<p>In my honest opinion, absolutely not.</p>
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<p>Me too. I read the book first (got it for $1 a couple of years old, but libraries have it too), then came here to get clarification on specific points. Most of which I found already asked and answered. When I had a question unique to my situation, one of the very helpful CC posters who hang out in this forum answered it within hours, if not minutes.</p>
<p>I attended a college financial workshop put on by a similar consulting firm at my kids’ high school and learned a thing or two…enough to make me go get that book. I did NOT hire the company to help me and I don’t regret that decision for a moment.</p>
<p>If you have more money than time, maybe it makes sense, but then you probably aren’t too concerned about financial aid in that case.</p>
<p>I was also pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to fill out the FAFSA. I did it estimated on January 2, then came back in February and did the IRS link (that…not so easy…but it eventually worked thanks to a tip about periods in my address that i read here!). I made sure my taxes were done in February - that was also important to getting the FA packages in time to make a decision before the May 1 deadline. Don’t plan to file on April 15 next year, even if you do the estimated FAFSA.</p>
<p>I got my letter with the above headline with the “exclusive invitation” ONLY for residents of my city!!! It still peaked my curiosity so I did some poking around. I am so thankful for CC and the posters on this site. We’re not even going to listen to the free webinar but have ordered a couple of books and will use CC to help us navigate the system.</p>
<p>There is a free webinar available through the College board entitled “My college dollars- connecting students with financial aid.”</p>
<p>I got an invitation for a free " on line video workshop" Sept 13. Base on comments here I declined. Does any one have any posityive feedback on Scott Weingold or his company?</p>
<p>Yes, I have heard of them and I was silly enough to pay pay pay. Sadly I soon discovered that I received equal if not greater information from my daughter’s high school and from the FREE Step Up Program. I feel like a total fool who lost money and is trying to figure out how to get these people out of my life. Wish I’d checked this site before I started paying.
There are so many resources out there, and I thought they’d help me make sense of it all, but they have not at all delivered the goods.</p>
<p>Don’t use their service! You’ll be needing that extra cash to pay for application fees, and ACT & SAT scores to be sent to colleges, and for SAT & ACT registration fees, etc. etc. Keep your $2-3000!</p>
<p>The company states in their presentations that they only work with a limited number of clients - this is not at all true. Like a lot of companies, they say this to create a sense of urgency for families, but they’re actually trying to get as many clients as possible signing up for services so that they can collect an ongoing fee. My friend (poverty level single parent) was duped into signing up for their services, only to find out that they could do nothing to help her family. She would have qualified for aid an many schools without getting professional assistance - the company should have been ethical in telling her this, but of course they didn’t. Look for an honest company but avoid this one!</p>
<p>You might need a qualified, college funding/financial adviser to help you, but this CPN is not one of them. I’ve looked into them myself and have communicated with others, and most agree that CPN is really just out to get in your pocket book - they hire unqualified staff, and their financial solutions seem to be limited to dumping money into life insurance so they can get a fat commission. You can get a lot of information yourself by educating yourself and learning the financial aid rules for each college you’re considering. If you need to rearrange assets for aid purposes, then simply find a fully qualified financial professional to help you with access to more tools that just insurance - but you shouldn’t have to pay anywhere near $3-4,000 to get this kind of help.</p>
<p>Hmm. Lots of new posters here.</p>
<p>Well, I’m a new poster also, but certainly not spamming or trying to pitch some company - dosn’t seem like the others were either, maybe just did a search on CPN and found the thread? </p>
<p>Anyways, I’m president of a wealth management company and have looked at several of these college aid planning companies - not as an end user but as a possible compliment to my core asset management and planning business. My conclusion is that MOST are sort of scamish and promise way more than they can deliver. Some seem more legit but I haven’t settled on one yet and not sure college planning fits my business well enough to even add it. I’d be more offering it as a value-added to my wealthy grandparents looking to help their grandkids with the college process.</p>
<p>That said, whether $300 or $3,000, for some people the time and mental stress they may save hiring the process out is well worth it. Yes, it all can be learned - but I see folks with 1,000’s or even 10,000’s posts here on CC and I assume they’ve learned elsewhere as well and that isn’t how everyone wants to go through the process. The “we’ll do the FAFSA for you” part IS a total scam IMO if charged for. As was said, once you have compiled the info for the “college planner” to do your FAFSA, you could just DO IT! It’s just an online form you type the numbers into. You have to GET the info yourself anyhow - how could the planner know without you giving them the data? So, if that’s a big part of their pitch -SCAM.</p>
<p>So, I think the bottom line is, if you’re the type of person who’d rather take time and energy to learn about this stuff (maybe for only one or two kids) then you really don’t need any service to help you. I fall squarely into that category, btw. However, if you are the opposite - would rather spend your time/mental energy elsewhere, then maybe a LEGIT planner is well worth the price … NOT to fill out the forms for you, but to guide the process and help with any actual aid-increasing opportunities you may truely have (if any).</p>
<p>btw, several of the companies I contacted who pitched their process to me really push all the $$$ I can make as a planner “repositioning assets” to qualify for aid. By “repositioning” they really mean “selling insurance and annuities” for a high commission. SCAM!!! VERY FEW family scenarios would truly benefit from these sales tactics as INCOME, not assets is far and away the biggest determinate of college financial aid. Oh, it’s great for the “advisor” but a big financial cost to the client! Easy sell to the unwary though - and those hiring out the process tend to not have emersed themselves in the details of it all and as such, may be the unwary.</p>
<p>Sorry for the long reply - it’s a subject I know a bit about and have been helped here on CC reading posts for a while so thought I’d try to pay back with some help.</p>
<p>I just wanted to bump this post up after reading another current post this morning. We worked with a private college planner starting at the end of freshman year of HS. While the financial information was somewhat helpful, the promises for the actual college application assistance were non existent. The On line SAT prep classes were not helpful, the essay coach was a sham and the college search selection process was completely absent. As soon as we decided, NOT to allow this person to invest any of our assets or
purchase life insurance from them, we were pretty much ignored. They even lost copies of our tax returns, claiming we did not provide them. Thankfully, I am a very resourceful person and I can say that the college process can be 100% carried out with a little research and asking questions from the very kind and knowledgeable people on CC. This person was actually recommended by our town’s youth board and he is really a charlatan, with great promises and zero delivery on them. I am just sharing this because I want to warn others. While the service did not cost 3k and was only $1200, it was a complete waste of money. So, buyers beware. He seemed like an up and up planner at the time, with a nice office, recommended and endorsed by the town youth bureau and he is a total windbag. I guess I needed to vent a little.</p>
<p>Closing old thread.</p>