Parents or college students: Anyone hear of College Planning Network?

[eliza61]

I "attended" a web-seminar last night from these guys. They are a service that supposedly will help you navigate the financial aide process guaranteeing you the maximum award.

Cost is high IMO (anywhere from $1500 dollars to 5,000).

My oldest son is an aspergers kid so we didn't have to go through this with him, now my other son is a senior in college and we're starting the process.

Anyone have experience with them?

worth the money or you can pretty much find out what they tell you on your own?

TIA

E

 

[Christine]

Never heard of them.

If they are going to be "helping" you with Federal Financial Aid, then I wouldn't bother. That's all done through the FAFSA and you really can't manipulate that form in anyway for it to be more favorable to you.

If they are saying they are going to go out for you and find and secure need based scholarships for you, then that is a different story. But I don't see forking out a lot of money for this without solid guarantees and I don't think they can promise you that.

 

[Christine]

Found a thread on College Confidential that you may find interesting:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/812856-college-planning-network.html

 

[golfgal]

I doesn't make sense to spend $5000 for someone to tell you how to go through the financial aid process, it's pretty straight forward, fill out the FAFSA, wait to hear back from the colleges. I'll do that for $1000 for you .

There are lots of free, on-line sites to find scholarships. Talk to the guidance office at his school. Talk to the financial aid people at the colleges he is looking at attending.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Sounds like they are taking advantage of people that are intimidated by the forms to me.

I don't see how you can change what you are to get more money.

There are books that are available at your local library for free to use.

 

[flit]

We went to a college night put on by our school district and there was a seminar about financial aid. The speaker warned us about this. She said they are scams. All financial aid is based on the FAFSA.

 

[punkin]

We went to a college night put on by our school district and there was a seminar about financial aid. The speaker warned us about this. She said they are scams. All financial aid is based on the FAFSA.

...and/or the CSS Profile. In any event, don't pay for it. If you do just a little research you can come up with the same strategies they provide, but in reality if your son is already a senior it is too late to shift money around for a better award (such as for example saving in a 529 owned by grandparents). Fill out the federal forms and the Profile (if required) and hope.

 

[herdtoDisney]

Sounds like they are taking advantage of people that are intimidated by the forms to me.

I don't see how you can change what you are to get more money.

There are books that are available at your local library for free to use.

Yes, this. I took the free classes at the HS, had free help filling out the FAFSA (through a local grant program) and checked out every book on college that the library had. Plus looked at the boards online.

It is overwhelming but I would not pay for the help. There are lots of free resources.

 

[linnylu]

I also don't think it is necessary to pay that company. Start at your high school guidance office. Ours also has a financial aid night. They also use a company to help with the FAFSA and scholarships- parents don't pay, the school must and we are a public high school.

 

[wilderness01]

I also don't think it is necessary to pay that company. Start at your high school guidance office. Ours also has a financial aid night. They also use a company to help with the FAFSA and scholarships- parents don't pay, the school must and we are a public high school.

This.

 

[punkin]

I was thinking about this today and I've heard of college counselors who try to get your child into the best college possible (help with essays, applications, class selection, Extracurricular selection) but I've never hears of something like this.

 

[LivingtheWDWdream]

Financial Aid is all done through the FASFA, you fill out the form they let you know what you qualify for. All that company is doing is preying on people who are intimidated by the paperwork and scamming them out of money. I would stay away from the company.

The only other thing then the FASFA that you have to work on is applying for private scholarships. Those you can usually go through the guidance department, or through the financial aid department on campus to see what scholarships are out there. Plus there are free websites like fastweb.com that will set up a free profile and help you search for scholarships.

That company sounds like a scam to me! For 1500-5000 you could put that towards tuition or books!

 

[Bill Lewis]

This organization is a marketing organization that promises a great deal and delivers almost nothing. They want to charge a lot of money to fill out the FASFA for you. Most high schools will do this for free or they access to organizations that will do that for free. We already had done this and were looking for help with scholarships. They charged a bunch to help us and we got nothing but a song and and a dance. My recommendation is to not waste your money or time on this organization or any like it. They just want your money and provide little to no help. Of course, if they can't help, it's your fault...not their's.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Have you ever been to some tourist spot and have some guy come up to you and start spouting some useless facts you don't even care about such as the Island chain consists of 50 Islands with a total land area of 5370 square kilometers and then asks for 5 bucks for spewing all that information? Well in the process of college applications, College Planning Network is information spewing guy. He's giving you information you don't need. They're doing something for you that is so easy, you didn't need it and if you did, there are people that will help you do it without you paying a dime.

 

[barkley]

I "attended" a web-seminar last night from these guys. They are a service that supposedly will help you navigate the financial aide process guaranteeing you the maximum award.

Cost is high IMO (anywhere from $1500 dollars to 5,000).

My oldest son is an aspergers kid so we didn't have to go through this with him, now my other son is a senior in college and we're starting the process.

Anyone have experience with them?

worth the money or you can pretty much find out what they tell you on your own?

TIA

E

you can do it yourself for free-don't pay others.

an excellent book we used last year when dd was a senior in high school was-'2013 getting financial aid' (college board). it gives step by step instructions on the fafsa and great guidance on applying for other resources.

one other thing you can do-once you've done the fafsa and gotten the info. back with your efc (expected family contribution); if your household has expenses that are higher or out of the norm (which we've experienced with our son who has autism) contact the financial aid department at the college your son will attend. they have specific formulas they use to figure out aid (once they've gotten your fafsa data) BUT they do have some discretion in some circumstances (I know of one case where an aide package was increased due to the higher than norm co-pays and uncovered needs one family member had).

 

[RitaE]

It is like Zombie Thread Apocalypse around the DIS this week.

 

[lurkernj]

I dont get how this is his first post, but he's been a member since 2006.