Tool removes the grunt work from college planning

New software automates the college selection process and financial planning, eliminating hours of manual work for financial advisers.

Smart Search, from Stratagee Corp. in Russell, Pa., automates the process of researching schools, removing most of the tediousness from the process. In less than 45 minutes, advisers and families can identify colleges and generate an estimate of the net cost of attending — taking into account financial aid, academic scholarships and other grants.

The web-based program allows advisers to compare schools, estimates the chances a student has of being accepted and eligibility for financial aid. Experts said that this is the first time that a single technology can answer the questions: Can a student get into a particular school? And can the family afford the room and board?

Smart Search “appears to be a handy little tool, especially for doing quick analysis,” said Rick Darvis, executive director of the Plentywood, Mont.-based National Institute of Certified College Planners, which provides courses that lead to a designation in college planning. Unlike other college search software, it can determine the likelihood of a student’s being admitted, he said.

An adviser inputs a student’s standardized-test score and grade point average, some basic financial information and search criteria such as specific majors or college locations.

Once the information is entered, the adviser can generate a report that includes the name and website for each college, the student’s chance of admission and a cost estimate for each school.

In addition, the platform estimates the amount of aid a student could receive and the net cost to the family after loans and grants are factored into the equation.

The technology is a relief to clients who otherwise would rely on pencil and paper to determine the schools their children would consider, and determine if they could afford to attend them by virtue of some back-of-the-envelope calculations.

Russell Certo, a physical therapist in Grand Island, N.Y., and his wife went through the “extremely painful and time-consuming pro-cess” of planning their oldest daughter’s college admission on their own.

As a result of the experience, he asked his adviser, Jim Miller, a certified financial planner in nearby Buffalo, N.Y., to assume a leading role in college planning for Mr. Certo’s remaining kids.

Mr. Miller put together a list of 10 schools for Mr. Certo’s 17-year-old son, Benjamin, including Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., which is considering him as a potential hockey recruit.

“Oh my, was this ever so much simpler and so much less of a headache,” Mr. Certo said. “You can plug things in and take things out, and you are not ruling out the expensive schools just based on cost.”

To be sure, college planning has frustrated advisers because of the time required to develop a strategy.

“When I first started [working on Section 529 college savings plans], I was spending eight or more hours putting [them] together,” said Troy E. Miller, a CFP in Sacramento, Calif., who is no relation to Jim Miller.

As a result, the former started his own website, 529directory.com, in 2001 to help simplify the process for advisers, with free tools and a simple calculator. But Mr. Miller said that Smart Search is “comprehensive and extremely intuitive.”

“Now you can knock out a plan in anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes, not to mention being able to provide an entire page of reports and possibilities,” he said. “What Smart Search does is not only eliminate the schools you shouldn’t be wasting your time on, but it allows for a more accurate assessment of all the possibilities in one program.”

Although no competitors exist that match the scope of Smart Search’s features in a single product, advisers can rely on a couple of websites to generate similar information. However, these sites are likely to require more legwork because they aren’t designed for advisers.

Collegeboard.com Inc. in New York offers an abundance of free resources under its “For Parents” section and five subsections, such as “Pay For College.” There are dozens of articles, frequently asked questions, and calculators are available that advisers can use if they are willing to invest the time to locate them.

Likewise, Peterson’s, a subsidiary of Nelnet Inc. in Lincoln, Neb., offers a plethora of resources at petersons.com of which advisers can take advantage — if they are willing to take the time to explore the site.

However, advisers who attain the college-planning certification and join the NICCP can purchase additional tools and materials that will allow them to match, or surpass, Smart Search, several market participants said.

Smart Search is available at Stratagee.com and costs $349 for an annual license that includes updates. In addition, the company plans to release a more advanced product, Strategy Software, a full-blown financial planning tool.

The cost is $449 for an annual license that also includes updates.

E-mail Davis D. Janowski at [email protected].