TuitionCoach launch makes college financial advice available to everyone

The College Company recently announced the launch of TuitionCoach (www.tuitioncoach.com), a comprehensive online service that guides families through the process of applying for and increasing college financial aid eligibility. Dubbed “the TurboTax of college funding,” TuitionCoach provides calculators and expert guidance that helps families cope with what College Board states is a 35% rise in college costs over the past five years. This is the largest increase in the thirty years College Board has been tracking college costs.

There is an average of one guidance counselor for every 284 high school students in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Education (2004). TuitionCoach ensures that now every student and parent will have access to a personalized plan for financing college, thereby enabling students to attend college without financial barriers.

For many families of college-bound students, often the only solutions available are expensive personal financial advisors who typically aren’t trained on college financial aid, and publications that do not tailor to individual circumstances.

“One problem with the status quo is that students and their parents don’t know what questions to ask,” explains Monisha Perkash, CEO and Co-founder of The College Company. “Families desperately need guidance through the college funding process, and they need information that is relevant to them. TuitionCoach provides exactly what they need.”

TuitionCoach provides interactive modules that lead families through the entire college funding process. For example, the “Minimize College Costs” tool helps with financial planning by showing how anticipated or unexpected changes in income, assets, and family information can affect financial aid. Another module, “Evaluate & Negotiate Financial Aid Offer,” assesses the quality of a financial aid award, and if necessary, provides guidance on how to negotiate a better award.

TuitionCoach’s tools and guidance are based on experience derived from advising over 4,000 clients by co-founder Dr. Paul Wrubel, who has spent 35 years in public education at the secondary school level, including positions of teacher, administrator, and high school principal. Dr. Wrubel believes that “by arming students and their families with the right information and helping them learn how to pay for college early on, they will dramatically upgrade their college choices with a focus on fit rather than cost.”

The U.S. Department of Education recently reported that “up to two and a half million qualified students stricken by the cost of higher education either will be forced to drop out or won’t enroll at all.” Dr. Wrubel comments, “In light of this finding, we hope to significantly increase the pool of talented students that apply to college after they realize that cost shouldn’t limit their college options.”

Ken Church, Director of Counseling at Half Moon Bay High School remarked, "This is a site that will shed light on an area that can be murky and confusing. I wish I had it twenty-four years ago when I started helping student and parents with the whole spectrum of college issues.”