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College Planning Services for

College Planning Services for. Accounting Professionals. Benefits of College Planning for Accountants. Many clients expect their CPA, EA, or accountant to guide them through the college process. Filling out a FAFSA is only a small piece of the help they need.

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College Planning Services for

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  1. College Planning Services for Accounting Professionals

  2. Benefits of College Planning for Accountants • Many clients expect their CPA, EA, or accountant to guide them through the college process. Filling out a FAFSA is only a small piece of the help they need. • By knowing all of a client’s financial records it is a natural fit to help them make financial decisions regarding college. • College planning is a process oriented approach that ties in with tax planning, tax preparation, and record keeping. • Giving an independent opinion and approaching it from a financial viewpoint means fewer loans and better options for the student. • CPA’s and accountants provide an additional layer of expertise in this growing field.

  3. What a Turnkey College planning Service Can Do for Your Business • College Plan 101 offers a turnkey process designed by a CPA, an expert in the college planning profession, who developed this approach after years of working with parents, students, and other professionals in the college planning field.Using this simple turnkey process in your business can: • improve your productivity, • increase your bottom line, • minimize seasonality; and • give your clients better results than they ever expected.

  4. What a Turnkey college planning Service Can Do for Your Clients • Clear direction in a complex process • Increased opportunities for financial aid - by directing families to get the best results (such as Merit aid vs. Need-based aid) • Participation in a core college selection process that starts and ends with a financial solution. • Coordination of tax benefits with 529 plans, Coverdell ESA’s, American Opportunity Act, etc. • Effective usage of asset and savings distribution strategies.

  5. Using a Tried and Proven Process CAN Get Great Results!

  6. Use this Process Within Your Existing Business Model • The EFC Path (Details on following slides) is a turnkey approach for school selection and maximizing financial aid. The cost ranges from $250 to $350 and can be priced in the $500 to $1,000 range as part of your accounting service. • The FAFSA Planner is a great complement when preparing the FAFSA for a client to help improve the student’s position when applying to colleges. The cost ranges from $100 to $250. • The Award Letter Analyzer/Appeal will determine the best direction for the student to take and prepare necessary paperwork to appeal awards, if necessary. The cost ranges from $100 to $250. • College planning can fill in gaps before and after tax season: • CSS/Profile preparation takes place toward the end of the year • FAFSA filing is in early January • Spring, Summer, and Fall seasons can be filled in with school selection • Fall and Winter seasons are an excellent time for analyzing and planning for financial aid

  7. The EFC Path:A Turnkey Solution for Accountants The Turnkey Process: • Determine what the schools expect the family to contribute • Understand student’s profile, family’s profile, income level, savings level, assets, and liabilities. The right balance in the individual components is critical in the making recommendations. Are levels consistent with those determined by EFC formula or Department of Education? • Determine the most effective financial path • School selection – Core school selection will also incorporate academic options that are tailored to the students and families profile • Add more schools based on individual preferences and other factors • Finalize selection and create a customized report. The report provides all the information you need to present it on your own. College Plan 101 will be available as a resource.

  8. What does the solution look like?Three Detailed Case Studies to Follow

  9. Case Study #1Student and Family Profile • The family had an Expected Family Contribution of $22,000 using the Institutional Methodology. • The student wanted to go to a highly selective college. Notre Dame, Carnegie Mellon, and Vanderbilt were some of the top schools. There was little flexibility in this requirement. • The family was intent on only focusing on schools that meet 100% of the financial need. • There was only one Georgia school that was of interest, Georgia Tech. • This was the first child in the family going to college so they were not familiar with the financial aid process. • Getting the right financial aid award was very important because there were younger children who would be going to college in a few years.

  10. Taking the Right Steps to get Great Results • The process begins by describing the framework on how to look at the college planning process. • We first explained the landscape of what students were faced with in the current economy. • Next we discussed the types of financial aid available and how to get it. • The next step was to help the student understand how she was best positioned for the different admissions models. • We then used search engines to expand the college search for an academic and financial fit • We reviewed the EFC with the family and made some changes to reduce it including spending down a UGMA/UTMA account.

  11. Here are the Actual Results! • The student was accepted to 8 schools and received solid financial aid packages from each of them. • The combined financial aid packages were in excess of $620,000. • They were able to leverage their financial aid packages to improve their final financial aid award. • The right financial aid award was a key factor in making their decision. After talking to the University of Virginia they learned that the only guaranteed award was for the current year. They then talked to Boston College. Boston College increased their initial award and guaranteed the award for 4 years. • The student is now thriving at Boston College.

  12. Case Study #2College Planning for a Business Owner

  13. Considerations for a Business Owner • Corporate Entity - Is business an S Corporation, LLC, C Corporation? Assessment of 47% can be reduced to as low as 0%. • Asset Ownership - How are assets owned? Individual versus business ownership will impact assessed value. • Asset Valuation - How is real estate valued? FMV, Tax Assessment, and sales comps are a few options. • Income Reduction - How will retirement plan contributions reduce income? The type of plan i.e. Profit Sharing, SEP IRA, or Defined Benefit is a factor. Will contribution be made by employer or employee.

  14. Determining What Schools Expect You to Contribute Calculate the Expected Contribution using the Federal Methodology and Institutional Methodology. The different methods have a major impact on how a business is valued. Here is the initial estimate of the EFC: Federal Methodology (FM) ResultsParents' Contribution for Student =$40,403 Student's Contribution =$2,000Total Estimated FM Contribution =$42,403 Institutional Methodology (IM) Results Parents' Contribution for Student =$63,073Student's Contribution =$4,300 Total Estimated IM Contribution =$67,373 Let’s look at the revised EFC on the following slide.

  15. Significant Results after EFC Review Federal Methodology (FM) Results Parents' Contribution for Student =$0 Student's Contribution =$0 • Total Estimated FM Contribution =$0 (compared to $42,403) Institutional Methodology (IM) Results Parents' Contribution for Student =$39,798 Student's Contribution =$1,800 • Total Estimated IM Contribution =$41,598 (compared to $67,373) ADJUSTED for business ownership, real estate valuation, and assets in student’s name

  16. Case Study #3 the Impact on Student’s School Selection • The initial college selection included a state public university, The University of Georgia ,and three competitive out of state colleges. • The Institutional Methodology was used by the out of state schools which would result in an expensive college experience. • In order to maximize financial aid opportunities, we also included schools that use the Federal Methodology. • Adding these schools to the mix created a competitive environment to help lower the cost of college for this student.

  17. How it works! This family was also interested in financing their child's college education with few resources. This student had primarily A’s in high school. He took the ACT and scored well with a 32. This student was interested in forensic medicine and in science. When selecting schools the family picked from the big-name colleges including: • Stanford • Emory • Scripps • Stetson • University of Georgia • University of Tennessee This family had a low expected family contribution of $2200 using the federal methodology and less than $1000 with the institutional methodology.

  18. Coming up with a solution • By selecting big-name colleges and schools that have a low acceptance rate, the family faced two huge hurdles—getting admitted and getting financial aid—and selecting schools on the West Coast further heightened the level of competition. We shared some options that could improve the student’s results include: • Expand the choice of colleges geographically • Diversify colleges by using a range of acceptance rates • Focus on schools that fill a high percentage of financial need. Starting with the EFC path, the school choices should be directed as follows: #1 – Schools that fill a high percentage of need #2 – Schools with the lowest price tags #3 – Schools that offer the largest merit aid packages. Next we looked at the schools that fit the above criteria.

  19. Schools to Consider • Expanded college options that fill a high percentage of need and screened for a financial fit are as follows:

  20. The results • The family had a new perspective on the direction they should be pursuing. • The new school selection created a competitive environment amongst the colleges which resulted in a variety of financial aid awards. • The student chose to go to a local college, Emory University, at a fraction of the price.

  21. Next Steps • Now that you see how adding a College Planning Service can benefit your accounting practice and your clients, give us a call and we’ll show you how easy it can be to get started. • CollegePlan 101 • 770-656-2885 • www.collegeplan101.com • info@collegeplan101.com

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