College Planning Expert

Paying for College
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<p>An acquaintance recently announced on Facebook that they have hired a college planning expert. They expect that the cost of the service will be offset by the extra scholarship money the service will find them. </p>

<p>I have been studying to become our family's 'college planning expert' for about the last year. My understanding is that the largest amount of scholarship money comes from the schools. My daughter has already established a working list of colleges she likes - mostly large state schools - and we have researched what type of merit she could possible qualify for at each school. I've felt as though we were getting a pretty good handle on the process.</p>

<p>But we're new to this and the whole process still seems so fraught with hazard! Do we run the risk of missing out on a lot of possibilities if we go it alone?</p>

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<p>It’s possible that you miss out on a lot of possibilities whether you go it alone or use a college planning expert. It depends upon how good that expert is. It also depends upon how well you and your daughter are doing your research. </p>

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<p>Do your research well and you should be fine. </p>

<p>There is a pinned thread above that talks about scholarships and lower cost colleges. Look at the first post on that pinned thread for a bunch of links with great information.</p>

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<p>What about for the financial aid component? </p>

<p>We have run the NPCs for several of the colleges she’s interested in and our EFC was roughly the same on all of them. And, despite the fact that we are a middle to perhaps slightly upper middle class family, that number was higher than the COA I have come across for any college! It seems pretty clear that she would not be eligible for any need-based aid. But then I see this on the college planning expert website:</p>

<p>‘Most of the families we assist qualify for little to no “need-based” financial aid. We help these families by creating a plan that involves a combination of academic student positioning along with financial and tax planning strategies. Many of six figure income clients are surprised to learn that after strategic planning, they too can qualify for financial aid.’</p>

<p>Now I don’t necessarily think that she ought to qualify for need-based aid, but do people manage to adjust their assets in such a way that a ‘six figure income’ family would qualify?</p>

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<p>If you are finding that your EFC as per NPCs is higher than the COA for any college that you did the NPC for, your definition of “middle to perhaps slightly upper middle class” may be a bit skewed. Which schools did you run the numbers for? Do you have high non-retirement assets?</p>

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<p>Our EFC also exceeded the cost of attendance. Our kids looked for merit aid. It sounds like by “positioning” that is what this consultant would do. He can’t change your income and assets, but he can look for merit awards to ease the financial burden on your family.</p>

<p>Some six figure income parents have kids who get accepted at Harvard or Yale or Stanford. If their I nome is $120,000, they would get decent need based aid from these very competitive and well endowed schools.</p>

<p>OR the kid with stats to get into HYPSM might choose to apply to schools in the pinned threads above, and garner significant merit aid. Some folks call that “financial aid” too.</p>

<p>Just curious…how much does this consultant charge?</p>

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<p>Interesting. I plugged this quote into Google and it came up with three different college planning “expert” services that use the exact same words.</p>

<p><a href=“http://mycollegeauthority.com/faq.html”>http://mycollegeauthority.com/faq.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.college-doctor.com/services.html”>http://www.college-doctor.com/services.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“College Benefits Research Group | College Planning”>College Benefits Research Group | College Planning;

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<p>Interesting!</p>

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<p>@thumper1 I don’t know how much it costs. I wish I did! It’s not on their website and I’m not really close enough to the other mom to ask. </p>

<p>I suppose that it could be a matter of playing a little loose with the ‘financial aid’ term. There are kids from our area every year who get accepted to HYPSM, but not a large number of them. There’s probably a much greater number of kids with good stats attending state schools.</p>

<p>@Middkid86 That’s interesting. I wonder if it’s a franchise?</p>

<p>In terms of our EFC vs the COA, I suppose that it’s possible that my definition is a bit skewed. We do have high non-retirement assets. H is retired military and we live in a heavily military populated area, so the cost of living here is really affected by that. That we’re very middle to upper middle class for our area might be a more likely assumption. </p>

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<p><<<
And, despite the fact that we are a middle to perhaps slightly upper middle class family, that number was higher than the COA I have come across for any college! </p>

<br>

<br>

<p>??</p>

<p>You would have to have a lot in assets to have a “slightly upper middle class” income and yet still have an EFC that exceeds ANY school (which would be over $60k).</p>

<p>If your income is around $100k, then your EFC would be about $25-30k, to add another $30k+ in EFC to get your EFC above the cost of any school, then your non-protected/non-retirement assets would have to be over $500k.</p>

<p>Anyway…that college planning company is playing fast and loose with language. In most cases, EFC is largely driven by income. Yes, those with 6 figure incomes whose kids get into HYPS will get FA. Some with 6 figure incomes will get FA from a few other generous schools as well. </p>

<p>I imagine that in most cases, the FA that they are talking about is merit scholarships that don’t have a need component. You don’t need to pay someone to find those opportunities. That info is right here on CC. </p>

<p><<
cost of the service will be offset by the extra scholarship money the service will find them.
<<<</p>

<p>Some people are very lazy and they are willing to write a check that they can ill-afford for that above-listed reason. They could do the work themselves and still get that “extra scholarship money” and also have that check-money if they just spent a few hours here on CC and asked questions and provided their child’s stats, etc. But, some lazy people are fine with giving up a few thousand dollars just to have someone else do easy work for them. </p>

<p>Since you are willing to spend some time becoming the family’s college expert, and you’re here on CC, if you wanted to, you would likely be able to find equal or larger amounts of aid without paying anyone…if your child’s stats are similar or better than that acquaintance’s child.</p>

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<p>Well I’m guessing that we must actually be upper middle class. (But I seriously don’t FEEL like we’re upper middle class!) Our income is probably above middle class. And we do have a lot of assets. The EFC is really crazy high. But we weren’t expecting need-based aid anyway, so the actual amount probably doesn’t matter. </p>

<p>I do feel better about continuing on as our own college planning expert. I enjoy researching things - especially when that research will have a direct impact on us. And I really feel as though my daughter has a handle on what she’s looking for. In fact, it seemed to come a little easier than I was expecting! </p>

<p>I guess I just panicked for a moment. Thanks to all for your input!</p>

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<p>You can learn a lot on CC, especially about taxes and scholarships, how to save some money on books, travel, applications (like ASK for a free one or how to get one; sometimes by visiting, sometimes applying online), questions to ask admissions, questions to ask financial aid. You might find one of the sections helpful to your particular child, like under a music major or sports scholarships.</p>

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<p>I would be skeptical of the company. It is really hard to say what expertise they may have or experience even. There have been articles link here on CC in posts about companies that are really just trying to sell you financial instruments, primarily insurance, themselves. At least I would make sure that is not the case. Those firms with the same wording as you quoted may have just all been to the same seminar on how to expand business by getting into the college consulting arena with canned info, canned advertising catchphrases, canned strategies etc. That person could have less experience than you.</p>

<p>Here is a good article on the strategies for maximizing fin aid.
<a href=“Maximizing Your Aid Eligibility - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid;

<p>This article also contains info on errors people make when calculating EFC. I am confused by your saying the NPC gives you larger EFC than the COA. While the FAFSA can do this, the NPC usually just shows the COA and any monies that you will get, and what is left you need to pay. This wouldn’t be more than COA. Excuse me if I am wrong as I haven’t run one lately. </p>

<p>As far as learning, first read all the links in the 2 pinned threads at the top of this forum. You might like the book I often see recommended “How to Pay for College Without Going Broke” Princeton Review I think.</p>

<p>Automatic merit colleges - there is thread on these in the pinned thread - you know what you are going to get, heed the deadlines.</p>

<p>Competitive merit - large awards for very high stats students usually</p>

<p>Unknown merit - schools where you are the top 10 or 25% that give a lot of awards, you don’t know what of if you are going to get any until you apply. You will have to search and keep notes on these. I’m thinking Tulane, Case Western, really no use of suggesting without knowing your stats. Some colleges, like Mount Holyoke will ask your gpa and SAT in the NPC, and show you a merit award.</p>

<p>For OOS Publics, some just won’t give merit to OOS. Some have awards like Ohio State Buckeye. It is possible to get awards from privates too. USC (in CA) gives 1/2 tuition to NMF. They also have other large awards but they go about 2 pct of students. </p>

<p>Since you are new here, you might not realize that there are individual college forums and students sometimes report details.</p>

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<p>I’ve seen several NPCs that do as OP describes, so they are out there.</p>

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<p>Is ANYONE on CC upper class?</p>

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<p>The way a lot of college planning experts find ways to “hide” assets from FAFSA is by recommending and steering people to certain investments, including insurance and annuity products. Some still get “caught” by PROFILE schools. When the hidden purpose of these planning sessions is to buy certain products, sign on with certain financial advisors, it gets sketchy IMO. Ones investments should not revolve around college years alone. </p>

<p>Some basic things about assets: as little as possible in student’s name including 529 accounts since student assets get no allowance and are hit up a lot harder (20% on FAFSA) than parents’. Spend them down, put in a 529 in parent’s ownership, open joint account with parent’s name/SSN first and reimburse parental expenses that way. There are suggestions that may or may not make sense. Primary home equity not counted on FAFSA and often capped at many PROFILE schools, so some assets used to pay down the mortgage might make sense. Grandparents should lend money for college or give to parents rather than pay school directly or give to grandchild. </p>

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<ol>
<li><p>Student-owned 529 accounts are considered parental assets under FAFSA. Some profile schools also consider student-owned 529 accounts to be parental assets.</p></li>
<li><p>Putting student assets in a joint account, even with parent name/SSN first on the account, will not magically turn the student assets into parental assets.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>@MiddKid86‌ </p>

<p>??? On which schools’ NPCs have you seen a result that shows that the parents need to pay MORE than COA? That makes no sense.</p>

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<p>Not that the family needs to pay more than the COA, just that the NPC result shows that the family can afford to pay more than the COA. The student will be full pay at the school. (I’ve seen this for Williams and Middlebury.)</p>

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<p>Two of the schools that showed our crazy high EFC were U of Alabama and Ole Miss. Alabama just had a sentence across the top saying “Your Expected Family Contribution is estimated to be (number signicantly higher than the COA)”</p>

<p>The Ole Miss one struck me as funny. Under “Your estimated need:” it says </p>

<p>$35,147 - (total cost)

  • (ridiculously high number) - (EFC)
    $0 - (total need)</p>