College planning Consultants - are they worth it?

1

Hello fellow Clarkies,

I have a question regarding the College Planning consultant companies. Our oldest child is in her junior year, and we are starting the college planning for her. We have a few colleges in mind which we are going to visit, but we went to an event where there was a college planning consultant company. They help with college selection (which one fits your needs, most likely to get in based on GPA and interests, cost, etc), SAT prep, and provide guidance throughout the college years. They will also help with filling out the Financial aid forms and more. We paid a refundable $500 for them to review our situation and see if we qualify for their services - so far they have been very straightforward and also told us, depending on our situation (if your child or you do not have a preference for a specific college) we can decide to proceed or get our money back. If we choose to go with them, the cost is $4500 total.

My question, is there any value to their service and/or can I find resources that can help me achieve the same end-goal. Is $4500 worth it if their service helps me find a college that is best suited for my child based on their analysis or is it a waste of money?

Any perspectives and views are welcome, as I am still considering going ahead with this option if over the 4 years this saves her and us money.

Thanks everyone for your valuable input.

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I think you and your daughter are better able to choose a college than some consulting company that doesn’t know her. I also think that you and she can learn about colleges and how to select a good fit in the coming year just on your own and you won’t feel the need to have outside help. I’d vote to save the $4500 and do the research yourself.

A word of caution as you learn about colleges is that they are trying to sell themselves and will make things sound very appealing, but ask yourself, what is it really like? Example 1, I know someone who went to the big state school because she got into their honors college which offers smaller honors classes, but after she got there, found out there are so few honors classes and so many honors students that she couldn’t get registered for those small classes and ended up in the big lecture classes anyway, just what she was trying to avoid. Example 2, some colleges have agreements with other colleges nearby that allows students at one to take classes in any of the others, but transportation to and fro may require that you have a big hole in your schedule 2-3 days a week just to get there. Sounds wonderful, but sucks logistically.

You can also go to college fairs, with or without your daughter. Some near major cities are held in convention centers, so hundreds of colleges there.

Good luck!