College Planning NetworkReviews of collegeplanningnet.com

I was hopeful for the support they claimed they could provide. I paid $3400 for their mid-tier services. I had a call with their CCFC, who basically said you will pay full price. Take from your 401K to pay for college. That's not help or a solution, that's a tragedy. After no response RE: FAFSA/CSS after sending financial docs, I have called and called and called, with no response. I have emailed and emailed and emailed, with no response. I have no FAFSA filing. I have no CSS profile. My son already had his list of colleges and his essay mostly done. Their review basically stated "delete paragraph 2". I did most of the work to give him essay feedback based on other online searching and webinars. What a scam!!! If they weren't scamming me, they would have returned contact by phone and/or email.

Very expensive: high initial fee plus ongoing monthly fee. "financial planner" asked me to give control of all my rollover IRA's to him, promised higher than market returns and advised using retirement funds to fund college - which is TERRIBLE financial advice (withdrawal penalties, etc). We tried several live seminars which were all plagued with technical problems. Online resources have content that is all available on YouTube from other creators for free. "application advisor" recommended my kid get one more activity to pad their application, regardless of interests or time in their schedule. kids are in at all their top tier schools and (full disclosure) were deferred at the one elite school to which they applied. they tout a math model to estimate child's chance of getting into a specific college - which is 100% irrelevant; either they get in or not. We didn't get any "80%" admitted letters. they offer to negotiate financial aid and scholarship offers. kids got the highest scholarship offers from all but one school, so no value for us. to be clear: we got TWO things out of this experience - "use your retirement accounts to pay for college" and "pad your application with one more activity." useless. who is this service for? you've got a couple thousand dollars to spend and no time to work with your kid through the process of planning, applying, visiting, deciding. otherwise everything they offer is already out there.

THIS IS A SCAM!!!!! Don't use their service. They took my money, suspended my account and now blocked my number. He first said that it is a one time fee of $1,000+ but around 8 months later they suspended my account saying that I didn't pay their monthly fee. And now when I am asking for some of my money back he has blocked my number. I lost so much money. I am thinking about taking legal actions!!

My oldest daughter just graduated college in May and my youngest is a senior now and we used CPN for both of them. My oldest is off the charts smart (I know all parents think this, but she really is) and was applying to "highly selective" schools. The person assigned to her at CPN flat out told her she would not get into X school. Well, guess what she did get accepted and it was with very little help from CPN. My youngest daughter is also smart but was applying to our state university, so acceptance wasn't too tough. I did not find the guidance with applications and essays to be all that great. We also went through a revolving door of staff at CPN and seemed to always have someone new take over our account. On a positive note, I will say the help with completing the financial aid documents was very beneficial and stress free. All in all, if you think you can do those docs on your own then save your money and use it for tuition. On a final note, there wasn't any follow up with me or my daughter upon graduation. However, she is now happily employed which is the best outcome of all.

CPN was amazing! We received a roadmap to assist us with what to do next in preparation for our college applications. CPN has a fantastic database that assisted us in selecting the right colleges, as well as in-depth information on each college. Our student received personalized guidance on her college application, college essay and college interview. There was study assistance for the SAT and ACT. Any time we had a question, we just called. CPN did the financial work and filed the FAFSA. All we had to do was stay on the timelines. The reward was a FULL scholarship to Syracuse University!! Yes pay it forward.

CPN provided valuable information to my family, which directly resulted in increased aid from my daughter's college of choice. While we didn't agree with everything, we weren't pressured into anything, and we were in control on how much or little help we wanted. Our investment paid for itself, and we are grateful for all the knowledge we received.

As a 24/7 single parent, the college process could have been a daunting task. CPN was there to guide and advise through every step. I hear everyone talking about how difficult the FAFSA forms are, but I didn't have to worry about them because CPN took care of filing them. The appeal letters they wrote got us additional grant money, in every case. I couldn't have done this without them!

One word describes our family circumstances - chaos. Frankly, my head began to swim at the mere thought of navigating my daughter's financial aid process in addition to the myriad of situations, tasks and crisis already requiring my attention. Their attention to detail and skillful handling of our family's unique situation allowed me to move through other areas of my life with significantly less stress. And the assistance they provided with the financial aid appeal process...OUTSTANDING! My daughter received an additional award for which we are extremely grateful. I recommend CPN without hesitation!