<p>My parents recently noticed a guy talking on TV about how he offers a financial aid service to "maximize" the aid that a student gets. They went to one his financial aid seminars the next day and signed up for an appointment. I'm worried, however, that this may all be a scam (esp since he charges $2800 for his service). Any opinions/advice?</p>
<p>Here's his website:
Bay</a> Area Financial Aid and College Tax Specialist</p>
<p>Definitely have the "scam antenna" up. There are tons of companies that do this, and no doubt most of them are legit. Okay, maybe some of them are legit. But definitely there are lots of scams that cost lots of money. It is difficult to do it on one's own, but it is certainly possible. The biggest scam is perhaps fafsa.com. Watch out for that one. The correct fafsa site is: fafsa.ed.gov. The "dot com" one charges money, and it is, in truth, a Free Application.</p>
<p>This seems like something I might attend if I made a lot of money and needed to know how to decrease my EFC. 2800 would be worth it to me if I had the money to throw away. Sometimes I feel there is truth to really not knowing how FA nuts and bolts really works. Some of the things highlighted in the advertisement can be found on finaid.org
I am all for maximizing.</p>
<p>Have your parents read through everything at FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans before they go to this meeting. That way they will have a better idea as to whether this company really can offer them meaningful help. Remind your parents that $2800 would almost cover a year's tuition at one of the Cal States.</p>
<p>We met with a gentleman who made the claim he could get us better financial aid
He charged 850 dollars for this service and it turns out he was basically trying to have us convert our home equity into whole life insurance so it would not be used in the FA calculation
We did not fall for this scam (in fact the profile asks about values of whole life)</p>
<p>Buyer beware--get the book "Paying for College Without Going Broke" and that will tell you all you need to know to maximize your aid eligibility</p>