A number of companies routinely offer these “workshops” at our local libraries. I can’t help but think that these workshops are just mining for people they can perhaps charge for a “more personalized” meeting in the future, so I am skeptical about attending one.
So, two questions (well really three…):
As CC has usually been a better source of info for all things college, is there a place to visit where the best financial aid strategies are listed? I've read the FAQs in the FA forum here, but the info is a little more basic than what I'm looking for. Perhaps there aren't any big secrets though!
Has anyone been to one of these "workshops" and did you find them worthwhile at all? How about a paid FA counselor?
I attended one just to see what it was about. I never intended to take them up on their services. I didn’t learn anything new – and, in fact, won a $25 Starbucks card for answering a question correctly! – but I’d been on cc for years by then.
I had a friend who went to one of the workshops and did the follow-up and ended up buying a portion of one on the packages, but her financial situation was in flux. She was divorcing, selling one house, getting another. She thought she got her $500 worth by working with this guy to figure out how best to maximize some of those decisions.
They vary a lot. If it is lead by anyone with a C.L.U. I’d stay far away. Somehow “insurance” is always the answer when any question comes up, and it usually is a terrible financial decision.
I went to a year or so ago, hey it was free, the man was surprised at my knowledge and asked if I had a kid in college already. I told him nope just know what I picked up on CC; he claimed to have never heard of College Confidential, lost all credibility with that comment!
I went to one ages ago. I look at it in the same way that I look at taxes. Paying a professional to handle your taxes can be a good idea if A) you don’t have the time or inclination to put any work into doing them on your own or B) if you have an unusual or complex financial or personal situation where you need very specific assistance and advice.
For most people, going to those things just means that you’ll get some really obvious advice that you could just look up on your own (similar to paying someone to fill out a 1040-EZ or going to fafsa.com instead of fafsa.ed.gov; it would be hard for them to add a lot of value to most people because there’s not that much that they can do. There aren’t top-secret financial aid programs that only the elect know about, there aren’t trillions of unclaimed scholarship dollars each year…)
The companies are usually mining for customers for paid services. If you’re not in a position where you need that kind of personalized assistance then all you’re getting for your time is some basic knowledge and maybe some peace of mind.
What is really funny is that I got one for one child in August 2013, and I had two kids in the class of 2014. The other day I got one for that same child, who has just finished her college freshman year. It clearly thought she was still in high school.
@ReadyToRoll - First, I’m unaware of any FAQs in the FA forum, so not sure what you’re referring to, but what you will find in that forum are quite a few very knowledgeable people. The obvious solution, if you have questions, would be to post them, but if that means divulging more personal financial info than you’re comfortable with, then I guess that’s not an option. In that case, you have two choices: (1) use the search function to find threads that can help you and (2) lurk. It’s not a quick process, but if you’re willing to spend some time, you’ll find the answers you need.
I think the OP is right to be skeptical.
I think the OP also is right that there are no big secrets.
Once you’ve understood the difference between need-based and merit aid, you have to decide whether your strategy will focus on n-b, merit, low sticker price, or some combination. Usually this is determined by your income & assets, your kid’s stats, and college preferences. Then you need to use the available tools, especially the online net price calculators, to build an application list of affordable reach-match-safety schools. Then run it by people on this forum for a sanity-check (or maybe your HS GC, if s/he isn’t too busy counseling kids with even bigger problems.)
It’s no big secret which colleges tend to offer the most generous need-based aid.
It’s also no big secret what kinds of colleges tend to have the lowest sticker prices, for families that cannot meet their Expected Family Contributions and for kids who don’t have high enough stats for big merit scholarships (or admission to the so-called “full need” schools).
It gets a little trickier when you need merit aid to help cover the EFC, but have expectations that local, low-priced schools cannot meet. Still, all the information you need is out there. Much of it is fairly well organized on this site (CC). You shouldn’t need to pay anybody to come up with a good college-financing strategy.
On another site, I read a little “tip” about the order in which you list colleges on the FAFSA (presumably to encourage more merit aid rather than need-based aid) but I’m skeptical that it really matters.
Got it, @ReadyToRoll - that was added relatively recently (compared to when I started participating in that forum), so I hadn’t seen it.
As for the order in which one lists colleges on the FAFSA, this is discussed at length (in multiple threads) on the FA forum. I really would strongly encourage you to start (1) searching and (2) posting your questions over there. Really, that’s where the experts are! (As for this particular question, I’d suggest a search of the FA forum using the search term “FAFSA order” - I haven’t tried it, but I’m sure that would work.)
We went to a talk at our high school and the presenter was pretty good. Did he know more than people here on CC? Maybe not, but he gave an incisive roundup of all the key ideas. He also wasn’t a hard sell. He would stand and take questions individually after the program was supposed to be over for a half hour. I don’t think any of the people ahead of me even took his business card, so no sale there. We asked him later about a friend with a small business potentially hiring him (she did not in the end). He charged an hourly rate. As I recall, he was with an investment house but specialized in savings for college.
Be aware that some of these guys charge a big flat rate. Run the other way if that is your only option.