Why should I work with you?

A:  We take a different approach than others.  WE DO NOT FOCUS ON FINANCIAL AID!
We work with your student utilizing career assessments, learning style assessments, and personality assessments to find the careers your student has an interest in.  From there, we look at which majors your student needs to get them to their career.  Lastly, we look for schools that offer the majors to get your student to their career of choice.  This helps your student graduate in 4 years - NOT 5 or even 6, which means money saved in your pocket.  The average 4 year degree takes between 5-6 years to complete.  Student will change majors and transfer schools.  This is what we try to eliminate!  Secondly, we will work with you - the parents - in determining the best way to pay for your out of pocket costs of college.  Cleaning up your cash flow and properly managing your equity are what we educate you on.  We educate parents on which strategies will work best in their specific situation during the college years and beyond.

A:  Absolutely!  Student career planning is an integral, initial step in the college planning process.  During the college planning process, career planning is often put on the back-burner because students and parents have prioritized other criteria for college selection such as prestige, sports, influence of friends, teachers, Alma Maters, etc.  When career planning is over-looked, students often end up in a college that does not provide them with the major area of study they need when they finally do choose a career field.

The consequence is a transfer to another college or dropping out of college completely.  to give you an idea of the size of the transfer/dropout problem:  Each year 50% of college freshman leave the college where they first enrolled.  The breakdown is as follows:  15% of the original freshman base transfer once to another college, 10% transfer two or more times and take six or more years to complete a 4-year program.  The remaining 25% drop out completely.  The bottom line is the cost of choosing an inappropriate college is high.  Parents pay for extra semesters or years spent in college by their sons or daughters who transfer to another college.  Drop out students fail to achieve their full potential.

A:  Yes, but most are limited and do not have the resources to help students determine their careers.  Each guidance counselor in Chatham, Bryan, Effingham, Jasper and Beaufort county schools has, on average 300-400 (according to a recent study) or more students that they have to deal with, and that’s not taking into account counting counselor turnover.  It is not the counselor's responsibility to figure out how to pay for your student's education. 

What if my student doesn’t know what they want to do or doesn’t know where they want to go, wouldn’t it be a waste of time?

A:  No, in-fact, that’s the exact reason to work with us in the first place. Remember, our service includes private meetings with your student, which includes a college search, a career, personality, and learning style assessments, and a complete discussion of how to pick the career of their dreams.  All of the things that many parents feel that their students aren’t getting from their public or private high schools, so we will be working on that every step of the way.

 Can’t my accountant or financial advisor help me with this?

A: NO.  CPA’s are excellent at strategies to reduce your income taxes, but they are not trained in the college financial aid process.  Tax strategies used to reduce your tax bill can cost you thousands in lost dollars. 

GOOD TAX PLANNING = POOR COLLEGE PLANNING

Financial advisors are skilled at selling you products they believe will benefit you.  Parents need to know where and how to hold their money to maximize the benefits of the finaincial aid system.  If you are saving money in a 529 plan, first question is WHY?  My opinion - It's a con game.  If your child is in High School, you may never recover the dollars lost to fees, commissions, and expenses.  Secondly, you may be giving up tax credits.  Thirdly, depending on how you pay for your student's education, the 529 plan withdrawals MAY NOT BE TAX FREE!

Remember, you have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain by coming in to meet with us. 

Initial consultation for the Myers-Briggs Personality Assessment and the Estimated Family Contribution discussion is FREE - That means no cost to you.  Only a limited numbers of families are asked to continue working with us.  We can not work with everyone!