Dollars for College, Inc.

Review: Three years ago, I paid [redacted], owner of Dollars for College to provide services for my daughter [redacted] Part of these services required me to provide him with my taxes and other financial information. [redacted] also was responsible to do the FAFSA (financial aid) for my daughter [redacted] I recently tried to contact him to do FAFSA for 2016. His business no longer exists and his emails along with phone numbers no longer work. This man has my personal tax information and did not notify me of anything or return my personal information. I understand businesses close, however, I should have been notified and my daughter's packet and our taxes returned.

I would like all personal information returned including my daughter's FAFSA information. His services were for the duration of my daughter's college and for my son's future college preparation.Desired Settlement: All personal tax information for [redacted] (my last name is now [redacted] returned.

My daughter [redacted] tax packet and all personal information returned.

FAFSA personal information returned.

Review: Contracted to give 4 years of unlimited support and service for a onetime fixed fee. Guaranteed full satisfaction or a full refund. After one year demanded more money and held client hostage.Promised timely advice: But did not return calls on a regular basis.Financial advice was geared to benefit Dollars for College, Inc. and not the client. [redacted] conceded that his advice benefited Dollars for College, Inc. with disregard to clients loss in commissions and penalties. [redacted] asked client to invest money in accounts where there would be high withdrawal penalties, knowing very well the client would need the money for child's education very soon. His advice would penalize the client in penalties and expose the client to short term market risk, while reward [redacted] with generous commissions. [redacted] guaranteed the client a 7% return, for money that would bee needed in less than two years.Promise of college cost being between $10,000 and $15,000 (Expected Family Contribution) was not delivered.Failed to perform services promised. a. Did not negotiate with colleges like promised. b. Did not disclose client would have to fill out non FAFSA formsc. Increased application fees substantially by ill advice.d. Did not prep the student as promised.e. Unprofessionally hung up the phone in the 11th hour.f. Refused to complete a form that the school (USC) required unless I paid him extra, because that school required extensive information. Amounting to nothing but Extortion.In the end refused to perform promised service and left the client stranded when the client was out of town and the deadline was the next day.Then turned around and falsely accused the client for requesting service last minute, which can be easily proved to be not true. In summary, very unprofessional conduct, very poor service and very deceitful advice.Desired Settlement: Although promised a full refund if unsatisfied. I demand a refund of $650.00 ($150 fee to Dollars for College, Inc. for filling out FAFSA)

Review: Seeking Refund for product and service of 4 years. Financial College Info.is 3 times the cost he provided.He is fired,want refund for 3 years left

We were solicited by Dollars for College at a High School event they presented. Our family met with [redacted] for a free consultation.

We decided to hire him aka Dollars for College.

We were given detailed financial information based on our family's income. He provided us financial cost to attend several colleges in California and out of State. [redacted] encouraged us to apply for University of Oregon stating we would have the tuition reduction to $13,073.

after we received our award letter from the university with the estimated cost of $44,625

[redacted] told us that our son should have accepted Chico State and that it was our mistake

He never followed up with us until I made contact with him on 9/2/2013. At which time, he said that he would consider giving us back at the very least some of our money since we are no longer going to use him for the remainder 4 years that we paid him. he said that he would get back to me by 9-6-2013. I didn't hear from him, and so today I called him which is 9/13/2013. he apologized for not calling because he is just too busy. he went on to say that he didn't feel they had misrepresented us and that he would not give us any of our money back. I told him that we paid for 4 years of service to which, we no longer want from him. He continued to refuse any refund, so I told him that our family is filing with small claims court.

[redacted] does not want to take any responsibilty for the "expert product of College Information " Desired Settlement: $1990.00

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response

[redacted] became a client 09/12/2012, we interviewed the family, reviewed prior year tax returns and met in our office discussing their financial situation, as well as, counseled with their son [redacted] for his SAT testing.

I suggested that [redacted] make application to a minimum of 6-8 schools allowing for him to receive the minimum of four acceptance letters so that he could satisfy our promise of 3 times the client's fees in aid. We filed the FAFSA (Federal Financial Aid request form) on this form [redacted] said he was applying to a :DWI of ten schools (please see the attached FAFSA form. Unfortunately, our office was only given three letters regarding college applications; two where acceptance letters the other a denial letter.

Utilizing the prior tax returns and current W-2 statements we advised the [redacted] family that they would be able to obtain a Cal-Grant worth $12,000 per year if [redacted] went to a California school. Unfortunately our office did not see any evidence of an application for the Cal-Grant which [redacted] could have utilized by attending Chico State, thus saving the family $12,000 per year. An acceptance letter from University of Oregon was set to our office for evaluation. A copy of the evaluation is attached which advises [redacted] to be aware of the financial burden should he accept their offer. Given this information the family still accepted the offer.

Our office can only make the client aware of their financial situation and college choices, the client ultimately makes the decision as to what school they will attend and what aid they will request. Our office constructs "Appeal Letters" requesting additional aid for a family if given their special circumstances, we did this for the [redacted] family. Filling out the FAFSA request form we achieved an "Effective Family Contribution" of zero which is as low as possible for a family requesting aid. Had the [redacted] family made an application for the Cal Grant and attended one of the California State Colleges they would have been entitled to this aid, they did not. Instead they chose to attend the University of Oregon, despite our evaluation letter. Our "Promise of Value" states that the client must receive acceptance letters from at least 4 schools for our system to work, the [redacted] family sent us only two acceptance letters, the client also needs to fill out all required forms, they did not fill out or request the Cal-Grant form.

Additionally, the University of Oregon acceptance lefter does provide $7,845 in financial free money, our fee was $1,995 x 3 = $5,985, therefore they did achieve the goal of three times their fee in their I st year of college, and will continue to

receive this amount for the next three years totally, $31,380 providing their income remains the same.

We strive to do the best for our clients; my suggestion is that the [redacted] family revisits attending a California College so

that they could utilize the Cal Grant, Pen Grant and the SEOG Grant for a total of approximately $17,000 annually.