The Premier College Planning Firm in Pennsylvania, Serving Families Nationwide.

College planning is about more than just picking schools. Between admissions timelines, financial aid forms, and choosing a smart funding strategy, the process can quickly get overwhelming. Our college planning services guide families step-by-step so you can reduce stress, avoid costly mistakes, and make informed choices.

The FAFSA is only one part of financial aid planning. Many colleges also require the CSS Profile, and each school calculates aid differently. Our team of college planning experts helps families identify schools that provide the best financial value and aid packages, complete FAFSA and CSS Profile forms correctly, appeal aid offers when appropriate, and position themselves for the most financial aid BEFORE filing.

On average, families who use the right college financial planning strategy can reduce their out-of-pocket costs by thousands of dollars. We help lower your Student Aid Index (SAI), identify schools that award generous scholarships, assist with financial aid appeal letters to increase aid offers, and create funding plans that minimize debt.

Families often save far more than the cost of our services by reducing out-of-pocket college costs and avoiding unnecessary debt. Beyond financial savings, you gain peace of mind knowing your child’s admissions and financial aid plans are handled by experienced college planning experts.

We offer a variety of college planning services from admissions to financial aid to funding. We conduct weekly educational college workshops and online webinars. We provide professional financial aid services including FAFSA and CSS Profile assistance. Our counselors hold NACAC professional certificates and provide one-on-one student admissions counseling. We do offer major and career discovery, application and essay reviews, and financial aid award analysis and appeal letters. We develop solutions and strategies to help students apply and get into college, as well as to help parents pay the bill without derailing their retirement. We’d be happy to meet with your family at a free consultation to discuss where you are in the process and whether we can help. 

There is no such thing as a family who makes too much money for financial aid. As a matter of fact, middle- and high-income families are more likely to overpay for college because of how the system works. We specialize in college planning for high-income families to help them get financial aid they didn’t know they could get. Many schools use merit aid, tuition discounts, and strategic positioning beyond need-based aid. We guide you toward schools that reward strong students regardless of income and build tax-smart funding strategies so you don’t overpay.

We work with students to identify best-fit schools academically, socially, and we work with parents to find the best fit financially.  Our process includes career assessments, major exploration, and data-driven analysis of which colleges align with your family’s financial, academic, and personal goals. We help families build a college list that balances opportunities with affordability. This ensures your child finds the right school without overpaying.

Colleges actually benefit when people do their own college planning because it saves the college money. There are many common and costly mistakes families make when planning for college, often without knowing. The experts at Elite Collegiate Planning know the system inside and out and help ensure families don’t make mistakes that will cause them to overpay for college. We keep tabs on the ongoing changes in legislation, we keep current with college financial aid data, and we understand the “system” and how to manage it. Our goal is to help each family find the best academic, social, and financial fit—uniquely for them! We’ve been doing it for more than 20 years and we’ve helped more than 20,000 families get over a billion dollars in aid.

529s are definitely the most popular college savings vehicle and they can be extremely beneficial. The key is knowing how to use them. Your hard-earned 529 savings can count against you if you don’t use them in the most efficient way. It can actually COST you money! There are many strategies for using your 529 savings, and they differ depending on the unique factors of each family. Our college planning experts will meet with you to help you make the most of every 529 dollar you’ve already saved. 

Yes. We use career assessments and interest inventories to match students with majors that fit their strengths and goals. This prevents wasted tuition from switching majors and keeps your student on track to graduate on time.

Both. We provide guidance on admissions strategy, timelines, essay support, and application review, plus college financial planning and financial aid optimization. Families benefit from a fully integrated plan instead of piecing together separate services.

Guidance counselors are a valuable resource but often responsible for hundreds of students. Their time is limited and their expertise does not involve college costs. We provide one-on-one, personalized college planning support that combines, admissions, financial aid, and funding expertise. 

Ideally, college planning should begin by the sophomore year of high school when positioning strategies matter most. It is never too early, but better late than never. Even families with seniors benefit from expert help with FAFSA and CSS Profile forms, financial aid appeal letters, and last-minute admissions support.