Cutting the best financial aid deal; parents negotiate mortgage rates, so why not student aid?

University Business, June, 2004

Families often turn to counselors to help their children score high on the SAT, then to yet another counselor who comes on board to help find the best school to attend. Now there's a new kind of college counselor parents are turning to: the one who helps land the best financial aid deal. These deal brokers help students and their families negotiate the size of the financial aid package and the interest rate on loans.

The counselors at College Tuition Solutions (www.collegetuitionsoLutions.com) promise they can reduce out-of-pocket expenses "by as much as $18,300 per year," by writing financial aid appeal letters and using other strategies. Road to College (www.roadtocollege.com) and Financial Aid Super Site (www.financialaidsupersite.com) are a few of the other services available.

The services are born of tough financial times, comments Nathan Basford, senior financial aid officer at Florida State University and president of the Florida Association of Student Aid Administrators (www.fasfaa.org). "Parents have been laid off, or there are other circumstances such as divorce that prompt parents and even students to call and ask us to give them a good deal." Basford says that parents often tell him what other schools are offering, in hopes that FSU can do better. The first calls are typically made to the Admissions department, says Basford, adding that his school won't negotiate with such aforementioned third parties.