I wanted to update my review now that my daughter is in college, thanks to Brian and his team. I had spoke to Brian when my daughter was in High School. She did not have a clear objective and Brian said that she should go to COC until she figures out a plan as many students return from college when they don't have a clear plan. We started working with Brian about 6 months before she finished her 60 units at COC and cut it pretty close to application time, but Brian and his team were on top of it. In the end, my daughter was accepted to every college she applied to which were not only top schools in general, but the top schools for her major, Anthropology. UCLA USC BERKLEY UCSD and 5 other "safe" schools. She ultimately chose UCLA. I used College Planning Experts despite the fact that I am a disabled Veteran which afforded me the opportunity to have our tuition paid for. What I am trying to say is that we did not get any financial assistance by using CPE, and STILL the value they provided was huge and without their help there is no way my daughter would have gotten into all these top schools. Now my daughter is talking Graduate School at Berkley so I am hoping Brian (and am sure he is) is able to help us with that as well. read more

I hired College Planning Experts for my daughter, and they delivered on what they advertise. Very professional, easy to work with, and my daughter got into her dream college with a huge scholarship, financial aid package, and degree. We now have another daughter who wants to go to college, and we will be hiring College Planning Experts to help her. Best money we've ever spent for our kids! I highly recommend them to anyone looking for help with college Planning and strategy. read more

We used college planning services for three of our children. They all went to their school of choice and are happy about them. The college planning experts helped them to decide which colleges to apply step by step and provided guidance on essays, which we could not have done ourselves. They also gave us helpful financial advice. Overall we appreciate their services. read more

I have not checked this for a while and just read Brain's message to me. My statement is not false, I actually hired a lawyer to get my money back. And I DID. If you have problems with him, you should do the same. That's the only way you can deal with him. Good luck! read more

Wow such awesome information! Every parent who is planning to have their child attend college should attend a session. . Highly recommend

I attended this workshop with a couple weeks before the California FAFSA deadline, I should have started this process freshman year. I did sign up for a 1:1 session and was given many useful tips and a video for review while filling out FAFSA. Thank you College Planning Experts the award letters are coming in and your calculations were spot on!! I highly recommend these services!!! read more

I should have noticed the red flags when I walked into the lobby of College Planning Experts...the absence of a receptionist...the miniature dog walking around freely wearing a dog sweater...the pictures of the owner standing next to has-been reality stars. Hmmmm, but decided not to make judgment...yet. Brian Safdari, the owner, has made a business of advising parents on paying for their children's education. I'm sure he will tell you about his professional soccer career that never materialized. Most people find him through free seminars that he gives throughout the SCV. During these seminars he hands out a "limited number" of free consultations. He emphasizes that financial aid is based on the EFC, estimated family contribution. This is the dollar figure your family is expected to pay for your childs education. He claims he has a program that can produce the lowest EFC, therefore, less money leaving your pocket. All for the low price of $750. Well, I am ashamed to admit that I bought his dog and pony show. He, or his assistants, filled out the financial aid forms and came up with an EFC and told me he saved me about a $1000. I wrote him a check and walked out of his office wondering if this guy bamboozled me. So I went home and filled out the same financial aid forms and came up with a lower EFC! Immediately I called Brian and told him. He defended himself and told me I was using the wrong numbers (the numbers I used were the same numbers I provided Brian). He refused to give me my money back until I filed a Small Claims suit. Long story short, at least I can say I know someone who had their picture taken with a former Apprentice winner and Gene Simmons! read more

This review is way overdue, however I wanted to express my appreciation to Brian and his team for helping my daughter get into UCLA. She graduated from UCLA pre-covid in 2019, and I was a Platinum client of CPE. I was referred to them from a friend of mine, whose daughter got into great Universities in Boston. Brian did his presentation to the high school parents at St. Genevieve HS back in 2014-2015 and I signed up! Brian and his staff helped with the FAFSA and provided priceless expertise, which assisted us in obtaining full financial aid! I only had to pay for housing since for her freshman year she wanted to live on campus. If she decides to pursue her Masters, I may need to contact CPE again in order to make her dreams come true. By the way, UCLA was not the only college, she applied at many others and was accepted to all. I feel that without their help and assistance, it may not have happened as well as it did. I am grateful to CPE and feel that it was money well spent. read more

Not convinced they're worth one star! Advised us to cash out our 529, put in a whole life policy, use federal $$ to finance our son's education with loans, then repay with whole life policy. Only problem...they neglected to mention the tax consequences!!! We could have used the 529 monies, NOT borrowed money/pay interest, NOT paid taxes, and NOT paid College Planning Experts $3500 instead!! Worst 'experts' ever! read more

The team at CPE is simply the best! They assist with financial aid and various grants. The counselor, Irene, offers crucial advice and support throughout the planning process. She's honest with students, incredibly patient, and very knowledgeable. CPE is a great investment. read more

Love helping families find the best fit college!! Knowledgable and educated staff, family atmosphere and great options! Come join me read more

College Planning Experts - College Counseling Near Me - Northridge, California

As a student of College Planning Experts, I wouldn't have been able to get into UC San Diego without the help of CPE. It was really important for me to get into the top college of my choice. I am now in my 4th year and almost done with college with only $25,000 in loans. The career I am pursuing as an engineer will allow me to make over $100,000 in income and I will be employed immediately after college. CPE has a great system that helped me plan my career first (4 years ago), plan my majors that applied to me, and the best fit college that would allow me the most success after college. All of this happened because of CPE and their staff. My parents' biggest concern when we started CPE was the cost of college. They had a certain budget for me and Brian and his staff were able to get me enough financial aid and grants to allow my parents to fund my college education. We highly recommend CPE to anyone that wants to avoid the stress of the college planning process. It truly will pay off! read more

The team does a fantastic job of explaining the nuances of the college application and financial commitment process. read more

College Planning Experts - College Counseling Near Me - Northridge, California

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College Planning Experts is a SCAM! I fell for it but I am warning others to avoid them. They offer nothing of value unless you are disabled and unable to use a pen and paper or computer. The advice and help they charge you for is available for FREE at your local high school and college. BEWARE!!! read more

Two free rides to private colleges and acceptance to six other schools. College Planning Experts. Best money I ever spent. Irene is amazing. My daughter is thrilled. So am I. Thx. CPE. Sari Weiner Woodland Hills Ca read more

We had a great experience with College Planning Experts. Because of their financial planning, we got an EXCELLENT financial aid package at a private school and are actually paying less than we would for a public university - all the while putting money away for our future. I think my favorite part of the whole experience was working with Brian. He's very friendly, down-to-earth, and knowledgable. I definitely recommend them. Irene was great too, helping my son stay on track of all that needed to be done for college applications. It was definitely helpful in relieving most of the stress of the application process. read more

We have been working with College Planning Experts since my son has been a junior in high school . Brian , has been extremely helpful with guiding us through the financial aid process. We are very grateful for his knowledge and expertise. Irene Chung, the college counselor, has been a tremendous help with college application process and has made sure my son always planned ahead and met all the deadlines . Trust me, assisting with college apps is a full time job and we couldn't have done it without Irene's help . Proud to say that my son did get admitted to his number one school , USC , and will be attending this fall . Again , a big Thank you to the team at College Planning Experts . Look forward to continue working with you for my daughter , which is coming up soon . read more

We loved our experience with daughter #1 and they walked us through financing which was so helpful. She was the easy customer with straight "A" s and the college she was determined to go to. We had issues with daughter #2 who majored in musical theater. The counselor neglected to note different application deadlines. My oldest daughter swept in to help meet as many as possible but we never got an apology from the counselor. We ended up with financing issues with this daughter also. They've now merged with a separate money group and Brian has worked hard to keep us satisfied read more

This is a great service for college planning. We have been with Brian for four years. He has guided us through our daughters college experience. It is the best decision we have made. read more

I utilized College Planning Experts last year. Halfway through the process I realized that there was very little guidance and value provided to us and demanded a full refund of our fees. Brian utilizes the service as a platform to sell high cost life insurance policies to families to finance their child's education. See my letter to Brian demanding a full refund, which by the way he provided. For more information on College Planners and a Code of Ethics visit the following website. If you would like to know what we did after we left College Planning Experts I would be happy to talk with you. http://www.niccp.com/ Brian Safdari College Planning Experts 25115 Avenue Stanford Unit B-225 Valencia CA 91355 Dear Mr. Safdari: This letter is to notify you that I am terminating my relationship with College Planning Experts effective immediately. Six months ago I contracted with you and your company in the hopes that I would be provided the necessary consulting and guidance to make the right decisions in the selection and financing of a college for my son. The real value towards any college planning service is to provide personalized help in the packaging of student applications, and in providing a real plan, not general strategies, to finance his college education. Your service was deficient in both areas. The primary reasons for my decision are as follows: 1. Lack of Attention to Detail The forms that you have filled out have been prone to errors. In the initial College Financial Aid Report you misspelled my son's name, filled out the wrong college (Notre Dame de Namur) ,and did not omit colleges that my son had removed from his prospective list. (Cornell University) Your failure to update these forms caused me spend money on unnecessary processing fees to Cornell that I would otherwise avoided. Not surprisingly, your office did not offer to reimburse me for your mistake. 2. Failure to Provide FAFSA PIN Codes When I requested our FAFSA PIN Codes several weeks ago you failed to respond to my request. It took two more attempts to finally get the proper PIN codes from your office almost 24 hours later. I am sure that you know these codes are supposed to be created solely by parents and students. 3. Lack of Personalized Guidance Although your organization promises personalized help to get through the college application and financing maze, in fact you provided very little guidance. My meetings with you surrounding college financing were totally unproductive. Most of the discussion revolved around financing options that no rational person would consider, including raiding 401K accounts, buying very expensive life insurance policies, or taking out ridiculously expensive loans. Worse yet, your meetings and e-mail communications urge me to choose a plan to finance college costs. While the outline of a plan can be constructed, it is impossible to finish the plan without the cost and award information on the individual schools themselves. Not once in over 5 hours of meetings with you, was any specific information discussed about the actual colleges my son applied to, their respective costs of attendance, and their financial aid track records. I have since built a six year plan college plan for my two boys that includes merit scholarships, work study, need based aid, Stafford loans, summer jobs, and 529's, as opposed to your recommended purchase of a single premium whole life policy of 220,000. 4. Inaccurate/ Missing Information Your idea that life insurance is a savings or investment vehicle for college is totally ridiculous. Life insurance, either whole life or term, are products principally to manage risk and are not intended to be part of a college finance plan. I explained that I was not interested in leveraging up my real estate assets to buy whole life insurance policies that your firm markets. You stated to me that the asset calculation formulas were raised from 5.6% to 12.0% this year by "private schools". I have checked your assertion with multiple sources, including the individual school's financial aid officers and found it to be a false statement. Finally, after further research I have regretfully learned that your failure to alert me to the Cal Grant loan programs in late fall cost my son a chance at receiving 32,000-39,000.00 dollars in grant money over a four year period. Had I been informed of the qualifications for this program I could have deferred 2009 income and made other adjustments that would have qualified my son for this grant money. Accordingly, I am demanding that you return my entire file and provide a full refund of my entire balance of 3,282.00 that I have paid College Planning Experts. Please send this refund to my office. If you fail to provide this refund by above deadline I will be forced to take further action against College Planning Experts. read more

I was hesitant at first but seeing everything they are doing to help my child through the lengthy and sometimes confusing process of applying to colleges is amazing! I truly recommend this program to everyone that wants to have a helping hand through this scary process. read more

Phenomenal company. Everyone is so helpful, especially Irene in counseling. She is the best at what she does!

These guys are the real deal and helped me out with me get the most financial aid I could possibly get! I really am not sure how they were able to get me so much seemingly free money! Definitely check them out and see what they can do for you, i highly recommend it! read more

CPE is incredible! Brian and his staff have helped my family for years. Highly recommend!

College planning experts did so much for me! They helped me get into my dream school. I want to say thank you to all the staff and especially Rudy! read more

We found College Planning Experts thru a recommendation. I was so concerned we were not going to be able to meet all deadlines and complete paperwork properly. But every time we meet with the staff they have helped alleviate those fears. My daughter's counselor has been such a support to her that I feel so much more confident about our choice to enlist the services of College Planning Experts. read more

Glad I avoided this land mine. The phone jockeys here are good at establishing a connection with potential clients by spending lots of time pitching college planning expertise, thousands in savings, and collecting lots of information on your finances and kids' college plans vs gpa, sports, etc. They are without argument very good at their jobs. Here's where the wheels fall off... Based on the info you share, you would expect some thoughts around strategy or an estimate of college savings from their strategies. Nope. Just the line, "we are confident we can save you multiples of what we charge you." They want to charge you $3-5k on average if you have one kid, more if multiple kids. When I hear the word "multiples" I think 3-5x, wouldn't you? So pick the 4x midpoint and apply it to the $5k they wanted to charge me = $20k/ yr in college savings they were suggesting. Cool, let's look further into this and ask specifically how they're going to accomplish this. The phone jockey, although very professional and polite, knew nothing and deferred to "Brian" every time I would push for any real information. Then before scheduling a meeting with Brian their fee schedules were presented. I thought to myself that I'm in the wrong business if they get paid thousands and thousands for this "service". They set the hook pretty well into this fish so I did some online research on this company before walking away. What I learned was more alarming than my initial concerns about price vs value delivered... Here's their core business model: They generate leads through holding "college planning" seminars. These generate leads, or vulnerable parents of college bound kids, who follow up with CPE and Brian uses the opportunity to sell them annuities (insurance products) for which he receives a very, very lucrative commission. In case you didn't know, commissions for this type of investment are about 50%. And unfortunately, annuities are not even a valid college financial planning strategy. After collecting all of these facts I told the phone jockey, as nice as he was, that I have no interest in dealing with CPE nor Brian. He didn't sound surprised and even had a canned response which I won't go into here. I'm sure the list of suckers is long enough that they don't spend a second thinking about the fish that got away. Now they're trying to hook you...are you savvy enough to not be the sucker? If you're reading this I hope you know the answer. read more

The people were all very nice, but in this case, nice did not help much. I paid them several thousand plus for platinum service and another $497 for my son (who has a disability) except the person who sold that to me left the company and no one else seemed to know what the $497 for my son was for - even after a year of my asking about it. I got the $497 back finally after asking for it multiple times. This platinum plan apparently only lasted through the school year and access got cut off before she actually even got into colleges which was a surprise and everyone then kept ignoring my emails which I thought was very rude. I called and sent emails to all the addresses I had and complained and finally someone got back to me and they continued our access for a few more months. We barely used any services and my daughter hardly got into any colleges she applied to, even though she had over a 4.3 GPA and almost 2000 on the SAT. Fortunately, she got merit awards/academic scholarships/talent scholarships from some schools, though none of her favorite schools. I thought they'd help more throughout the whole auditioning/interview process, but not until I pointed out how confusing that all was and complained about it did they start helping with that part. By then, it was really too late for them to help much. They did review her essays and liked them, but that did not help her get into colleges. We are still trying to figure out why others with lower SAT scores, lower GPA, and less leadership activities and awards got into schools that she did not get into. I expected white glove treatment for this price and certainly more than one year of just filing out the fafsa and profile and a couple of counseling meetings and some information. Mostly, we just felt a lot of pressure to invest in certain things to help reduce our assets for her to go to college. They also wanted us to get all the money out of the 529 plans we had. We did not do this, and I am glad we did not. Maybe it would've worked out, but our income level is the main reason we can't get much in the way of financial aid, and the assets don't count that much in our case. So it would not have made much difference, and since she just used her academic/talent scholarships, it made no difference at all. I feel this money and time was wasted and I'd rather have that money to apply towards her tuition and wish we'd spent time looking for lots of academic, leadership, and talent scholarships. What I wouldn't give to have that money back now. Maybe in some cases, their services are very helpful. In our case, they were not. read more

Wow! I'm so glad I found Kelly Mattinson! In just one conversation she saved me over 7K a year for my son's college tuition. My experience with them and specifically Kelly has been a dream come true. I figure over the four years for my son they will have saved me over 40K! If I could give them a million stars I would! Not only do they help with the tedious FAFSA forms but they help your child find a school that is the best fit for them. If you have a teenager, this service is a no brainer! You will save far more than it will cost to use their services. read more

If you're looking for help getting college preparation for you child, this is the place for you. The process is difficult at best. College Planning Experts hand walked my granddaughter through the process and helped her in getting scholarships we would have never known existed. Even after the major process was done, they still were helpful in making sure we understood the next steps. They were great in helping with all the financial paperwork as well. -Sincerely, Berta Gunn read more

College Planning Experts have been awesome! They offer something for everyone. I am not a parent planning college for my kids; I am an adult college graduate planning to go back to school to obtain my MBA. I wish I had found them while planning for my bachelor's degree. Back then, my financial aid department never explained the importance of my EFC score and how details in my financial records could dictate how much aid I received. Also, they offer documents and resources for students such as links to Fafsa, EFC calculators and applications for grants. I recommend College Planning Experts for anyone planning for college for themselves or their children. read more

I attended 3 college planning workshops and after months of research, I learned that Brian has been the most reputable of all college planners I met. I liked that he has a passion for helping kids and making college affordable for parents. He had so many positive reviews and the only guy approved by many high school counselors. I also learned through my research that several college planners out there actually worked or trained by Brian. Also, be careful that many college planners actually outsource their work in a different state or some hire entry level assistants without college experience. I also met some college planners without degrees themselves. Why would you work with inexperienced people for your child's college education? Brian has counselors with masters degree, college admissions, and financial aid experts on his team, plus they are all so genuine, friendly, and experienced. I am surprised reading a few of the negative reviews here. I had nothing but a positive experience and received so many tips that actually saved me thousands of dollars for my family. read more

College Planning Experts has been extremely helpful in assisting my son and daughter in their college application process, especially with my son being a senior. They have been very cooperative with their service; helping my teens' search for a career area, thinking about the long-term plans from now till post-college. In every step of the way, Heather has been very helpful in steering my kids through the process. Their financial aid guidance is greatly impactful as well, finding every way to save each dollar. Brian is very knowledgeable in the financial aspects and has been extremely helpful in our needs. I trust and respect his guidance. Without their service in driving this long process, it would have only left us all with stress ten-fold! I would highly recommend CPE to help my family and friends with their college planning! Thank you CPE! read more

So far they have given my wife and I MUCH valuable information we didn't know was out there !

College Planning Experts have been extremely helpful in managing the college application process for our children. Heather and Brian are very knowledgable and supportive with essays, supplements, deadlines and financial strategies. They have certainly relieved some of the pressure and stress. read more

It's the message on their answering machine that should have been my clue to run like hell "We'll get back to you within 3 business days". Are you kidding me!! I'd like to use that one on my boss. The dog running around should have been a red flag, too. So after paying $7,000 for CPE to help my son prepare for college interviews and write essays, he missed two deadlines for interview requests. I was out of town dealing with a dying father and I thought I could depend on them. Save your money and go to collegeboard.com to get all the info and services you need. Same here with wrong info on FAFSA and CSS form. Not spelling my son's name correctly, too, to start with. I told them to let me file my own damn forms instead of constantly correcting theirs over and over again. Their "risk free" solution to getting financial aid was deemed a little too risky by every tax accountant, CPA, attorney, financial advisor I spoke to. Find an experienced parent who has gone through the process to help you and save your money and your mind. read more

Buyer Beware! College Planning Experts sells its range of services to nervous and vulnerable parents on the brink of sending their baby to college. They convince parents that tackling financial aid on their own is a risky business and then turn around and charge families a hefty price to fill the forms out for you. In addition, they "help" you with future financial planning by selling a life insurance policy as a means of saving to pay off college loans in the future. This is where it really gets shady. What they didn't explain clearly to us was that the cost of that insurance was $8,000/year. When we needed to withdraw our savings due to unforeseen financial hardship, we lost nearly $10,000. They did not give us enough information in laymen's terms to evaluate the plan. Overall, they are selling a sense of security and support in a situation that seems daunting at first, but you are much better off learning the ropes yourself and saving lots of money that you can actually put towards your child's education. read more

I was truly impressed by Nathan Travers and the advice he gave me this year. Although I quickly learned that it was a bit late in the process to use much of the help that College Planning Experts provided for a graduating Senior, Nathan was very honest and helpful explaining to me the areas that were left to tackle - scholarships and financial aid. Most importantly, I learned that planning should start far earlier than Senior year of high school - college admittance is competitive! When I first talked to a company representative at a College Fair, I was skeptical about them. But the more time I spent talking with Brian, I could truly see the value of working with this company in an effort to make college possible and affordable. I hope that anyone who reads this will ask to work with Nathan - I could easily ascertain how much he loved helping his clients maneuver the overwhelming college process in the most successful way possible. read more