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College Planning

What is late stage college planning and how is it different from regular college planning? Late state college planning are the final steps where your student gets closer to college.  The ideal family has a student(s) who is in 8th grade-12th grade.  At this age, students and parents (mostly parents!) are starting to face the looming decisions of attending college. Grades really matter, SAT and ACT exams are on the horizon, elective courses may focus on a student's future career, and perhaps you're receiving emails and snail mail from schools beckoning your student with glossy photos of a beautiful campus and Saturday football games. This is also the time decisions need to made, financial as well as academic.

Most financial advisors happily assist their clients with setting up and recommending college funding accounts, like a 529 account or a Coverdell account. We help our clients in determining the right savings account, but late stage college planning is far more complex and cumbersome.

Seeing families battle the stress and complexities of navigating the school selection process, financial aid packages, not to mention filling out several financial aid forms, and negotiating financial aid packages, we are equipped with the tools and knowledge to make this landmark event less stressful.

We help families understand the following:

  1. How much tuition are they prequalified for?
  2. How much do specific schools believe they can afford?
  3. What is that gap?
  4. How do they fill that gap to pay for school?

We can house their student's GPA, ACT/SAT scores, and award letters in one spot. Additionally, we can assist families with filling out financial aid forms, including the FAFSA and CSS Profile. Once your student receives an award letter (or more than one!), we'll explain the award and help you determine if the award is fair.  Need to appeal?  We'll help you with that. Finally, if you or your student take out loans we can help you understand the cost and do some early planning on repayment plans. 

We'll be there every step of the way to answer your questions and guide you and your student to find the right school and financial aid package. 

Get your free College Money here to better understand where your family stands.