The Parent Playbook to Reduce College Costs - Episode 144
In today's episode, I sit down with Paul Compeau, a friendly CFP who helps families pay less for college. We talk about simple steps you can take right now, like filling out FAFSA the right way, building a smart college list, and knowing the real price before you say yes. Paul shares easy tips to find money you don’t have to pay back, how to ask schools for a better offer, and what to do if you didn’t save enough. We also cover common mistakes to avoid so you don’t hurt your retirement.
About our guest:
Paul Compeau is passionate about helping families figure out how to pay for college and help students develop and continue down the right path for them. He helps parents and students confidently navigate college costs while building long-term wealth. Known for his practical, values-based approach, Paul combines deep planning expertise with relatable, real-world college advice—delivered virtually across the country. Paul is a Certified Financial PlannerTM and founder of BridgeWise College Planning, serving families since 2008.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Naseema: [00:00:00] Hey, if you guys are checking this out when it airs, you will want to sign up for this college planning free training that we're having with Paul called How to Plan for College without Losing Your Financial Future. In this free training, we'll have Paul share with you his proven strategies to help you reduce the cost of college, find the right school for your child, protect your retirement, and long-term goals while funding education and eliminate money, stress, and feel confident about your family's financial future.
So if you. Have someone going to college, or if you wanna start planning for that person in your life to go to college, no matter if they're in high school or middle school, you wanna check out this free training held September 30th at 5:00 PM um, Pacific Standard Time, 8:00 PM Easter standard time. And the link will be in the show notes.
Um, but if you wanna check it out, it's crowdcast.io. [00:01:00] Slash C slash how to plan for college or, um, just click the link in the show notes. I hope to see you there.
Naseema: Oh no. Started recording. Paul Campo is passionate about helping families figure out how to pay for college and help students develop and continue down the right path. Paul Campano is passionate about helping families figure out how to pay for college and help students develop and continue on the right path for them.
He helps parents and students confidently navigate [00:02:00] college costs while building long-term wealth known for his practical. Values based approach. Paul combines deep planning expertise with relative real world college advice delivered virtually across the world. Paul is a certified financial planner and founder of Bridge Wise College planning, certainly serving family since 2008.
What's up my financially intentional people? Today we're going to talk about one of your favorite subjects, and that's planning for college. And we're joined with, uh, by com. I'm sorry, look at that. We're joined by Paul Compo. Uh, he's a CFP and this is his area expertise. So welcome Paul.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Thank you for having me on. I'm excited to share with you and your listeners.
Naseema: Yes, I'm definitely excited to talk about this. This is one of my favorite subjects, but I still feel so far removed from the [00:03:00] actual conversation of real college planning besides the early investments that I think I have a lot to learn from you.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah. And that's really where we specialize is late stage college planning. Um, so, uh, a lot of people, you know, they might meet with a financial advisor when they first find out they're pregnant or, or have their first kid and stuff like that. And, and that's awesome. Um, but it's a whole different ball game, um, because most people didn't save enough money for college in their five 20 nines or wherever else they save college money.
And, and they have to figure out the rest of that bill. So most people come to me when they have, you know, a freshman, a sophomore, a junior in high school, and they're like, oh crap, we don't have the money, and these bills are ridiculous right now.
Naseema: And I think that's where most of my audience is at. So what do these conversations look like, Paul? Like I know like a lot of people come like panicking because it is
Paul Compeau, CFP: Mm-hmm.
Naseema: a super crazy expense right [00:04:00] now. Right? So where do you like. Start these conversations off with these people, especially when they come like, really, really, um, anxious about these things.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah, so I always, um, I always start with recognizing where they're at because there, there, there is a little bit to be anxious about. So even like an out-of-state public university, you're usually looking between 60 and $85,000 per
Naseema: A year.
Paul Compeau, CFP: And that, that's where, yeah, you can get maybe some in-state colleges if they're a great fit for the student.
Uh, maybe 25 to $40,000 if you find something in-state. But, um, the price tag has just gotten astronomical. And we're not even talking about the, the elite, more Ivy League type schools that are, uh, most of them are between 95 and a hundred thousand dollars for one year for one student. So we absolutely identify with the problem.
We understand the problem, we know exactly what you're up against. Um. And then it's just a fair assessment of where you're at financially, right? What can we actually [00:05:00] provide? Um, what efficiencies can we find within your financial life? Um, and that's why I love talking to, to great hosts like you that are already trying to find a lot of those efficiencies, helping people do things better.
Um, we love to do that for the families, and we do that on a, a daily basis. And that's one of the things that my background, I, I've. Been through the, uh, my kids are younger, so my kids are 11 years old and eight years old, so I haven't paid for college outta my pocket yet, but I've done it over 500 times on a one-on-one basis with the families that we serve.
So. It's been, you know, eight years probably since I've been surprised and had to like do some homework to figure out somebody's numbers because you're unique and every client is unique, but I've seen them before, you know what I mean?
Naseema: I love that.
Paul Compeau, CFP: and that, that's what I, just bringing that experience. So when I come on a, a, a conversation like this, or I'm sitting one-on-one with a client.
I get to share all of those great things that those other families did that, that your listeners can repeat and I get to share some [00:06:00] pitfalls. Usually they ran into the pitfalls right before they met me, um, that they made that, um, they don't want your listeners to, to fall into.
Naseema: Yeah, catch me up to date. So I went to USC in 1999 and the price tag then, and, you know, USC is not a cheap school, but um, the price tag then was about $40,000 a year. In comparison, what is it for? Like that level school or that school specifically right now?
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah. So, um, when we talk cost of attendance, um, we wanna make sure we're, we're communicating exactly what that means. So the cost is not just the tuition, it's also the room and board. It's the books, it's the travel, it's the, all the different things you need. You need a computer to make an education work, right?
All of these different things cost money. So each of the schools do publish a, a cost of attendance each year. [00:07:00] Um, most schools in uscs category are gonna be between 85 and a hundred thousand dollars per year. Um, so USC, if you're living on campus or off campus, they expect, uh, USC in their own documents.
They say this year is gonna be about $99,000. Um, if you live with your parents, then it's only $86,000, right? Um, still absolutely astronomical and ridiculous amount of money. Um, so. It, it's a big deal, um, selecting what school is best for you, but it's important we don't, um, select based on the price tag, the list price.
Um, very few people end up paying the list price. So, um, even UCLA around the corner is $85,000 if you're outta
Naseema: And that's the public school.
Paul Compeau, CFP: the public school. so yeah, we're, we're talking about crazy high price tags and what most people don't know about those high price tags is very few people end up paying that high of a price for those [00:08:00] universities.
So a big part of what we wanna look at with the family when we're selecting that school list. Is what schools can be absolutely generous for a family that's in your financial situation with a student who's in that student's academic position, right? So if we're looking at both of those things and looking at what schools can be out, just have money ready for a family like that.
That's gonna be the biggest thing you can do is select the right school, um, in the college planning process. So wanted to, to make sure we mentioned that early. 'cause if we don't get the right school, that's where, you know, you've heard Nasima, you've heard other people say, well, don't worry about financial aid.
Our families like ours don't qualify.
Naseema: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: well it's probably 'cause they picked the wrong school.
Naseema: Mm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Then the second part that you wanna know about is how the financial aid formulas work. Because maybe they didn't know how to go through the process. Maybe they didn't know what things count and what things don't count ahead of time.
Or maybe they did know and they didn't make the adjustments 'cause they didn't think it would matter. [00:09:00] Right. And that's where, it's a combination, those myths of we make too much money for financial aid usually come from people who didn't know the system. Right. So if we don't pick the right college and we don't work the system, yeah, you're not gonna get financial aid more than likely, right?
And you're gonna end up paying $99,000 for a school like USC, but it doesn't have to be that way. So the National Association of College and University Business Offices came out with a study. The average discount for undergraduate students. Private universities is 56%, so that means most people are paying less than half of that amount.
Right? And we want all of the families to qualify for every dollar of financial aid that you can qualify for.
Naseema: Well, I appreciate you indulging me in that because I was genuinely curious and it just made my heart drop to hear that. However, to your last point, I will say that USC [00:10:00] has a very generous endowment, and when I went to that financial aid office since told them, my daddy said, he's not paying for this, they went ahead and applied a grant.
So that all six years, 'cause I went there for undergrad and for grad school, uh, only came out with $40,000 in debt.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Oh, that's amazing. Um. And we have, we hear those stories all the time. Um, and I'm assuming most of that was for the, the grad school work, um,
Naseema: No, actually I got a full scholarship for grad school, so that was all for undergrad. So basically only like after my, um, after the, um, grant that they put on, it was like $10,000 a year, and then I got a full ride for grad school and I was working so I could pay my room and board. Yeah.
Paul Compeau, CFP: reverse of that. Most of most people nowadays, they do better with undergraduate financial aid than they do for grad school. So you must had a great brain on that. I got you. That, that, uh, [00:11:00] full ride for, for grad school. Those are harder to come by in most cases. Um, but yeah, knowing the process is such a big part of
Naseema: Yes.
Paul Compeau, CFP: um. You know, we, we have a family, um, who came in. Um, her husband had actually just died, um, unfortunately a couple years before we met her. She had a couple high school students that were very bright and got really good grades and can get into some of these amazing universities. Um, but she was showing six figures, uh, in her, you know, financial accounts because she had just unfortunately got that death benefit.
Um. It was gonna absolutely kill her financial aid. So she worked part-time at a school her whole life, you know, helping out at the school maybe made 20 or $30,000 a year. Um, we were able, when we positioned the student correctly, we got her into some great university. She's ended up choosing Boston University, which is one of those 90,000 plus schools.
Naseema: Yes.
Paul Compeau, CFP: but she ended up paying less than $3,000 a year for that [00:12:00] university because we were able to educate her and help her understand, here's what's counting against you, here's what's not counting against you, and here's where you can move from one category to another. In order to do that. And that's where a lot of people struggle, um, is in that financial aid category.
So most people talk to that financial advisor if, when they find out their kids are young, or at least your listeners who are financially responsible to do stuff like that, right? Uh, and they know they should save more, but they only have so much income and they're trying to support everything else they need to do as a family and everything else, and they save something up.
But think from the financial aid office's perspective, so. One of the things I wanna make clear is colleges are a very large, very successful business, right? USC didn't get that endowment by being bad at business, right? They're a very large, very successful business. Their billing arm is the financial aid office.
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: They're the ones that choose how much money goes out and how much [00:13:00] money comes in, right? Um, so they're choosing what you pay for college. Um, and because different students are paying different prices. They have to decide who's gonna get more in financial aid, more free money, more grants, more scholarships, and who's going to not get it right?
One of those things that they use to determine that is how much money you have saved for college. So think if you were the financial aid office and you see a 5 29 accountant and things like that. They know they can charge that family more. 'cause you have that money sitting there ready to give them. And that's where in, in a lot of cases people don't realize this, that just an extra $10,000 in savings can cause you to pay more for college anywhere between 520 $500 per year.
So those good decisions you made to, to save for your kids' college. For a lot of families, they end up hurting them when it comes to actually paying the bill. And it's good that they save money. So from a financial planning perspective, saving money is always better for your net worth than [00:14:00] spending it, right?
So that's good. If you have a bill coming up in the future, definitely save the money. But you wanna look very closely on where you're saving that money. 'cause where you save that money can have a detrimental impact on your students' ability to go to those top tier universities. 'cause. If you can only afford, you know, 30, $40,000 a year, and that's kind of your budget for college, you're counting on financial aid.
And if you save that money for college in the wrong spots, you're not gonna get enough financial aid to make it happen. Right.
Naseema: Well, I definitely want to talk about that because I hear that often everybody, like, like I often share my numbers and then when people, you know, see that I save in a 5 29, they're just like, well, isn't that gonna count against your daughter, um, for her FAFSAs? But before we get to that, I do wanna touch on the death benefit part.
And like you get a six or even seven figure like death benefit, does that count against you when you [00:15:00] go to apply for aid?
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah. So it depends on where you put that money. Um, so once again there, there's a whole list. Um, and if people go on our website, we'll, we'll have uh, uh, some educational pieces on there that'll talk through. There's certain assets that count. There's certain assets that don't count. So, um, you know, things that don't count against you in the financial aid formulas are things like your retirement account at work or a Roth IRA, or if you have a cash value in your life insurance policies, that doesn't count against you or.
The equity you built up in your house, if you paid down your mortgage and stuff like that, that will count at some schools, but it doesn't count on the FAFSA form. Um, so there are some schools who do use that against the family. So knowing those formulas, knowing what counts, what doesn't count, is a huge benefit as you enter that process.
So if you did just get a, a, a large death benefit, unfortunately because somebody in the family died or you got an inheritance or, or you got, um. Whatever else it is, you just made a bunch of money and saved it. Right. Um, wherever that's [00:16:00] positioned will have a major impact on how the financial aid's gonna work.
So, um, our seniors are gonna be filing that in October. Um, so every single October the FAFSA opens up and we wanna adjust those. In a very financial sound way to do that because when we work with families, one of the things we recognize is that financial aid is not the only thing that matters. We need to consider tax, we need to consider, um.
Any, um, liquidity needs, we need to consider investment risk. We need to consider all of those different things to make that financial plan work, because we can't just take a hundred thousand and put it into retirement account, and if we could put it into retirement account, then it's not available to save for co to pay for college.
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: And that's the pickle that we, we look through and have very successfully guided families through that process of how to save money or how to get money off of the financial aid formulas, but still have it available to pay to you for your kids' college,
Naseema: [00:17:00] Are there penalties for moving that money around so close to like that FAFSA deadline? Um, like or do they look at, okay. Okay. All
Paul Compeau, CFP: So assets, and this is one of the unique things with financial aid.
Naseema: Uhhuh.
Paul Compeau, CFP: income's gonna count two years before you go off to college,
Naseema: Okay.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Um, so if we're filling in, if we have a senior right now, this year, um, they're gonna be using the income from last year, um, the last full calendar year to fill in that.
So the beginning of the senior year in October to fill in that fafsa.
Naseema: So this, so for, so for 2025, they're gonna be looking at 2024 income and then 2025 income.
Paul Compeau, CFP: So, no, so the,
Naseema: Oh, sorry.
Paul Compeau, CFP: It's just one year of income that counts. So
Naseema: Oh, okay. Okay,
Paul Compeau, CFP: in October of 2025, it's 'cause they're going to school in the 26 27 school year.
Naseema: got it. Uhhuh.
Paul Compeau, CFP: senior right now. Um, they're gonna be just looking at the 2024 income. But assets. So that full year of income, every dollar you earned, even things that [00:18:00] were seemed tax free, sometimes they are gonna count too, right?
As income on the financial aid formulas. Um, but the assets only count on the one day, you fill in the form, so you can have 500,000 in your account over the summer. If the account so only shows five grand when you go to file the fafsa, that's what you should put on the fafsa. So that's where we are able to maneuver right up until you file that first fafsa.
And even then we can still maneuver for the following years. And then the other thing that most people don't think about is, and it's so interesting, is you have the ability to negotiate with the universities. And we recommend waiting till after the university makes the first offer. And that's where, um, the financial aid offices are constantly under awarding, um, and not giving as much financial aid as they could.
Um, but negotiating is a very, very tough thing. I've had families try to do it on their own and ended up losing [00:19:00] some financial aid because they're gonna be looking laser focused on your family's situation. And if they made a mistake before. They're gonna correct that mistake. And sometimes that mistake is in your favor.
So you wanna be very careful with that thought process. Um, and that's why, um. For families, we do offer a free college readiness, breakthrough session. Um, that's a one hour for any of your listeners of our time, um, that we'll go through and we'll look at their financial situation. We'll look at what they're thinking about doing, um, and, and we can help 'em.
So we had a family who had two seniors came in for that session. Um, they were lost. They didn't have a plan. They didn't think they had any money to pay for college. They had two really bright girls. Um, they had moved here from Africa when the girls were young and just didn't know the system, didn't know what was going on with it.
Um, within about two months after they first came in for that college readiness breakthrough session. We had a plan in place if you do A, B, C, and D, not only will they [00:20:00] maximize their financial aid, but we'll be able to pay the rest of the bill when it comes. And what's happening with their plan is now we're preserving a lot of the, the money that, um, maybe some people end up spending on that undergraduate degree and we're saving it for those advanced degrees, um, when the student goes off to med school or whatever they do after that bachelor's degree.
Naseema: That is amazing. I'm so impressed. Well, I'm gonna bring you back to the 5 29 conversation and. I know you just said like it's about how those, how those accounts are structured at the time that you, or where that money is structured at the, uh, time when you apply for the fafsa. But, um, in general, does having a 5 29 count against you or your kid, um, when you're applying, um, for financial aid?
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah, great question because that's where everybody says to save for college.
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Um, think from the financial aid office's perspective, if they see [00:21:00] that you have a 5 29 and they're looking at who can pay a bigger bill. Do you think the people with a 5 29 can pay a bigger bill than those that don't have one?
Naseema: Of course.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Of course. So they're gonna charge. I'm convinced and they're good people. I shouldn't be too hard on 'em, but I'm convinced they do like a real, they they, they like play some music and they do a happy dance 'cause they're excited when they see five 20 nines. 'cause they know they can charge that family more.
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: you're gonna lose value. From that 5 29 because you lost that financial aid. Um, and that's the part that most advisors aren't looking at 'cause it's not their area of expertise. Most advisors, even the ones that recommend five 20 nines, their main purpose is just to take the money that you give 'em and invest it for later.
They're not actually looking at the rest of your financial picture. Um, so most of the time they don't know if you financed your car or not, right? They don't know how you're gonna pay your college bill. They don't know what other assets you might have. Um, maybe they did a rough estimate, uh, with you when [00:22:00] they first signed you on, but that's not their responsibility to plan out your financial life year by year, um, to, to make sure you're doing everything the best way.
They just take the assets they're given and grow 'em for retirement, and most of 'em are pretty good at that. Um, but. When we look at five 20 nines, it definitely hurts you for financial aid, but it gets worse than that. Um, those, the five 20 nines, they're not liquid for anything else. So if we need that money before they go to college to keep you outta debt or, or something like that, it's not really available.
'cause there's penalties and taxes and all sorts of stuff that stop you from using it. And then on top of that, I'll, I'll go CFP nerd for just a second here if you don't mind. We look at the risk and the return inside those. And the, the risk is pretty much the same as the stock market and a lot of the funds inside there, but the returns are trailing it significantly.
So, um, that's where it's very rare and we do analysis on, uh, hundreds of 5 29 accounts on behalf of our clients [00:23:00] and look at what's available. And after understanding how they work. I've never had a client put more money into a 5 29 account. Um, and that's one of the interesting things when it comes to planning for college.
Um, and I won't get it too much into the politics in the government, but it's our states that we're paying taxes to, that are advertising these. To everyone saying this is the place to save for college. And unfortunately, that really hurts a lot of families. So once again, I'll repeat, saving money is good, right?
If it helps you to save money and that you wouldn't have otherwise saved. Um, if you want to pay for your kids' college, probably better to put it somewhere than to buy a boat, right?
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: so we, we do wanna save money. We wanna consider all of those different impacts on how we save that money if we're gonna do it in the best way possible.
So a 5 29, if we're saving for college, that'll get you. You know, as far as a rating, it's seven out of 10, right? It's better than not saving, but it's probably not the best place [00:24:00] to save
Naseema: So, um, just to clarify, you're saying does it count against you on the FAFSA or does it count against you in the financial aid offices or both?
Paul Compeau, CFP: both.
Naseema: Okay. Okay. And Uhhuh.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Mm-hmm.
Naseema: another thing with the five 20 nines, right? If the 5 29 is say, um, you know, you can change the beneficiary of the 5 29 at any time, and I'm putting it like as a family bank, right?
At 18, $30,000 of that is gonna go into her Roth, IRA. Then like is there a benefit of saying like for college purposes, like of her 5 29, I'm only of the 5 29 that's available for her, I'm only gonna allocate like $20,000 of it under her name.
Paul Compeau, CFP: What else are you
Naseema: You see what I'm saying? Save it for [00:25:00] my other two kids. Let it continue to grow for my other two kids and do the same thing.
Paul Compeau, CFP: yep. And it depends on the school, how that's gonna be treated. So a lot of schools like USC, um, they're asking additional questions by, from a second form called the CSS profile. They're gonna count that against you every single time. Um, so it doesn't matter if
Naseema: For, uh, for the parents? For the parents or for the child. Okay. Okay. For the parents' contribution part. Okay.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Uh, that part of the calculation, but it's all one bundle. It all ends up in the same number of how much your family has to come up with to pay for college.
Naseema: Okay, got it. Okay.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah. And that's the, the, the crazy thing that most people don't think of. So, um, yeah. When, when we look with, you know, we don't wanna burden our kids with debt and we wanna figure out this problem, um.
It's absolutely crazy, but, uh, the right fit school will solve a lot of those problems.
Naseema: Yeah, let's talk, let's focus in on that. 'cause I think that is like the biggest [00:26:00] message here is to find the right fit because I, I wasn't trained like that, right? I was trained. You get into the best college that you can get into and you figure out how to pay for it later. And I think that's how a lot of people are trained.
Um. But then I learned, like later in life, I learned like these people, like strategically pick their college by how much it cost and all this concept. And I was like, that was not even a concept for me. Like, I didn't even think about that. So let's, I, I wanna lean in more on
Paul Compeau, CFP: so, so that advice to the kids, um, I would just tweak it just a little bit. They're not too far off with, with what you heard, right? We want them to get into the best college. We want 'em to apply to the best college, but that doesn't mean that's the one that's gonna be the best fit when we get there.
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: So when we're talking about Best Fit College, what you're talking about is let's get really good grades, let's get really good test scores. Let, let's aim for as high as we possibly can. And that is absolutely great for kids as long as they can handle that little bit of pressure.
Naseema: Yes, Uhhuh.
Paul Compeau, CFP: so if they can handle that, then [00:27:00] absolutely.
They should be pushing themselves to get the a's. They should be taking an extra AP class. They should be. Studying and taking the a t and SATA few times right. To, to try to improve those scores. So that is all good. Right. Um, when we talk about which one is the right fit though, um, it has to be the right campus fit.
So, is it in a city or is it in the country? Is it somewhere, you know, does it fit? How far away is it from home? How, um, how liberal or how conservative are the kids on the campus? Right? What kind of environments are you going to be in? Are, are you, do you have to have a bunch of parties or would you rather go to church with your friends on Sundays?
Right? What is the different environment that you want on campus? So it has to be a great campus fit, right? If you're going to a school where you wanna have fun and you wanna hang out with your friends, and 90% of the students are just gonna be in the library all the time, maybe it's not what the fit that you need for college, right?
Um, maybe the library is better, but, uh, for, for [00:28:00] other
Naseema: I would say yes. Yeah.
Paul Compeau, CFP: So we need it to be the right campus, that we also need the right curriculum. So that's all in the coursework. We need the right major, we need the right, um, academic level for that student. Um, some colleges are gonna teach that first English class at a very different level than, than maybe a community college would.
Right? And we need the student to be prepared for that. Now, the college application process usually does a good job of identifying which kids can handle what coursework,
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: If you're looking at, um, what, what's a good USC is probably a, a good example. We'll keep on that one. If you're a, you know, a 2.8 student in high school, they're not gonna let you into USC because you're probably not gonna be able to handle that coursework.
Naseema: will not.
Paul Compeau, CFP: And Exactly. So they're doing a reasonable job of that. But when we're identifying what schools we should be applying at, they don't tell you that ahead of time before they take the application fee. Right. There's colleges that are getting millions of dollars just on
Naseema: Application [00:29:00] fees. Yeah.
Paul Compeau, CFP: So when you see the schools that have, you know, 8% or 4% acceptance rates, think of all of those application fees that they're generating.
Like it's just crazy high numbers. Um. And that's why a lot of 'em say they're test optional and stuff like that is so they can collect more application fees. Um, we need good test scores to get in the competitive college, you're probably not getting in without a good test score, right? So even though they say they're test optional, I'm convinced they're just trying to collect more application fees.
Um, when we look at that, so we, if we find the one that's the right curriculum, we find the one that has the right campus, then we need to find the ones that have the right cost. That's where that financial fit is the hardest one for people to predict. Because if you just ask the kids, um, in this email you mentioned that, that you have kids.
Have you ever told your kids that you can't afford to buy 'em something
Naseema: Oh my God.
Paul Compeau, CFP: all the time?
Naseema: me, uh, all the time, but they don't believe me. They [00:30:00] don't care.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Right. They keep asking for stuff and they want the new pair of shoes and they think you should go out to eat every single
Naseema: Every night? Yes. Uh,
Paul Compeau, CFP: And, and I promise you they're gonna keep asking, but they're listening to you. And when they go to apply to colleges, they're gonna look at the price tags and they see 30,000 and they see 90,000.
They don't really know what those dollars mean in the real world, but we know that mom is making a decision on a hundred dollars. So a lot of kids will only apply at those cheaper universities because they don't know how the financial aid system works, and that's where we wanna identify those good financial fits of where that student for their, uh, their grades.
Their test scores, the family's financial situation, all of that has to fit together when they're designing that college list. And that's the part that a lot of people, even great counselors who work with the students, and we have an amazing counseling team on our staff to work with the students to find that right fit.
But [00:31:00] most counselors out there aren't considering the financial fit, and they're definitely not helping you get more financial aid. And especially at the high schools, um, and it's probably the, the same around you. Um, the national average right now is there's only one counselor for every 408 students. Um, according to the American Student Counselors Association, so it's just absolutely astronomical.
And they're worried about social issues, they're worried about, um, class schedules is most of their time actually. Um, and we have some amazing counselors that, that I'm friends with. They would love to spend all of their time just working with the A students who are going off to college. Right. If they could just do that for their whole.
Their whole year. They would love to spend the time, but they don't have the time to be able to do that. So that's where a lot of them end up, um, doing group things. When it comes to college planning, they'll have a college night or a college fair and they'll have a bunch of schools come out and they maybe have a speaker or to, but they're not helping the students on an individual basis.
So a lot of people do end up hiring outside counseling, but even [00:32:00] most outside counselors aren't really digging deep into that financial fit and how financial aid's gonna work, um, for that family.
Naseema: Yeah, I, okay. Like, I like am like thinking back on that and just like not understanding those numbers, but understanding that this is like. Way more than I can even conceptualize. So I don't even know. Like I remember getting that letter from USC and seeing that $40,000 and being like, I know this is more than what my dad makes in a year. Like, how is this even possible? But, but because it was so far out of my range of understanding, like I was just like, I can't even think about it.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Right.
Naseema: But yeah, I, you mentioned a couple of things and, um, [00:33:00] like the college campus fit and all of those, like kind of social things and academic fit, like, do you work with families on that or do you just focus on the financial fit piece?
Paul Compeau, CFP: No, we have a full counseling team that works with the students one-on-one to help them develop their resumes during high school. Um, so we'll sign on students as soon as middle school to help develop that resume that's gonna be going on the college application. So what classes you pick, what clubs you do, what sports you do.
All of that goes on the college applications. And if we want to have the ability to get into those great universities, we're not making the kid anything. They're not, so don't hear that wrong. We're not doing things just to put it on the college resume. But if they're thinking about dropping a club and they're gonna try to apply as an engineer major and they just have too much on their schedule, they need to get drop one of the clubs for their junior year.
Maybe don't drop the robotics club 'cause it's gonna look really good on the application.
Naseema: Yes. Uhhuh.
Paul Compeau, CFP: whatever it is they're involved in and they enjoy doing, we're gonna help them make those decisions along the way [00:34:00] of what the applications are gonna look like and what colleges are genuinely looking for in those applications.
So, um. As much as we can do things that, that show leadership, that show volunteerism, all the different things, uh, academic rigor, um, how hard your class schedule matters a lot more than what people think it does. Um, so if you had a, a bunch of EEP classes available to you at your high school and you didn't take them, um.
You're probably not getting into a top tier university. So those decisions are happening when the students are freshmen and sophomore in high school, um, if they're gonna be able to get into those classes and utilize 'em. So all of that adds up into our counseling team being able to, to craft, um, help the students with their essay, help them tell a unique story throughout their application and essay together.
That allows them to get into some universities that they might not have otherwise gotten into. So it's obviously not our counselors doing all the work and building the resume. The kids have to go out and do the stuff and they have to be amazing [00:35:00] kids as well. Um, but telling that story and creating that story that's gonna be on those applications is a big thing that you want to, to have the experts on your team for.
Naseema: I, I love that. That's a phenomenal service, and I love that you work with people as young, as middle school. Do you work with people in testing out of courses too, like doing the k cls? I'm always gonna say this wrong, the K clsi, like those kind of tests where you can like test into like, like eliminate maybe the first year or two of college.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Um, so we haven't gotten into that one
Naseema: Okay.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Um, it's something that, that when we're working with individual institutions, we can identify when those kind of things are available. Um, but as far as test prep for those things, no, that's not something we're helping with.
Naseema: Okay.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Test prep for the a CT and SAT we help with.
Um, and then we, we do work. Um, and that's one of those things when we look at the, the right campus fit, the right, um, culture, right, um, [00:36:00] we're looking for the right curriculum and we're looking at the right cost altogether. That's something that's very unique that, that, I don't know of many other companies that do that because it, it's just such a different area of expertise to bring all of those together into that counseling that we have for our students.
Naseema: And I know you talked about like most of the people that come to you, even though you do start in middle school, most of the people that come to you are in those later phase phases of planning, junior seniors in high school. Um, how typically, like what is your fee structure? Like, how do you work with them?
Um, is it like compensation or is it like flat fee? How does it work?
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yes, we charge anywhere between three and $8,000 per student that comes through our program. Um, don't let that scare any of the listeners away from having a coming in and asking the questions and that college read into the breakthrough session. Um, we are fee based, so we only work for the clients that we serve.
We're not, um, you ever meet with like a financial advisor and they're just trying to [00:37:00] sell you a different mutual fund that makes you a little more return or open a new bank account or whatever they're trying to get you to do. Right. That's not how we operate. We only work for our clients. Um, so that's such a unique relationship.
We're not with a bank. We're not with a brokerage
Naseema: You don't work for the colleges?
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah. We only work for those families that we serve, and we love that relationship. So, um, yeah, we are fee based and what that allows us to do though, is be very selective of who we sign on.
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: for most people, when they come in for a college readiness breakthrough session, they're gonna have a few questions that they really need answered, and we're gonna answer those questions.
We're gonna help 'em understand what financial aid is gonna look like and just give an honest assessment of where they're at in that picture. Um. But we turn away, most people, like only about three out of every 10 families who come in for a college readiness breakthrough session actually get the opportunity to work with us on a long-term basis.
Because if we're gonna charge a fee, we're looking for a significant multiple on that fee. That they're gonna get a great return. So if people type in bridge wise college [00:38:00] planning on, on the Google or or another search engine, you're gonna see that we have all five star ratings. We're gonna see that we're, we're, we have a lot of very happy clients and there's two reasons for that.
One is we're awesome at what we do and we have a team of amazing people here that, that do amazing work for those students and for those families. But the second reason is that we're very selective on who we sign on. Um, so if we're gonna charge a fee, we're looking for, you know, at eight, 10 times multiple.
If we're gonna charge a few thousand dollars, we're looking for 30, 40, $50,000 of benefit for your family. Um, and that's what we've been able to deliver on a very consistent basis for, for the families that we do sign on.
Naseema: And there is a, a, a big price range. Is that depending on the amount of services, the time spent, like the age, like what, what, uh, determines that
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah, so it's not as much based on age. Um, it's a, it's how much help that family wants or needs. Um, so yeah, if we don't have to do a full service package for somebody, we, we, we [00:39:00] can, um, just get 'em the, the help that they really need. Um, and that allows them to see the success they wanna see. So, um, most people do end up in the, the fuller, the, the more robust package.
'cause they need help with the student. They need help with the financials. They, they need a, a lot to, to do with them. So, yeah, it's, we're, we're not just a team of financial planners. We have the college counselors. We
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: the students. We get into the right school and that's so. So important because if we can finish in four years, the national average is 5.8 years right now for a bachelor's degree.
So, um, right. We want a master's degree if we're going six years. Um, but four years is so important, not just because it saves mom and dad money on those extra two years of tuition. It's an extra two years that that person's in their adult years that they're earning money as well.
Naseema: Mm-hmm.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Um, so most starting jobs, it depends on what field you're in, but 60, 70, 80, even a hundred thousand dollars, if we're paying 50 grand a year for the fifth year and 50 grand a year for [00:40:00] the sixth year, it's not just the a hundred grand of tuition we paid to the college.
It's the 150 or 200 grand that the student didn't earn. Right, so now we're looking at a quarter million dollars swing of wealth away from that family just because the student didn't pick the right school.
Naseema: Yeah. I, I love that perspective. Do you, is, is it, is, are your services state specific or can you, uh, you work all across the United States?
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah, we work all across the United States. Our home base is in Troy, Michigan. Um, we're, we're a proud Michigan, uh, company. We, we love working with families, but we have people in Connecticut, we have people in Florida. We have people on the east coast and the west coast and all over the place. So, um, yeah, we, we've, um.
We've realized that virtual works really well. Um, we were, even before the pandemic, we were probably 70 or 80% virtual meetings because we work at, people have friends everywhere. They're referring to us. They, they want to introduce their friends and family to us because they love the services that we have.
Naseema: Yeah, I think [00:41:00] that's great. And I love like the full spectrum of services that you offer because like you said, most people in the financial services space are only looking at that one piece, and they don't understand the universities, they don't understand the planning, they don't understand all of those things.
So to have that comprehensive service of being able to look at that. And to be able to work with the students to prepare them for that. I love, I love, so how can people start working with you guys?
Paul Compeau, CFP: Yeah, so, um, definitely go on Google search, bridge wise college planning. You'll come up with our website, um, it's bridge wise cp.com. Um, so bridge wise cp.com. On there, you have the opportunity to book, book that, uh, college readiness, breakthrough session. There's a line write up on the first page. You log into it says it right there.
Um, click that button, find a time that works in your schedule. Um, select that, and then we're gonna be able to help you in that [00:42:00] session. Understand what your college picture's gonna look like. So, um, there's a quote from t Boone Pickens, it said, he said, A fool with a plan can beat a genius with none. And I'm sure you've said similar things to, to your friends and to your kids.
Like, just think it through before you do it. Right. Um, and. It's true in just about anything. But if, if you have, if a listener out there is a parent of a high school student, that's gonna hit really hard right now. So, um, don't wait until you pick the school and receive the bill to try to figure everything out.
Um, the more prep that you do ahead of time, the more ready you are, the more expertise that you have ahead of time. The better the results you're gonna get, the better that the kid kid's life is gonna be, the better that your financial life is gonna be. Um, and, and the more that you'll succeed in the college process.
Yeah.
Naseema: Yes, I fully believe that. And this is a question I meant to ask you earlier, but this, I have to ask you this question because I know it's on so many listeners' minds, is that [00:43:00] now everybody is saying college is not the answer and kids are not going to college these days. Is that what you see in your everyday experience?
Paul Compeau, CFP: Um, I'm biased, so everybody who comes and talks to us wants to
Naseema: Wants go to college, right?
Paul Compeau, CFP: That, that being said, um, our counselors are absolutely looking if college is the right path for those students. So there are some people who come in for college planning and our recommendation is not to go to college.
Um, and, and that's probably if the parents are planning on spending 30, 40, 50 grand a year, that's like the best case scenario is you know that ahead of time that you shouldn't do that. Right.
Naseema: Yes.
Paul Compeau, CFP: It is pretty rare. Our students do tend to be more, uh, college oriented and, um, in that direction, what a lot of people miss on the college education.
Um, and, and I wish I knew this when, when I went to college, um, because I didn't do a great job with it, is it's not just the education, what you learn in the [00:44:00] classroom, and a lot of people think about the, the, the becoming an adult and gaining that independence and some of that stuff, and that matters too.
It's hard to replicate outside of that college atmosphere is the relationships that you build with people that you can go back to throughout your lifetime, right? So especially for people, um, who are in fraternities or sororities, but even people who aren't, that are just in a dorm and have a, a great friend that they stay with for a couple years and become really good.
Those things can last your entire life. And that's why the more prestigious schools tend to attract the people that have money and want that for their kids, is they're not just going there to go to class. They're going there to meet friends that are at their level that are going to help them in life. A lot of people are meeting their spouse at the university, and I'm not saying that there's any wrong path in life.
But do we want our kids meeting A-A-U-S-C spouse or do we wanna 'em meeting a community college spouse? Right. Those are the [00:45:00] kind of things that a lot of families are now thinking through and that it's not just because everything, yes, we can go online and we can learn more than any university professor's ever gonna teach us, right?
Um, as far as the facts and the curriculum and, and stuff like that. But you can't replace those relationships that you build, and it's very hard to replicate that outside for, for that 18 to 22-year-old range. It's very hard to replicate that outside of the universities.
Naseema: Well, I agree, but I I love that you. Don't necessarily tell everybody that you're ready to go to college and
Paul Compeau, CFP: No, some of them aren't.
Naseema: Yeah. Yeah. And that's so real. Like being and being able to identify that and to speak to that, to the kid and the parents, like I feel like a lot of people need that validation because I think like for society, like it's often an expectation and people don't think.
Alternatively, [00:46:00] you know, so, so I really love that. But all of your services seem phenomenal and, um, I'll have all your links in the show notes, so don't worry. You guys can click through to that. But this conversation has been very enlightening for me. I've learned so much, and I didn't even know services like this.
Existed. So I'm super happy to be able to share this with my audience. And, you know, selfishly, I always just love learning, um, about new pieces of financial information and financial services that are available. 'cause it's all about like what you know is available. Um. Because you know, a lot of this information just as in common, common knowledge and to be able to, um, be exposed to that and share that with my audience, I feel is a blessing.
So I really appreciate you. You have been amazing and I love what you're doing for the community.
Paul Compeau, CFP: Awesome. Thanks for having me on.
Naseema: Of course. Thank you.
Hey there I’m Naseema
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