Do Consultants Ease Financial Aid Angst?

Private certified college planners can help families navigate the process and get bigger aid packages—for a fee

by Alison Damast

Just when it seemed the college advising landscape couldn't get more crowded, a new type of counselor is clamoring for the attention—and money—of harried parents and high school students. The certified college planner, also known as a financial aid consultant, is the latest addition to the growing laundry list (SAT tutors, college advisers, and admissions experts) many families turn to in the pre-college years. And as with much of the advising industry that has grown up around admissions angst, there's debate over whether these consultants are worth it.

The private planners say they help students find the best financial aid packages, correctly fill out financial aid forms, and negotiate for better aid offers. They also provide advice on how to take advantage of education tax incentives and college savings plans. The National Institute of Certified College Planners (NICCP), founded just five years ago, has certified more than 1,200 accountants and family financial planners to assist families with financial aid services and planning. Another business, College Assistance Plus, which helps students find the best financial aid package at the college of their choice, was founded in 2004 and has 23 franchises in 17 states.

What's driving these businesses? Parents' realization that college and its huge tuition bills (BusinessWeek.com, 10/22/07) are imminent.

Curse of the Upper Middle Class

"They come when their kids are seniors in high schools and they say, 'Oops, my kid is going to college next fall and I haven't saved a dime,'" says Rick Darvis, a financial planner who is a co-founder of the Certified College Planners group. "I'd prefer if they came to us four or five years earlier, because there are more savings you can get if you do things right and have a solid financial plan."

Victor Berliant, a San Rafael (Calif.) retirement planning adviser, decided to take the NICCP certification exam when his two daughters were about to attend college several years ago. His income bracket was too high to make him eligible for financial aid, he says, but by using tips from NICCP he managed to save about $60,000 in college costs for each of his daughters, both of whom attended the University of California at Davis.

Berliant's clients are mostly upper-middle-class families with incomes of $100,000 or above. The cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area is so high that even these families have trouble paying for college, and most don't qualify for typical financial aid, Berliant says. He charges his clients $500 to $1,000 to put together a college financial plan.

A Concern at All Levels

"I guarantee that if I don't save them at least twice what they pay me, then I will give them their money back," Berliant says. "That is how confident I feel that I can help them."

One of Berliant's clients is Elena Fuentes-Afflick, who is already worrying about how expensive college will be for her two sons, a freshman and a junior attending a private high school in San Francisco. Although the family is upper-middle class—Fuentes-Afflick is a pediatrician and her husband is a mechanical engineer—Fuentes-Afflick says they still felt they needed guidance from a professional on how to pay for college.

"I think it is a concern for people at all [points on] the economic spectrum because the cost of higher education has increased so much over the last several years that I think very few people who can afford a private college education without some sort of sacrifice," she says.