Bay Area Planners Announces New Concept In College Planning - The '7 Steps To College' Program

Online, August 30, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Bay Area Planners announces a new concept in college planning - hourly planning on an as-needed basis, at seven key points in the college application process. This makes it manageable for an overwhelmed parent to find both the time and money to get help.

College planning usually revolves around a 'comprehensive college plan' - a document that can cost a thousand dollars or more. The problem is the 'plan' can easily go out of date as circumstances change; for example, by just adding new colleges to the list. What parents really want is help that is up-to-date, inexpensive, and on an 'as needed' basis.

This is just what the new program from Bay Area Planners delivers. The '7 Steps to College' program consists of planning sessions at seven key points during the high school Junior and Senior years. These are the times at which parents need to pay attention to how they are going to pay for college. Instead of reading from an outdated comprehensive plan, parents return to the planner at any of these points they cannot handle themselves. Each of the sessions is timed to be done in one hour, and parents only pay for the steps that they need.

These key points are (1) Setting the Strategy, (2) Winning Private Scholarships, (3) Selecting the Colleges, (4) Filing the FAFSA, (5) Evaluating Offers, (6) Planning Cash Flow, and (7) Taking Education Loans.

Many parents feel confident doing some of the work themselves, and only need help with a few of the steps. This typically comes out to be a fraction of the cost of a typical 'plan'. Plus, parents feel more in control and have a greater understanding of the overall process.

The concept of hourly planning at the seven key points in the college planning process was developed by David Beck, the owner of Bay Area Planners. David is a Certified Financial Planner (TM) and has specialized in college planning since 2006. His business is fee-only, and no sales of financial products are involved in the sessions.

Videos on the www.baplan.com website explain what is covered in each of the key steps, together with the process for working with David if the family is outside of the San Francisco Bay Area.

At last, an inexpensive way of working with an expert in college planning on an 'as needed' basis is available to the parents of college-bound high school students.