Video Overview of CFS Client Care Center

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The CFS Client Care Center

To fullfill our mission of helping you - a NAPFA fee-only advisor - help your clients save ON the cost of a college education and become the one-stop-shop for college planning services, CFS offers the Client Care Center - a premier college admissions and financial aid service available exclusively through CFS.
  1. Watch the video that you can share with your prospects
  2. Review services offered by the client care center
  3. Review fees
  4. Review FAQ's

 

STEP 1. Watch Video - See how CFS will help you market these services to prospects

CLICK HERE to watch overview of college admission, financial aid and the CFS Client Care Center services.

Runtime: 20 minutes
Requires: Adobe Flash Plugin		   Watch the Video

 

STEP 2. Review Services

To review the Client Care Center services:
2.1 Identify and apply to prospective schools
Challenges Standard Client Care Center Service Premier Client Care Center Service Cost savings – specific examples*
Knowing which colleges will really want your student   College Search Cost of one extra year of college due to, transfer = $16,000- $50,000+
Many students apply up to 10+ schools
Expensive and time consuming.
Average school app exceeds $50 Personality Profile and Majors/Career Search Loss of one productive year cannot be quantified by money alone
Average campus visit - $100
Applying to college with little knowledge of cost or financial aid
Test Preparation Service By improving test scores, the student improves their chances for admission and merit awards
*Every family, student, and institution is unique which accounts for ranges
2.2: Apply for financial aid
Challenges Standard Client Care Center Service Premier Client Care Center Service Cost savings – specific examples*
Unlike the purchase of a product or service, parents won't know how much the bill is until three months after they've sent in the NON-refundable deposit Personal Financial Aid Counseling Personal Financial Aid Counseling $5,000-$15,000
Financial aid system and process often counterintuitive, time consuming, difficult and unfair Secure Student Financial Aid Website Secure Student Financial Aid Website No time lost searching for financial information
Some families may be required to complete up to 7 forms NOT including federal verification form and submitting of federal tax returns and W-2's Student Data Reviewed for Accuracy Student Data Reviewed for Accuracy $3,000-$50,000
Up to 30 steps in the process Financial Aid Requirements for Each College Financial Aid Requirements for Each College No delays means receiving first come first served funds $10,500+
Errors are costly Complete and File the FAFSA Complete and File the FAFSA All need based aid and sometimes merit aid $34,000
Forms are complex and confusing
Knowing what information to provide the financial aid department
Organizing and satisfying each schools requirements and meeting deadlines Complete and File the CSS/Profile® Application Complete and File the CSS/Profile® Application All need based aid and sometimes merit aid $34,000
Parents spend hours completing just the FAFSA form Assistance With School Specific Financial Aid Forms Assistance With School Specific Financial Aid Forms  
Very stressful
2.3: Analyze financial aid offers
Challenges Standard Client Care Center Service Premier Client Care Center Service Cost savings – specific examples*

Are they fair?

 Evaluate Financial Aid Offers Evaluate Financial Aid Offers  

What is actual cost to the parents and the student?

Coaching to Improve Financial Aid Offers Coaching to Improve Financial Aid Offers

$3,000-$15,000 average
What recourse is there? Financial Aid Leveraging** Financial Aid Leveraging

$7,000 average

Appeal Financial Aid Awards Appeal Financial Aid Awards Can exceed $18,000
**Financial aid leveraging can only be done if competing colleges are applied to and the student is competitive at those colleges. If the family does not opt for the Premier Service and hasn't selected schools where leveraging is a possibility, then this is NOT part of the Standard Service.
2.4: Choose school and accept award
2.5: Loan for covering shortfalls
Challenges Standard Client Care Center Service Premier Client Care Center Service Cost savings – specific examples*
Knowing from whom to borrow, how much and at what terms Evaluate College Loans Evaluate College Loans Save between $9,000 & $98,000 on a combined 4 year college loan of $100,000 (assuming gov't loans vs private loan)

 

STEP 3. Review Fees

Fees for the Standard and Premier Services - Below are the fees to the advisor for the two services. Payment is made by the advisor to CFS via e-commerce during the client registration process. Advisors set the cost of the service for the client and collects the fee from the client. For example, advisor may set his fee for the Premier Service at $2,000 for a $800 margin.

  1. Standard Service: Advisor cost is $800
  2. Premier Service: Advisor cost is $1,200

 

STEP 4. Review FAQ's

Frequently Asked Questions: (Click on a question below to view the answer)

1. Why should my clients enroll with the Client Care Center?
Short of buying a home, the investment many parents make towards their children's college educations will be the largest they make in their lives. As long as you have a strategy to pay for college and control what you can control, you have a high probability of success.
2. I have clients that make too much money and won't qualify for financial aid. Can the Client Care Center help?
Many families with six figure incomes are surprised to learn they too can qualify for financial aid. The financial aid office at Dartmouth College, and anyone associated with financial aid will tell you that every family, regardless of income, should apply. In addition merit based scholarships and grants that are given out independent of financial status are often contingent on filing financial aid forms. Likewise with the Stafford and PLUS loan programs which are often excellent loan strategies for the more affluent clients.
3. What is considered a successful outcome for the family?
A successful outcome consists of a financial aid award comprised mostly of free money versus loans.
4. Can you guarantee that my client’s student will receive financial aid?
It is unethical to promote these kinds of guarantees, as it is impossible to know what a college will offer a student. The best we can offer is to use our many years of experience and expertise to ensure that the financial aid process is accurately and timely completed in order to maximize the student's aid eligibility.
5. Couldn't clients just do this themselves?
Absolutely. Just so long as they’re willing to become an expert on the admissions process and it's impact on financial aid, as well as the thousands of pages of rules and regulations required to take full advantage of the process. Each family is unique and it takes an experienced financial aid specialist to know how to advise the family.
6. Why do high schools and colleges discourage parents from paying someone to fill out a free form, such as the FAFSA?
There are several reasons. First, there is no charge for completing the FAFSA. The idea that you shouldn't pay someone to complete the FAFSA for you came from companies that preyed on unsuspecting parents with guarantees of free money. These are the 'scholarship scams' that you've been warned about. No one can promise you that your client’s student will be guaranteed of anything. We agree that these scholarship scams and companies that offer free money for a fee is a complete waste of money and a rip-off.
7. I've seen posters at my high school that reads '8 easy steps to get financial aid'. Why do they say that if it isn't true?
Ask any parent who has gone through the process of applying for financial aid and paying the rest with loans or income and assets will likely tell you that applying for free money is anything but easy.
Something that isn't addressed by guidance counselors and financial aid directors is that there is no charge to file your own taxes. You can fill out the 1040 for free. However, many taxpayers choose to purchase tax return software, hire a tax service or accountant/CPA. Why is that? Because the tax laws are confusing and it's to your benefit to get professional help so you don't pay a penny more in taxes than you have to. Same idea with admissions and financial aid.
8. Can't the colleges help my clients?
The smaller colleges are more likely to help with the forms than the big universities. If your clients go that route, in essence, they are showing the school all of their cards, which could cost the family a lot of money.
Look at it from this perspective: colleges can't serve two masters. They're looking to protect their interest's first and help the family second. To maximize the financial aid potential at any college, you need to know what they know while telling them as little as possible.
9. How does the CFS Client Care Center help?
Parents today are really busy. We act as their personal financial aid advocate or if you wish counselor, as well as administrator of all of the paperwork involved. The current FAFSA has 202 entries, while the federal 1040 has a mere 76 by comparison. However, the CFS Client Care Center is not about filling in forms. It's about the entire financial aid process which includes some key elements: making sure the family’s financial data is presented in the best possible light, that all of their information is consistent so as not to draw questions that they may not be prepared to answer in a way that is not in their best interest, updating their tax information, evaluating their student's financial aid awards for fairness and advising them what to do if the award is less than expected.
10. What are some of the problems that parents experience?
Like anything else, there can be difficulties. The CFS Client Care Center is intended for the active parent who doesn't have time to squeeze one more thing into their already hectic schedule. Problems that parents encounter are data mismatches, errors on forms, including financial information that should have been left out, etc. Our Client Care Center professionals have years of experience and are experts at dealing with the many issues and problems so that your clients don't have to spend hours figuring out what went wrong.
11. I've heard colleges will negotiate or give discounts on tuition. Is this true?
Colleges will deny that they "negotiate" with parents, but the fact is that if the school wants your student, they may sweeten their initial aid offer during the appeals process. Odds of receiving a preferential financial aid award are improved if the school really wants the student because of a special skill, talent or scholastic achievement.
12. How does the CF Client Care Center interface with my client?
Clients are provided their own secure, web-based interface. All of the information that will be used to complete their student's forms is available to them 24/7.
For each of the student's colleges, we will advise the family of any additional requirements and forms, assist with the Early Decision/Early Action process, as well as their deadlines, etc.
We follow up with the family if there are steps that are required before we can proceed with the financial aid process, first by email, then by telephone.
The family is kept appraised of tasks completed on their behalf and copies of all forms submitted.
The Client Care Center is available to assist the family with questions and concerns, and we make it a point to return phone calls and emails.
13. How long does the service last?
The service begins when the student is enrolled with the Client Care Center until the time they enter college.
14. Is there a discount for additional children in the family?
The short answer is no. The work for each student in the family is unique to them and so the work can't be duplicated. We have priced our services so as to be affordable to as many families as possible while maintaining the highest standard of client care.
15. Does my client have to have use the service through the college years?
Since the student has to reapply for financial aid each year that they are in school, we highly recommended that the family continue with the Client Care Center to ensure that their aid is properly renewed. Rules, regulations, policies, and even the forms change each year.

Some loans are more advantageous than others. We evaluate your loan options and create a responsible borrowing plan/repayment schedule that eliminates the debt efficiently over time in a way that works for you.
The financial aid process doesn't often take into consideration special family circumstances. Even if our college funding strategy is followed, a more aggressive approach may be required. Should the family need an in-depth appeals campaign, recommendations will be made at that time and may include the writing of letters to be signed by the parents.
Colleges can often be urged to improve an aid offer if it's compared to a better award package from a competitive school. We’ll recommend which colleges a student should apply to in order to best leverage them against their top school choices.
Colleges often deliberately offer the least amount of aid to attract your student. We provide professional advice on how to request a better award.
The best looking offer may not be your best deal. We evaluate each award for fairness and let families know if they should accept it, appeal it, or use it to leverage against other financial aid offers.
Some colleges require additional paper forms that must be hand-written and signed. We provide personal assistance and support on the completion of these forms.
We’ll complete and files the CSS/Profile® application, which in addition to the FAFSA is required by many of the most competitive colleges. This application is more detailed and exacting than the FAFSA. Schools requiring the Profile typically offer more aid. Therefore, it’s crucial that it be completed accurately and on time.
We’ll complete and file the FAFSA, required by almost all schools, which saves hours of time and potentially costly mistakes that end up costing students thousands of dollars in missed aid.
The Client Care Center keeps parents informed well in advance of the specific requirements for each college, as well as a completion timeline. Missed deadlines, especially for first-year applicants, can be very expensive in lost aid and can even impact subsequent years. We make sure that all steps are completed accurately and on time.
Financial aid applications are much more complicated than tax forms, and simple errors can cost thousands in lost financial aid. The Client Care Center reviews each student's record for inconsistencies and common mistakes to ensure accuracy and completeness.
The Client Care Center provides each family with secure 24/7 web-based access to all of the information that is used to file their student's forms. Parents are able to update and amend the student's record as needed, and add or delete colleges at their own convenience.
We’ll provide expert guidance throughout the entire financial aid process. We have 15 years of experience with the ever-changing rules, regulations, and forms and how colleges award grants and scholarships in order to help increase a student’s eligibility for financial aid.
When parents see the requirements for the scholarships at the colleges their child is interested in, they know if their student qualifies or not. Because standardized test scores play a major role in the student being offered merit scholarships, taking a test prep course can put the student “in the money”. Through our Bridges Transitions program, students can improve their test scores using testGEAR®. testGEAR® gives students the practice they need to reach their full potential on college entrance exams like the SAT®, PSAT and ACT™. This online learning system adapts to each student's needs by targeting their weaknesses and helping them to build necessary skills. By improving test scores, the student improves their chances for admission and merit awards that can total up to $25,000 or more per college.
Your child has their own unique personality and so does each college and university. The challenge of finding the right college fit(s) is to identify the personality characteristics that compliment each other. Our Client Care Center can recommend specific colleges and universities that offer a complementary fit for your student, based on a Personality Profile and Careers Search.
Getting accepted at a prestigious private college or well-known state university doesn't always mean a successful college experience. A full scholarship is meaningless if your student decides they have to transfer to another college. Our Client Care Center offers a college-matching program that will provide a list of colleges likely to offer preferential aid packages because the student is a good match for the college. This increases the probability your child will graduate in only four years with a productive and worthwhile degree.