The specialty FSG is known for.
Families rarely know what college will actually cost them until the award letters arrive. By then most of the decisions that shaped the price are already made. FSG helps financial professionals move those decisions earlier, with the know‑how and the products to do it well.
College and retirement compete for the same dollars.
Parents of college-bound students are often at the peak of their earning years and the point where retirement saving matters most. Without a plan, tuition is paid from whatever is closest at hand: retirement accounts, home equity, or loans that follow the family for years.
Getting it right means seeing the whole picture at once, and most of the professionals a family turns to see only one part of it.
- A tax professionalknows taxes, but not how income and assets are counted for financial aid.
- A financial advisorknows investments, but not how aid formulas treat the accounts that hold them.
- An insurance professionalknows products, but not how they fit a strategy that funds college and keeps retirement intact.
FSG knows how it all fits together: the financial aid rules, the tax side and the right products, so a family can pay for college and still keep retirement intact.
The system behind FSG has helped more than 425,000 families.
No other college planning program in the country has helped as many families.
Assessment
When will your student start college?
That leaves 1 year to position the family before the first aid forms count.
Generosity Scale
Less generous: the family is likely to pay closer to the full price.
Cost overview
- Four-year cost
- $248,000
- What aid is likely to cover
- $39,700
- What the family is expected to pay
- $208,300
Strategies
- Tax positioning
- Asset repositioning
- Cash-flow strategy
- Award appeal
+ 170 more, ranked for the family’s situation
Everything in SMARTTRACK℠
- Free college funding assessmentAbout five minutes, no Social Security number. Shows where a family stands and whether savings are likely.
- Generosity ScaleRates every college on how much aid it really awards families like this one, and flags the tuition traps.
- Household cost overviewThe true four-year cost, what aid is likely to cover, and the gap the family is expected to pay.
- 174 funding strategiesRanked for the family's situation: tax positioning, asset repositioning, cash flow and award appeals.
- SMART Steps library65+ click-by-click guides through the FAFSA, the CSS Profile and every form that trips families up.
- Scholarship EngineMerit awards searched school by school, with the grades and test scores each one requires.
- Aid calculatorsEstimate the Student Aid Index, compare net prices and turn each award letter into a real total.
- Certified College Funding Specialist® guidanceHands-on help for families who want it, with a custom plan that covers every child in the household.
From a first assessment to a plan they can follow.
Assessment
The family starts with a free SMARTTRACK℠ assessment of where they stand and what is possible.
Consultation
A Certified College Funding Specialist® reviews the results with them and answers their questions.
Strategy
Together they choose colleges, aid strategies and a way to pay that fits the family’s finances.
Follow-through
The specialist stays with the family through aid forms, award letters and the years of college.
What you get as an FSG college funding professional.
- SMARTTRACK℠ to use with your clients
- Specialty college funding products available only through FSG
- Powerful college funding training from the ACCFS, through FSG's special relationship
- Family workshop presentations you can deliver
- Support on every case, from first meeting to plan
- Protection and retirement solutions for the conversations that follow
- A team that has made college funding its specialty
Every FSG partner trains with the ACCFS.
When you contract with FSG, you get powerful training from the Association of Certified College Funding Specialists (ACCFS) and its certification program built for financial advisors. It is the closest thing to a master's degree in this field, and FSG's special relationship with the ACCFS brings it to every partner.
FSG's leadership hold the ACCFS Master Trainer credential and lead the training FSG partners receive.
Find out what it's like to work with FSG.
Tell us a little about your practice. Someone from FSG will reach out to talk it through, with no obligation either way.