Financial Professionals
Are you a financial professional seeking to expand your reach and provide added value to your clients?
Offering college planning services is an excellent way to connect with your target market. SCHOLARS Service Center can be your one-stop shop, supporting families with college selection, financial aid, test preparation, and more.
We provide coaching on how to effectively communicate these services to families, and host regular calls for our affiliates to ensure you have all the answers you need to deliver top-notch service.
Focusing on Student Positioning & Financial Positioning Services
Career Assessment
Students answer questions about their interests, skills, values, and personality and then are guided to discover majors, explore career paths, and find colleges matching their interests and personal preferences. Students explore career data including education requirements, most common areas of study, earnings potential, job duties, working conditions, projected growth, and more.
College Search & Student Positioning Sessions
These 1-on-1 sessions teach and demonstrate to students and parent(s) our proven Student Positioning strategies for selecting colleges that best fit – academically, socially, and financially. College Coaches make suggestions, offer mentorship, and coach on how to pick the best fit colleges.
The first Student Positioning session starts with an in-depth discussion of the career assessment results and the student’s interests. With the Coaches guidance and recommendations, families set their college search parameters and build a prospective college list in their portal.
In the follow-up Student meetings, the College Coach comes alongside the family to assist, as needed, in narrowing the list to the final 6-10 colleges.
In their portal, students access comprehensive data-driven college profiles with tabs for degree programs, Fiske Guide, essay prompts and additional research. Students can add or delete colleges and utilize robust reports to compare colleges on key data points including SAT/ACT test scores, GPAs, acceptance rates, financial aid statistics & scholarships, and more.
Comprehensive College Profiles
Families have access to thousands of colleges and universities throughout the US. Packed inside of each college profile, families find critical data like the 50th percentile graphs for test scores and common data set reports on graduation and retention rates, financial aid, admission requirements, and GPA data, and so much more.
Admissions Application Bootcamps
Live webinars assisting students to work through and submit the Common App, add recommenders, complete supplemental requirements, and avoid common pitfalls. The completed Comm App can be used as a template for all other college admissions applications. For Honors Colleges, UC and Cal State applications an additional bootcamp will be hosted.
Admissions Application, Acceptance & Scholarship Tracking
In their portal, all admissions requirements and deadlines are displayed for the student’s colleges. Students mark the status of their applications for each college and track what they have completed and where they still need to do.
Students can add more details, such as their plans to attend, scholarships and changes to wait-list or deferred statuses. Both students and coaches can post and update statuses.
Data Verification Session
Parents complete Data Verification with one of our financial aid experts to share and verify the accuracy of all financial data to be used on all financial aid applications.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
We will assist in the preparation and submission of the FAFSA to all colleges the student is applying to. The FAFSA is required to determine eligibility for federal grants and loans, and most state programs. The FAFSA is often required to be considered for institutional financial aid and a requirement for many private scholarships. The FAFSA is the most important financial aid form to complete. The Department of Education reports many are submitted each year with errors or inconsistencies resulting in lost aid for students.
CSS Profile
We will assist in the preparation and submission of the CSS Profile is a second financial aid form that can be required by colleges. The CSS Profile is more in depth, must be submitted early and must be consistent with the FAFSA. The CSS Profile will require information about home equity, businesses, retirement accounts and sibling’s savings. And in divorced or separated families, the CSS Profile may be required from both sets of parents.
Institutional Financial Aid Forms
We will assist in the preparation and submission of the additional institutional aid forms. Additional institutional aid forms are required by some colleges in addition to the FAFSA and CSS Profile to be considered for aid and scholarships.
Evaluation of Award Letters and Analysis
Award letters are uploaded into the portal for tracking and analysis. Each award letter is compared to the college’s historical averages for need aid and merit scholarships. Families create a comparison report to determine their net costs per year and opportunities to appeal for more aid.
Financial Aid Awards Bootcamp
Live webinars assisting families to analyze their award letters and comparison reports. Families use this analysis and the reports to make the final college choice and to implement the plan on how to fund the college expenses.
Appeal Process Support
The award analysis shows when it is appropriate to appeal a college's offer. When an appeal is deemed appropriate, we will consult with the parents on the type and timing of the appeal, the college’s appeal process, and draft an appeal letter for the family to submit to the college.
College Loan Options Counseling
When you need or want to use education loans to pay for college, picking the right loan is essential. Resources are provided on private and federal loan options, choosing the right loans for your family, securing college loans, and potential opportunities for reducing loan payments after college graduation.
Testimonials: Hear What Our Clients Say
Choosing the right school is an important process, but the logistics of the financial aid forms are often the most overwhelming to families. The Scholars team provides a way for planners like myself to offer support in this area to clients without us having to take on the time, software, and effort involved in preparing financial aid forms.
Claire Frey
Cadeau College Planning
Cori Murphy, SCHOLARS, and the team have been providing our families with unparalleled expertise in the college funding arena. Specifically, saving our clients tens of thousands of dollars by re-positioning their assets, making certain that ALL financial aid forms are filed in a timely and correct manner, providing an in-depth awards analysis to determine the fairness of any award, and finally preparing the family for any appeal process for additional funds from the college.
Joe and Jo-Ann MacMunn
College Funding Solutions
Our partnership with Scholars has proven to be a tremendous success in helping more students and their families achieve College Planning, Admissions, and Funding Goals. These skills and professionalism are what I would be seeking as a credentialed candidate from the HECA.
Eric Flaten
Founder & Wealth Coach
Why Partner with SCHOLARS Service Center?
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Comprehensive Support: From college selection to financial aid and test prep, we cover all aspects of the college planning process.
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Expert Guidance: Receive detailed coaching on how to present and explain these services to families.
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Affiliate Support: Join our calls for affiliates to get your questions answered and stay informed about best practices.
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Wholesale Rates: Access our services at competitive wholesale rates, adding value to your overall package.
To learn more about how SCHOLARS Service Center can support you and your clients, schedule a time with our liaison, Cori. Let’s work together to ensure families receive the best college planning assistance available.
