Rising college costs can have a big impact on families and their financial advisors. College costs are up another 3-5 percent nationwide over last year and 1120 percent since 1978. College debt has hit $1.3 trillion.  

Sending kids to college has never had the potential to so dramatically derail the financial objectives of college-going families.

Financial advisors can play a pivotal role in helping their clients reach the American dream of a college education, preserve more of their investment portfolios and retirement assets, and teach young people life lessons about fiscal responsibility that will serve them for decades.

You Can Be A Hero  

With the news full of alarming statistics and policymakers scurrying for solutions, you can propose strategies that offer peace of mind and better outcomes for clients who often feel torn between their financial goals and giving their kids the “best” possible college education.

Herein lies the opportunity: High school and private college counselors focus on admissions. They typically do not consider how (or if) a family can pay for the schools on the student’s college list, causing families to scramble to find last-minute solutions after the best options are no longer available.  

This disparity frequently leads to negative results, including: crippling college debt, students dropping out because of cost or students transferring to a less expensive school.

Runaway college costs impact families in other situations, too. Investment and retirement portfolios can get severely depleted. In addition, parents often delay retirement to pay for college.

I spoke with a mother who was crying as she explained that her hard-working daughter was admitted to an Ivy League school but would be attending community college because “we were keeping up with the Joneses when we decided where Jennifer would apply.”

Indeed, soaring college costs accentuate the importance of students taking steps early so their families have more options for how much they spend on college.

The challenge is that parents don’t know what to do or how to start to create a plan to leverage achievements to pay less for college. They are overwhelmed. Misinformation compounds the problem.

What Can The Financial Advisor Do?

As families focus on college admissions, you can become the savvy advisor who addresses the reality: “Getting into college is one thing. Paying for it is another.”

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