Confused by college admissions? They're here to help -- for a fee

Kristin Riegel started researching colleges and universities when she was in the ninth grade.

But despite that running start, it was a consultant she and her family hired for $1,700 during her senior year who ultimately helped seal her decision to go to Macalester College in St. Paul.

"It came down to where I would get enough financial aid to be able to afford going to college," said Riegel, who lives in rural Batavia, N.Y., and will be a sophomore at Macalester this year.

With the help of Paul Celuch, co-founder of College Assistance Plus in Rochester, N.Y., Riegel said her family saved as much as $3,000 a year on tuition.

"He helped us go back to the financial aid office at Macalester and explain that my Dad was working on his master's and wasn't working full time," said Riegel, who also considered Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y., as well as Syracuse University. "It was something we hadn't considered before working with College Assistance Plus."

College Assistance Plus is part of a growing number of fee-based services that have cropped up in the past five years as tuition has jumped to record highs. Financial services companies, lawyers and accountants increasingly are offering college consulting as part of their suite of services.

Meanwhile, federal and state officials are examining often too-cozy relationships between college financial aid officers and lenders. And members of Congress are considering bills that would expand student aid programs.

Between 2001 and 2006, average tuition jumped 35 percent at public universities, according to the College Board. The average price for private colleges is almost 2.5 times that of in-state residents at public four-year schools.

Student debt of $124 billion

This year, students left four-year undergraduate institutions with about $124 billion in student-loan debt, said Student Monitor, a market research firm in Ridgewood, N.J., that tracks student trends. That translated to $26,417 for the average student.

"It's outrageous," said Eric Weil, managing partner at the firm. "What we see on behalf of students and their families is a sense of resignation. What are you gonna do?"

College Assistance Plus has grown from a small firm in upstate New York into an operation with 13 franchises -- at a cost of $30,000 each -- in 10 states. Its newest franchise was launched recently in the Twin Cities by St. Paul attorneys Alan Weinblatt and Jay Benanav, who also is a St. Paul City Council member not seeking reelection.

Benanav read an article in an airline magazine and was immediately struck by the possibilities. He was going through the college application process for the third time with his youngest child. "I wish I'd known about it 10 years ago, when my first son started looking at schools," he said. "I could have saved myself thousands of dollars."

Benanav said he had no trouble recruiting his current boss and old friend Weinblatt, of Weinblatt and Gaylord, who voluntarily had been helping high school students with the college search process for years.

Proprietary data base

College Assistance Plus says its proprietary database sets it apart from other college-aid consultants. Built on information purchased from the U.S. Department of Education, the College Board and Barron's, the database allows students to predict "with a high degree of accuracy" their out-of-pocket tuition costs at various schools in the United States and Canada, said Celuch, the co-founder.

The database also can highlight negotiating strengths -- such as which schools are most motivated to attract Minnesota students or those with interests in certain degrees. "A lot of people aren't aware that colleges give more money away for different majors," he noted.

Armed with more information, College Assistance Plus puts schools in competition with each other to get students better aid packages.

"We approach the college selection and funding process as a huge consumer purchase," said Celuch, who launched the business in 2004 after honing his business skills at IBM, MCI and as an executive head-hunter. "It's such a complex process and you've got so much emotion involved in it. You can get into a world of financial trouble making your college decision based on emotion."

Think of it as a real estate transaction, Celuch said. Before buying, you'd probably hire a Realtor, compare prices on many houses and negotiate for the best price. "That's the way we approach the process for our clients," he said. "We try to apply every strategy that a real estate agent would apply for you."

A substantial cost

Which is exactly what concerns financial aid directors such as Kathy Ruby of St. Olaf College.

"We don't want to say these consultants can't help families," she said, "But $1,700 is a lot of money. That's more than a year's worth of books. The question is, how much benefit do they derive from it? Could they have figured it out on their own?"

Ruby, who also is president-elect of the Minnesota Association of Financial Aid Administrators, said there's very little wiggle room when it comes to college aid, because it's based on adjusted gross income.

Colleges and universities do have the ability make changes based on "professional judgment," she said, which could be considering a change in financial circumstances because of such things as a job loss, or medical expenses.

"It's really OK for families to appeal a financial aid decision and make sure we're taking the right picture of their financial situation," she said. "We're often seen as the adversary, like we're trying to withhold money, and that's not the case. We're looking for a good fit and helping families with an affordable option."

So, too, is College Assistance Plus, Celuch counters.

"Our mantra is get a degree, not debt," he said. "Colleges are marketing machines. They call loans 'aid.' We call loans 'delayed pain.' Our whole intent is to get the best possible deal at the college of your choice, and minimize the loans in the process."

Staff writer Karen Lundegaard contributed to this report.

Jackie Crosby • 612-673-7335

Jackie Crosby • jcrosby@startribune.com