Posted on behalf of my colleague James Shiffer:

A college-bound student recently got a letter from College Financial Advisory, announcing that it's "time to apply for all available 2011-2012 financial aid programs to help pay for your college education expenses."
It's easy to think this is a nonprofit institution: Its website is collegefinadv.org. But it's not. Students and their parents pay a $59 "processing fee" to get general financial aid information.

"These days '.org' domain suffix names are no longer just reserved and used for nonprofit or information organizations," the San Diego-based company told Whistleblower. The company bought both .org and .com because of their "resale value."

Tiny, barely readable type on the back of the letter says the company is "not affiliated with any educational institutions or government agencies."

collegefinadv