College - Pricing FAQ
Our rates are about average for our industry; however, we are sensitive to the reality that not all families can afford to pursue private college counseling. Therefore, in order to make our knowledge and expertise available to a broad range of students, we engage in a large number of pro-bono activities; operate a very extensive award-winning blog; publish books and articles; and devote a substantial amount of time to building our dataverse, which offers comprehensive information and data on hundreds of colleges and their admissions and financial aid policies.
For those who can afford services, but are still undecided about whether college counseling is a wise investment, we encourage you to consider the many ways in which we ultimately save our families money, for example, by:
- Guiding students to good-fit colleges that are relatively inexpensive and where returns on investment are relatively high.
- Teaching students how to maximize their financial aid eligibility and locate suitable scholarship opportunities.
- Pointing students to credit-earning opportunities before college admission, and helping them to navigate course (i.e. major and general education) requirements after admission – both shorten a student’s time to degree.
- Facilitating career exploration and recommending college majors that ultimately pave the way for professional fit and success.
Families researching the pricing and plans of multiple companies will soon find that our rates are significantly lower than nearly every comparable provider. We keep rates relatively low because we can and because we want to. Initially, as school-based counselors and higher education researchers, we sought work more practical and lucrative than that available in an academic setting, but that still enabled us to do what we loved: helping a diverse group of students enroll and succeed in higher education. Over the past decade, we have been able to develop an online presence and remote-based model that allows us to deliver services in an effective and efficient manner, while serving an increasingly broad array of families. Ultimately, we have been fortunate enough to build a business that contributes to more than one bottom line.
If necessary, students/families are allowed to pay fees for our Comprehensive Plan in two equal installments over the course of 6 months. All fees are due by August 1 of the student’s 12th grade year. In the case of our transfers, all fees are due by February 1 of the year in which they submit applications.
