Meet Stuart Siegel
Financial Aid Now Founder, Financial Aid Consultant
The financial aid system is complicated. Depending on circumstances it could be less or more so. Can it be aggravating? Yes. Is it sometimes frustrating? Absolutely. What can anyone expect from a 40-year-old federal bureaucracy?
Be that as it may, if you don’t have at least a working knowledge of how aid is awarded and to whom, I can practically guarantee you will pay more than you might otherwise.
I’ve been in your shoes before. 25 years ago when I was getting ready to send my oldest child to college, I didn’t know how to navigate the financial aid process any more than you do now.
After spending 30+ hours trying to figure it out on my own, I sent in the forms, only to be let down by the amount my daughter received. And back then the cost of a college like Wellesley in Massachusetts was about $33,000 all in. That was a lot of money! Twenty-four years later it’s now $81,000. All of the colleges are almost three times what they used to be in 1997.
Fortunately, I was a licensed financial planner and buried myself in books and thousands of pages of financial aid rules and regulations. And I have to admit learning over ten thousand pages of congressional language (Higher Education Reauthorization Act of 1965 and subsequent updates) was painful. But I learned more than enough to win more money for my other two and that made up for what I lost on Child #1.
Over a few years of study, I learned from financial aid professionals, admissions counselors, and others to earn a reputation as THE Financial Aid Negotiator. From then on, I started doing for others exactly what I did for myself. I learned how to unlock tens of thousands of dollars–dollars that I thought were out of reach for families like mine. After a quarter of a century, my peers and clients have come to see me as ‘the’ financial aid experts expert.
During those years 25 years, I’ve helped tens of thousands of families navigate the financial aid process and access millions of dollars in free aid. My fees were fair but not everyone could afford them. That’s when I created a home version of my FAFSAsoft EZ File System used by top college consultants. It’s that same passion for helping families that led me to create software platforms, like Financial AID Now™, that are used by global enterprises, banks, and credit unions all over the country.
While most families struggle to navigate the financial aid system on their own, Financial AID Now™ gives you everything you need to make the process as painless as possible, while ensuring you get access to the most aid possible.
And if you want or need our personalized services as a private client, you can start with or upgrade to Financial AID Now™ Plus.
Just as I’ve done for more than 104,000 families, I can help you get more free money for your child and even show you how to pay next to nothing for college if you want to go that route.
I can’t guarantee you the same kind of success most of our clients have enjoyed. Some of it is up to you. To get what you want have to participate. We provide you with the information, advice, and tools to get through this thing relatively unscathed. This isn’t easy even with help. I didn’t invent the rainy day. I just own the best umbrella.