folks here. The trick (as it were) is getting you and your kid to expand your geographic profile (not every family is willing to do that) AND to consider some colleges you’ve never heard of. No counselor can take a nice, bright, well rounded kid and magically get them a full ride at Harvard (need based aid only) or a full ride at Berkeley if you live in NY.
So OP- if you can share some of what you’re hoping a counselor can do for you, we can help you figure out if the hype and the reality are going to match up. And if the cost is going to pay out for you. Paying 5K to get a $1500 “award” to a college which was already on your radar isn’t much of an ROI.
There are no “secrets” to financial aid btw. So if a consultant tells you their package includes the “Secrets”, run the other way. It’s not a secret that making more money generally means less in aid, and it’s not a secret that there are lots of ways to “shelter” your money from college because while there are ways to do that, most of them are illegal. And then you have bigger problems than an unsavory college counselor…
I’d also differentiate between top-notch and avg. CCs. Someone with years of experience and unique knowledge of colleges and recent trends will likely provide value-add guidance. Someone without unique differentiators who can help with the mechanics (e.g., college search, essay editing) likely not worth the investment unless is super affordable and doesn’t outweigh the opportunity cost of doing a bit more research on your own. Plenty of resources available online that can do the mechanics piece. E.g., chckr.io and grammarly.com provide feedback on essays and can likely replace an avg. CC. I’m sure there’re tech-enabled equivalents for college search, etc.
I’m curious what individual ccs charge (and not the big package type companies like IvyWise). Our last child has several more years before applying, but I think sometimes it’s helpful to have an objective person in the mix. My S21 was very amenable to our suggestions, but I can see where a non parent might be more effective.