Evaluating Financial Aid Consultants

There’s nothing wrong with charging a fee for providing information and analysis, even if people could find the information on their own. We do it all the time when we farm out tax preparation. The problem is that anyone can call himself a consultant. With the proliferation of professional designations and titles, it can be hard for the public to separate the qualified from the unqualified. A recent online search for a college planner came up with a “former Certified College Planner” actively offering financial aid consulting. On other Web sites, the same college planner was advertising herself as a “Certified Dryer Exhaust Technician,” rain gutter specialist, and insurance agent–a definite red flag.

Here are some questions clients should ask before writing a check to a consultant:

o What is the consultant’s primary business? If it is an insurance agency, do the recommendations focus on buying insurance products?