Has anyone ever used a financial aid consultant before either to complete the FAFSA and PROFILE or to provide advice? Di you find it useful or was it a waste of you time? How did you find this consultant?
Not only a waste of time, but in almost every case a waste of money.
The first “F” in FAFSA stands for FREE. It’s not that hard to complete. The Profile is more complicated, but the information is readily available on what needs to be done.
You follow the directions and don’t need to pay someone else a chunk of change. They don’t work miracles. You need to collect the same documents, either way. Why not try doing it yourself. CC can help answer the random odd question.
Here is some free financial aid advice:
Run each college’s NPC. If you cannot or don’t want to pay that much, cross that school off the list.
If your kid’s “dream college” is unaffordable, tell him or her to get another dream.
No, you will not somehow find the money. Mega loans will turn the dream into a nightmare for both you and your student.
Negotiating financial aid with colleges will get you at most a thousand or two more.
Meet full need colleges will meet full need as they determine it to be, not what you want to pay.
If there is a non-custodial parent who refuses to contribute, apply only to FAFSA schools that do not require the CSS Profile. .
Some families quite clearly need help in even understanding what the instructions are asking. Quite often, non-profit consumer credit counseling / debt consolidation agencies also can help them navigate the financial aid process for no charge.
Is your “financial aid consultant” also trying to sell you an annuity?
If so, RUN away. They have their business interests on a higher level than yours.
Why do you think you need a financial aid consultant? Give us the reasons…and maybe someone here can give you a better answer.
Some families quite clearly need help in even understanding what the instructions are asking.
I would bet those families are not in a position to easily afford to pay a consultant - IMHO, they should save that money for college. Check with local schools and libraries to find a financial aid information night, or even contact a local college to ask to talk to someone about the FAFSA process. Do a Google search - heck, there is a good, basic article on FAFSA process that was just posted in this forum. There is good information available for free.
Just as some people need help with even the simplest of tax returns, some will need help with the FAFSA. Hopefully, they can find free assistance either at their child’s high school or even online, as has been suggested.
I always think paying for CSS profile submission for financial aid is already pushing my limit. I would not pay a consultant for getting financial aid. Just go to the library and there are many books on this topic. I went to a few of those “free” seminars by different financial aid consultants. I found their info to be exaggerated and often not very accurate.
In my area, there are two kinds of paid consultants.
1- they help you figure out a way to hide your assets, shift your income, re-title your property (think beach house or ski condo), in the hopes of qualifying for more aid. They specialize in upper middle class families (if you don’t have a lot of assets to begin with, you don’t need help sheltering them).
2- they help you “qualify” for more aid by selling you something (they get a fee in addition to the fee you pay them for the advice). Typically annuities- but I’ve heard of other retirement type products as well, all at higher fees than you would get just by rolling your own money into one of these accounts. They target middle class families who may not have a brokerage account or other assets, but do have an IRA or some kind of retirement savings.
I’d be shocked to discover that it’s worth paying a consultant to help you fill out a form.
OP- if you are nervous about the forms, do you have a sibling or cousin or friend who is financially savvy who can help you? (You can treat them to Starbucks afterwards as a thank you).
I have not used one, but in going through the process can certainly see some cases where some advice can get you more financial aid. For example, people around here may know that 529 money from a grand-parent will count as income if used before Jan 1 of the child’s sophomore year, but I don’t think it is common knowledge. Even strategically planning where to put assets can help. The bottom line is financial aid in this country has become a bit of a game and having someone help you play the game could have some value. Unfortunately, the people who need it the most probably know how to play the game the least.
I’m curious about this myself. I do enjoy http://www.thecollegesolution.com/ but the bulk of the advice is geared toward parents of “teenagers.” We have an older, nontraditional com. college student looking to transfer. Seems like there is little info out there regarding financial aid for transfers.
Your Cc transfer student needs to go and talk to the transfer advisor at his community college. That person will know about which options MIGHT offer some aid to transfer students from the CC.
@thumper1 thanks. he’s tried a couple times and so far has not found them to be very helpful.
Thing is, with them looking now at some info from the prior prior year, FA planning needs to start even earlier than before. Going to a “consultant” when kiddo is a hs junior may be too late.
Waste of time. And money
Ask your questions here…for free
IMHO first is having the student properly prepared - GPA and ACT/SAT test scores. Have the student get full educational value out of their schooling through grade 12,and with ECs. Focusing on all of that early along, and also see what is going on with smart students grades ahead of your student. Get to know early the cost friendly college options. If the student knows what they want to study and how solid that is. Help get into their hands and heads ways to sort out what they want to study and the career they foresee.
Know what local, state and regional options are available, and schedule campus visits early. You will learn what to look for and what appeals to your S/D.
Attend college fairs in your area and pick up literature, glean what you can along with your S/D.
I like US News and World Report “Best Colleges” 2018 is current edition (which was on sale through Feb 12) but may be able to get on line version or still order through a place like Amazon books. In the back, has state by state listing of schools and some basic info on each school.
Attend the school GC programs.
Make sure your student applies to schools that are both academic and financial ‘safeties’ so they have some choices as they make final determination.
The entering freshmen scholarships from schools (with timely application) tend to offer the 4 year scholarships and best financing opportunities for most.
Agree to listen and seek all free advising - including CC.
Wow. Lots of strong feelings about this. For those of you that have used consultants and didn’t find it worthwhile, I apologize for your experience. I’ve been working in financial aid for 11 years at a variety of colleges, and I keep seeing families making the same mistakes over and over again. It’s frustrating for me to watch colleges take advantage of students sold on the dream and willing to pay anything for it. For the most part, all of the information that all of the posters provided here were either completely wrong or not fully informed because the advice is based on incorrect or incomplete assumptions.
I appreciate the feedback from everyone. I am in the process of launching my own consulting company to provide different financial aid services to families, and I can see from this post that I have a large hill to climb in changing everyone’s minds about the use of a consultant. It is certainly true that there are people out trying to up-sell you. There are people out there who don’t really know how the process works but can fill in your FAFSA and PROFILE as well as your cousin (for a coffee at Starbucks). There are also people and organizations that will help you for free (although I had two different families getting advice from outside organizations this cycle alone that completely screwed up the FAFSA because of the advice they got). There are posters on CC providing totally wrong or bad information. Not every consultant or expert is created equal.
As I enter into this new endeavor, my goal is to provide a service to people who feel that the output from that service was equal to or greater than the cost. I appreciate everyone’s time and wish everyone all the luck in the future!