Buyer Beware!

Just received this invitation to invest in my son's future by participating in a presentation followed by a personal interview.  This "for profit" program is designed to look at your student's scores, GPA and your income to help you connect with colleges and their coffers of financial aid.  They will provide me  this service for $1995. In reading over the Better Business Bureau's consumer reviews for this business, there tends to be more negative than positive.  Most report of the high pressure sales tactics that you will face there and expect to be guilted if you do not buy this service for your student. 

At the end of the day, you can spend this amount, and maybe walk away with comparable services that NOHS Guidance provides parents who read the Guidance Blog, who come to parent nights at the beginning of school, and for parents who come to the Junior Meeting in the spring of the junior year and the Senior Meeting in the following fall.  More than likely, you won't get as good from them as you can us.  

The total cost of the NOHS Guidance line-up of services? FREE.  Certainly in this world, we get what we pay for, right? Not in this instance, but if you are dying to spend some money, go buy the book advertised on the Guidance Blog called The College Solution.  It is without a doubt, the best resource I have read on admissions and financial aid.  It will cost you $20. 

You are going to receive solicitations for things like this over the years.  Some are legitimate and some, not so much.  Buyer beware! Check the internet for reviews and complaints with the BBB.  That $1995 will go a long way at the college in their freshman year!