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How Does Having A Solid College Plan Help You?
Have you ever thought about colleges as businesses and of yourself as their customer?
If not, you should – because, in essence, THEY ARE. And, next only to the purchase of a home, paying for college is one of the largest purchases you’ll likely ever make. Most people would never make such a big decision without a carefully designed game plan and you owe it to yourself and your family to become a well-educated consumer so you can take advantage of the best opportunities available, while only paying your fair share of the college bill – and nothing more!
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By working with thousands of families to design and implement proven college planning strategies over the past 28+ years, we’ve gained a level of experience and expertise as College Planning Specialists that allow us to offer you a unique perspective other college advisory firm simply don’t have.
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Whether your concerns are related to finding the best colleges for your children and understanding how to increase your chances of admission success or finding the most free money possible to help pay for college (or both!), we have the tools, strategies, and guidance you’ll need to help turn your dreams into reality.
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If you’re interested in finding out how to improve your family’s college experience, get in touch with us today and let us give you some personalized recommendations that will help you begin improving your results right away.
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Jason Flurry, CFP® President and Founder
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We Can Handle Pretty Much Everything
By helping families understand and overcome the obstacles that must be handled in the College Admissions and Financial Aid processes, we’ve been able to get students into some of the best schools possible for the least amount of money possible – and show their parents how to pay for it without going broke! And, in most cases, without having to change their lifestyle either!
Our approach is part art, part science. But, we always let the science guide the art. Naturally, there are milestones every student will reach, but as College Planning Specialists what we do for those students at each of those milestones may be different based on his or her individual needs. Likewise, we work with parents to structure their finances in a way that allows them to qualify for the maximum amount of grants and scholarships available so they can afford college and actually be better off financially AFTER paying for college than they are today.
For the student, we assist in the research process so you can save time and know upfront that the colleges you are considering have a realistic chance of working out for you. We also assist with the college admission process to make sure your applications are tailored to what each college values most. We even help review essays and applications for scholarships, including resume and interview prep, plus provide the guidance and insight needed to stay on track for all of your important deadlines.
On the Financial Aid side, we determine your Expected Family Contribution and show you how to lower it as much as possible. We help you build a financial game plan that allows you to pay for college in a comfortable manner, and as a courtesy for our personal clients, we also file all of their financial aid forms for them – which is a HUGE relief by itself.
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College awards are often negotiable, regardless of what the colleges may tell you otherwise. Because of that, we are often able help improve your final awards by working with the colleges to maximize the money you receive each year. And this, like everything we do, is based on the individual situation, circumstances, and college requirements each family has so that you enjoy a personal experience like nothing you’ve ever seen.
Our Proven Process Gets Results!
Create A List of “Good Fit” Colleges
College has become very competitive and the process to get into college without spending a fortune has gotten very complicated. It takes more than a good academic track record and impressive personal accomplishments to ensure your college plan will be successful. And, the best plan implemented with the wrong list of colleges can unfortunately still result in disaster. Therefore, we begin by helping you discover which attributes and qualities are most important to you in a college and then research dozens of colleges to find those that are the best fit for you and vice versa.
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Position For Admission Success At Each College
With a good idea of what you may want in a college, you can then begin to determine what they may want from you in return as a potential future member of their community. We provide detailed insight into what qualities and characteristics each college desires most from a prospective student. Then we help position you to maximize your chances of success with Admissions and in securing scholarships, often worth more than $100,000 in FREE money during your college career.
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Position For Financial Aid At Each College
What good is a pile of admission letters if you don’t have the ability to pay for college? We eliminate this very common problem up front by analyzing each family’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and suggesting proven strategies to lower their share of the college bill. Most families qualify for some level of financial aid, but in those cases where no aid is expected outside of student loans and parent loans, we can still lower the cost of college by pursuing other approaches to help you save tens of thousands of dollars each year and possibly reduce your taxes too! Every situation is different and every college handles financial aid awards differently, but that is where our experience can make a world of difference for you and save you from making huge mistakes that could cost you a fortune.
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Develop A Solid Plan to Pay For College
No matter how good your financial aid award is you’re likely to still have to pay something to send your kids to college. Full ride scholarships often just cover tuition, but there are other expenses, like room and board, fees, books, personal and travel expenses, etc., that are not covered by most grants and scholarships. Everyone needs to know how they are going to pay for college and we help you build a plan that allows you to pay for college in a comfortable manner without going deeply into debt, changing your lifestyle, or jeopardizing your retirement. In fact, most of clients are in a much better financial situation as a result of their plan AFTER paying for college than they were before they began. This step is a critical part of the planning process and few people truly understand how to solve the college dilemma like we do. Without a game plan you can understand and know is guaranteed to work, you are taking risks that are simply unnecessary. And, that’s never a good idea…especially when it involves your kids and your money!
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Ace All Of Your Admission Applications
By having the right list of colleges in place and knowing what they want from an ideal prospect, we can implement the plans we’ve develop to reverse engineer each student into being that perfect match their colleges want to see. Whether it is helping students design an awesome college resume, write compelling essays, or prep for admission and scholarship interviews, we review each step of the application process and critique it for maximum effectiveness. It is a hands-on process that is tailored to each student’s needs and the personal attention each family receives helps keep everyone on track with checklists and important timelines too.
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Apply For Financial Aid Without Making Mistakes
Having a good strategy and being able to implement that strategy effectively require different skills and abilities. We have done both successfully for over two decades and know the financial aid process inside and out. We can make completing the financial forms at all of your colleges easy by eliminating the guesswork, and in most cases even the time involved to fill them out (because we do all of that work for you!). When some financial aid forms have as many 200 questions on them, many of which involve details about your finances, it is very easy to make mistakes that could cost you thousands each year in lost aid. It’s not in the college’s best interest to correct the forms for you, so getting everything filed correctly the first time is THE best way to help ensure you receive the full amount of FREE money you deserve.
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Work Your Best Offer And Make Final Decisions
Nothing is more rewarding after months, and sometimes years, of planning than to see everything come together in a way that pairs a great opportunity with a tremendous value. That’s the finish line in the college game, but before we cross it we evaluate all of your scholarships and financial aid awards to make sure you got the full amount you were due. And, from there we often help our personal clients successfully negotiate for thousands more through the colleges’ formal appeal process. With Admission decisions and a fully funded financial award in hand, we show you how to make your final decisions, lock in your savings, and move forward to your next steps as your student transitions from high school into college (or transfer to a new college) with confidence.
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To see how this approach can help you be more effective in your college planning, GET IN TOUCH WITH US TODAY and discover what you can do now to get the best results possible for your family!
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Here's What Our Clients Are Saying...
You don’t know what you don’t know, but not knowing how to plan for college was a big problem for me. Fortunately I met Jason Flurry at the National Center for College Planning just in time to avoid a disaster. I was so worried about college for my two sons, and as it turns out, most of what I was planning to do would not have worked.
Jason put me on the right path and now I have confidence that my children will have a more promising future.
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Michelle, Atlanta, GA
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