Services

The College Companion

Every parent of a college bound teen wonders:

Will we get any money for college?

What will we pay for college?

HOW will we pay for college?

Great questions.  The answers might surprise you.

Understanding the answers is vital to having a financially successful college experience.

You hear about other people’s kids getting scholarships.  Big scholarships.  How did that happen?  You see other teenagers going off to schools you know are expensive.  How did they afford that?

You read about massive student loan debt.  Is the only way to go to college these days to borrow punishing amounts of money?

The truth is that not all families start the college process from the same place.  Some teenagers are more academically inclined than others.  Some kids have special talents.  Our families have different financial resources and different values.

What your family will pay  for college is not a mystery if you know where to start.  That’s where we come in.

Here’s the wrong way to approach college:  Have your teenager come up with a list of schools they’d like to go to; visit; apply; see where they get in; and then, figure out how to pay.  It is completely backwards.

Colleges are great at what they do, but they are not in the business of helping families make wise financial decisions.  If that weren’t true, there wouldn’t be a student loan debt bubble.

The only one is looking out for your family is you.

We help you get a solid understanding of what you can afford to pay.  We’ll walk you through this in a way that makes sense for your family. 

College is expensive, very expensive.  The sticker price at state schools is $22,000+ and out-of-state schools are closer to $40,000.  Private schools go all the way to the mid-$50′s – and that’s per year! 

But if you do this correctly, that is not necessarily what you will pay.

You want to determine what colleges will likely charge your student.  This amount is not the sticker price.  It is not listed in college guides or on ranking websites.  This number is what is called the net price and includes all grants and scholarships.  We help you figure out the estimated net price for a variety of colleges and show you how to do this on your own.

Putting it all together

Armed with the knowledge of what you can reasonably afford and what the colleges likely will charge your son or daughter, you can confidently assemble a list of colleges that will be financially successful.  We’ll put it all together in a college funding plan that fits your family’s situation and values.

There’s more

Our College Companion service doesn’t stop there.  We are available throughout the year to help with problems and questions as they arise.  Financial aid forms confusing?  Not sure how to use your prepaid 529 plan?  Wondering what to do if there is a change in your family or financial situation?  We’ll guide you through the inevitable bumps in the road.

No one is looking out for your family but you.  We’d be honored to be on your team.

Please contact us for more information on how we can help your family achieve a great college outcome.

If you would like to stay in touch with the latest developments in paying for college, please subscribe to our newsletter.