Helping students and families navigate the turbulent waters of financial aid and college prices requires expertise that goes beyond a step-by-step guide to filling out forms.  Our speaker series covers every aspect of the financial challenges that families encounter during this process.  Our interactive sessions teach students and families:

• How the system actually works

• What families need to know BEFORE they start the process

• How families can make the system work in their favor

In addition, we give each school that books this series 20 half-hour 1:1 meetings to distribute to families and students that particularly need our help.  We can ensure that, no matter how complicated a student's situation might be, they get honest and unbiased answers to their questions and clear direction to achieve their post-secondary goals.

The five presentations in this series are:

Affording College is Easier than You Think

College success isn’t realized until our students thrive as independent college graduates. That means that, not only do they have to learn a lot, grow a lot, and graduate from college, they must graduate with the financial freedom necessary to pursue whoever they have become. This presentation refocuses the college planning process on the real outcome we all want for our students and lays out how we can ensure that our students accomplish this goal in their college search.

Solving the Mystery of Financial Aid

Very few families have any idea what they are in for when they fill out the FAFSA. Yet, knowing how the formulas behind the FAFSA and the CSS Profile work long before it comes time to fill out those forms can save families tens of thousands of dollars. This presentation tells the strange backstory of the Expected Family Contribution (the predecessor to the Student Aid Index), financial aid, and the way that families can be far better prepared to pay the price they want for college.

The Pros and Cons of Loans and Scholarships

Figuring out how to pay for college is an exercise strewn with landmines and potholes. This presentation pulls back the curtain on all the hype, misinformation, and real truths regarding the use of external and private sources of funding to pay for college. In addition, this presentation shows how to balance risk, reward, and time to ensure the best possible outcomes while protecting families from chasing rainbows and mirages or worse, falling for scams that take advantage of their fears.

Their First Offer Doesn't Have to be Your Final Price

If you can get more financial aid just by asking for it, would you do it? Of course, you would. Yet less than half of students and families ever take advantage of the opportunity to "appeal" and ask for a better price. This presentation shows families how to successfully navigate the final stage of the college admissions process - the appeal.

DIYing College to Dramatically Cut Costs

It's been decades since the opportunity to build your own college degree became a reality, but still very few students, families, or even school counselors are aware of how easy it can be to earn a college degree on your own. This presentation provides a primer on the various sources of college credits and the range of articulation and transfer pathways already in place to get a college degree for a fraction of the traditional costs. It also explores alternative ways to college credentials that don’t involve college at all.

Other workshops and presentations that we can do:

FAFSA: Line by Line

The FAFSA is already famous for its confusing set up, unclear questions, and mystifying lay out. Based on the preliminary information provided about the 23-24 FAFSA updates, it seems likely that the new FAFSA will be even more confusing, unclear, and mystifying. This presentation walks families through the FAFSA line by line so that all participants can complete the form correctly.

CSS Profile: Line by Line

While the CSS profile hasn’t announced any changes yet, it’s likely there will be several, as the implications of the new FAFSA becomes clear. Nonetheless, the CSS Profile continues to be dramatically more complex than the FAFSA. This presentation walks families through the CSS Profile line by line so that all participants can complete the form correctly.

How College Prices Became So Crazy

Financial aid offer letters are notoriously difficult to decipher. Many families end up committing to loans they didn't know about or price tags they had no intention of paying because college pricing lacks transparency. This presentation shows families how college pricing really works, how higher education institutions use marketing tricks and sleight of hand regarding pricing and shows consumers how to give themselves more power and leverage in getting the best possible college price.