As others have said - pretty useless. Use the money elsewhere, such as talking courses to improve your child's SAT scores.

Ryan is jovial and fun in conversations. He will tell you that he knows the right things to say to colleges to get them to assist you with financial assistance. He knows the buzz words, he says. He's a great salesman. So, you might be tempted to pay the $1700 up front fee and the $40/month to receive a generalized newsletter in an email. You may do this thinking that it will all be worth it when he helps you negotiate the college costs in the end, because that is ultimately why you have hired him, right? But, in truth what you will receive for over $2500 in total is a plastic file folder box with files in it where you can keep the information from colleges. (This should cost around $20 if you purchase it yourself at Staples.) You will also receive monthly newsletters. If you want, you will be able to pay extra to receive a Myers Briggs test from a woman in his office. She is very nice and will talk to your kid about possible school choices. (The Myers Briggs test is available online for free, by the way.) Then, he will file your FAFSA for you, but might be a few days (or weeks) late in doing so. He will use generic passwords, the same ones he uses for his other clients. He will ask you not to change the passwords because it's easier for him if your password is the same as all of his clients. Finally, if your kid gets into their dream college (ranked in the top 15 universities in the nation), and are ready to make a decision, you might reach out to Ryan to ask for all of the negotiation help that he promised to deliver. Unfortunately, you will receive a very generic form letter with no school information or details. The letter starts out with something like, "While we appreciate the offer you gave to us, we would like for more aid in scholarships or grants..." There are no buzz words or inside knowledge. In the form letter you will find brackets that will say [insert details here] and you will find yourself doing much of the work that you have been paying for an expert to do. The generic letter might not help one bit and the esteemed university might tell you that you do not qualify for financial aid or assistance, despite a significant cut in income. When you ask Ryan for help with this, you will probably receive a response email that states something like, "Wow. This is great information for me to know. I had no idea this university wouldn't help out first year students. I have other clients interested in this university as well." Then the email will end with something like, "So thanks for this information. Wish it all worked out better for you." And, after all is said and done, you might feel very, very stupid for paying this nice salesman over $2500 for promises he did not deliver. But hey, you will still have a file box, a bunch of electronic newsletters, and he got to learn something from you about a university. And no, he will not refund you for the items he promised but did not deliver. read more

I attended one of the free workshops and was surprised by how little I knew about college aid, although we already had 3 children in college! The workshop was recommended by a friend who used Mr. Thomson to help his daughter with securing a leading private school for a fraction of the cost of a state school. The information given at the workshop was helpful and if you have kids in high school you are sure to learn something new that will be helpful with the college application process. We found this company a little too late. read more

During the College Funding Specialists sales pitch, the owner, Ryan will bend over backwards to tell you about all he can do to help you fund your student's college education with the FAFSA and government/private scholarship process. After the initial $1,600+ sale (not including the reoccurring monthly fee for as long as your student is enrolled in college), you can expect: Within the first couple months: -- A meeting with your student to review possible colleges -- A discussion about public/private scholarships -- Possibly an online student aptitude/personality evaluation -- A $20 plastic filing system for college-related paperwork and a meeting to explain how YOU use it to apply to colleges/for scholarships -- Preparation and and filing of your FAFSA online After initial processing and FAFSA filing: -- They will be late to meetings -- They will never check in with your student to check on progress/answer questions -- They will not help identify or apply for scholarships (beyond FAFSA prep) -- They will mix up your account with other clients -- They will not proactively call you -- They will miss your e-mails -- They will remain silent while college funding deadlines approach/pass -- They WILL continue to collect their monthly fee from you The name "College Funding Specialists" could not be further from the truth. Learn from my $2,000 mistake: DON"T HIRE THIS SNAKE OIL SALESMAN!!! If you just need help with the FAFSA - there are FAR more affordable and equally effective FAFSA preparation services out there, and far better uses for your hard earned college savings. Good luck! read more

Well I should have paid more attention to the timing of the reviews before signing up with Ryan for my son's college planning because the good reviews are from a few years ago and the most recent one is in 2017 so maybe he has just signed up so many people over the past few years that he doesn't have time to dedicate to really helping people. I paid Ryan the $1700 up front fee and then have to continue paying $40 a month on top of that starting my son's senior year and do this all the way until he completes college. My son has a 3.9 GPA on a 4.0 scale, 40 college hours, over 80 hours of community service and did well on this SAT test but somehow even after hiring Ryan, we ended up with no financial help and now...even after paying all of this money to Ryan...my son won't be going to college because we didn't end up with any sort of funding. Ryan will tell you how he is going to help you through this process but this is what you will get for $1700 + $40 a month starting senior year and all the way through high school. - Two online assessments that you child will take that helps them figure out what career is a good fit for them - One 80 minute meeting with a counselor to review the assessments and talk about career and college options (not saying all schools do but my son's counselor had a 1x1 meeting with me and him about this for FREE) - Welcome Kit (plastic file box ($15) with some filing folders ($10 to $15) and some print out information - Ryan just gave me the box and explained what was in each folder...nothing more) - One workshop that covers the application and essay process but it is crammed full of students he has signed up and is just a presentation...not really 1x1 help that you would expect for paying so much. My son left this very frustrated saying that she just went through everything really fast and it wasn't helpful for him. - You will get added to his monthly email list (reminders list and newsletter) - He creates your FASFA ID and password along with completing the FAFSA form for you (again, maybe not all schools but my son's ended offering several free sessions to help parents with this) - This one is my personal favorite...he will review all offer letters and give talking points and help parents negotiate with the college. I sent him my son's offer letters which were not what we expected at all with him being such a great student but Ryan didn't review them with us, didn't try to help explain anything...his reply was "Thank you for forwarding these. I have printed copies for the file. Very sorry to hear these updates." Let me mention that my email sending them to him was letting him know how crushed we were to get these offers and no offer of help or even reviewing them. So to break it down, you will be giving Ryan a LOT of money for monthly emails, two online assessments, one counselor meeting, a $30 welcome kit with printouts with information you could look up online, a crowded workshop to review the application/essay process, and he will complete the FAFSA for you. Don't expect any real guidance on how to get scholarships or funding because apparently that is on a printout in the Welcome Kit they give you which just directs you to websites you can go search for scholarships (so just google where to find scholarships). Don't expect him to review the college offer or help you get anything from the college. When I signed up he showed me a fancy offer letter where he helped someone get more money after his negotiation advice but again...all I got was "Very sorry to hear these updates." I think he definitely makes you feel up front that he will be able to help you get the most financial aid possible and I truly was excited to work with him to help my son but it is not what I thought I was paying for. Anything I got from Ryan, I could have easily worked with my school's counselor, the free workshops/sessions they were offering and just really researched stuff on google. I just think for the amount of money paid, it should be a lot more effort from Ryan to help ensure that you are getting the most financial aid possible and that is not what I got for the money I paid. To top it off, when I reached out expressing my concerns and issues...he never addressed any of my real concerns or offered in anyway to make it right. He just kept regurgitating the list of things he does...which by the way is EXACTLY what I said above but he will make it sound like it is more involved than that. It would have helped if after I repeatedly mentioned that he didn't review the offer letters, if he would have offered to review them or tell me what we could do. He also could have just been honest with himself and realized that he didn't help my son in anyway and offer to make it right somehow. I would like to think he does help some people and maybe we just were unlucky but I would like for him to be able to admit that he didn't help us and make it right...which he did not do! read more

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as your teen progresses through high school there will come a time when you must address his god given talents in terms of his potential future, and how to best prepare for whatever path he has chosen. if the chosen path involves higher education, you may try to think back to what types of things you (or your friends) had to do to prepare, apply, and pay for this higher education when you were his age -but those memories may be somewhat blurry and consequentially not very helpful. it's a complex world. there are standardized tests to be taken, and colleges to tour, and a narrowing down process, and an application process, maybe there are scholarship applications to be completed, and the dreaded college essay to be written, and of course the big question - how the heck to pay for all of this (college is ridiculously expensive in the US. in fact, if you can recall what you paid if you went to college once upon a time and multiply by some big number, that's still less than a college education costs today). it's a lot for a 16 year old kid to embrace what with all the homework shirking, detention garnering, hair flipping, eye rolling, and door slamming that occupies the majority of his time. he will need your guidance, and gentle but constant shoving in order to get through all of this and off to university - but your memory is dim and, well, it's a complex world. enter college funding specialists. ryan is at the helm and knows his stuff. he will take your pain away. he will answer your questions. he will provide the guidance you and your kiddo will need to survive this ordeal and get what you want in the end. he and his staff will hold your hand through every single step from career counselling to standardized test taking to college selection to applications and straight through to the thing we all sweat the most - the financial part (the dreaded gov't FAFSA), and the where, how, and when of amassing the money needed to make this all happen. ryan and his staff are affordable and affable, and most of all knowledgeable and _current_. and your kid is more likely to listen because it's not just you blab blab blabbing at him in charlie brown's teacher's voice - but rather it is ryan and his team, and their proven track record, which speaks for itself. got more than one kid headed in this direction? college funding specialists offers a great discounted family rate. they are fair, honest, hardworking and worth every penny. turn your worries over to CFS and watch your kid take off. read more

Very little help/advice/use for the money we paid. Nothing you can't google or talk to a high school counselor with for free.

We hired Ryan 3 years ago when our youngest son was applying to colleges and we are so glad we did!! Ryan is very knowledgeable about the whole process. We couldn't have done it without him. I only wish we would have known about him when our oldest was applying. He offers a free consultation and from there he will guide you on the path that is best for the student. I can't say enough good things about him. You will not be disappointed!! read more