Students Have Lots Of Help, But Parents Don’t

College-bound high school students can tap into many helpful resources. Let’s start with their guidance counselors. Even if students don’t get a lot of face time with them, they generally can get enough to get started in the right direction. There are also virtual college fairs. High schools will find ways to offer SAT and ACT test prep classes (don’t think that the SAT/ACT isn’t necessary because it still is). English teachers provide help with college essays.

But parents are on their own. School counselors don’t want to get involved with assisting students directly with financial aid forms. “I’m not going to help with the FAFSA or the CSS Profile. There are things I just don’t need to know.” These are common thoughts in many school counseling departments, not out of task avoidance or malice, but simply out of fear. Even financial aid people at the colleges themselves have no idea how to answer most of the questions parents are asked.

Other than offering a Financial Aid Night where a local college explains how students go about taking on debt, there isn’t much more the high school can do to assist parents in managing the system and making it work for them specifically. That’s where Financial AID Now™ comes in to help.

Colleges use sophisticated tools such as yield management, data mining, data visualization, advanced and predictive analytics, resource alignment, and student recruitment strategies.  These are used by the colleges’ enrollment manager, and their job is to make sure that every year, each new freshman seat is filled at the highest possible price. That’s why it’s so important to use Financial AID Now™. It will level the playing field but more likely, give you the advantage.