AICCFC

“I had been helping families with college financial planning for nearly 3 years prior to learning about the CCFC®. While I did receive excellent training from another organization in college financial planning area and held my CPA and CFP® designations, I had nothing on my resume that reflected my college financial planning expertise. I considered other college financial planning designations and organizations, but most of them were self-serving (promoted life insurance) or focused primarily on helping college graduates who already incurred significant student loan debt. CCFC® professionals focus on helping students before, during and after the college planning process. The requirement that all CCFCs have an advanced certification means that each Designation holder brings a specialty to the AICCFC organization. After realizing that the majority of CCFC® Designation holders were CPAs or CFP® Professionals (and therefore fiduciaries), it was very easy to commit to becoming a CCFC®! ”

Robert Falcon, CPA/PFS, CFP, CCFC

“In my experience, few advisors are knowledgeable enough about financing higher education to the extent necessary to serve as a fiduciary. With the various education funding mechanisms, student loan repayment plans, and FAFSA filing strategies out there, it's tough to balance that expertise when so many advisors are focused on the other aspects of financial planning. I am glad I can serve my clients (primarily students and their families) to the fullest extent possible to ensure they make the best decisions for themselves with all the information they need available to them. I attribute a significant portion of my preparedness for those interactions to the CCFC curriculum and the AICCFC's continuous outreach with updates and information.”

Andrew Rotz, CFP, CCFC

“The CCFC program offered by the AICCFC is a terrific educational experience that truly fills in the gaps leftover by other designation programs. What we have found in our retirement planning practice is that clients are having children later in life narrowing the gap between sending their kids to college and beginning retirement. The CCFC designation program and its resources have provided the skills and resources to help our clients build a bridge between sending their kids to college and retirement funding.”

Scott Winslow, MSFS, ChFC, CLU, RICP, AEP, CCFC

“The CCFC designation has opened me up to so many opportunities specific to the world of higher education finances beyond my initial interest related to student loan repayment. Having insight into the full lifecycle of this process provides unique value in quality of client advice. Furthermore, I’ve received almost immediate trusted authority in multiple business dealings from complete strangers. I’ve created so many unexpected and advantageous relationships including board members from local colleges, student loan lender referral partners, proactive solicitation for community sponsorship and media advertising, and consultation for EdTech/FinTech products.”

Becca Bailey, CPA, CCFC

“As a firm, we offer student loan consulting services, and it breaks our heart to see people feel so overwhelmed by student loans. While we understand that student loans are crippling many Americans, we also believe that the cause of student loans is not understanding the options available prior to selecting a college. We believe that planning for college is not just saving for college (although that is a piece of it), but it includes looking at the various options available, including the student and the parents in on the conversation, and explaining to them what they need to do to maximize scholarships, as well as building in the tax components of the paying for college. The program embodies these concepts and gives me a resource to reflect back on when unique situations arise with our clients. Between the knowledge this designation brings to the table, and the software developed by CollegeAidPro, we feel, as a firm, like we have the right tools in place to combat the rising costs of college, and ultimately the student loan crisis. ”

Amy Irvine, CFP, EA, MPAS, CCFC

“Completing the CCFC Education Course was a perfect complement to my CFP(r) education. The CCFC curriculum delves much deeper into the ins and outs of education planning - I particularly enjoyed the high-quality information on the student loan forgiveness program. The curriculum also opened my eyes to the importance of making education planning a priority in meetings with clients. I find myself frequently referring back to the materials when I am posed with a question by a client or another advisor. I would absolutely recommend the CCFC Education Course to any advisor who is interested in going deeper into the world of education planning.”

Andrew Busa, MSPFP, CFP, CCFC

“The Certified College Financial Consultant (CCFC) curriculum is outstanding. The coursework covers a lot of ground with respect to college planning and student loan advising, and can be accessed on demand anytime you need to refer back to it. The body of knowledge and tools available to advisors is extremely useful, but the true value of the CCFC Designation is the network of fellow advisors that members can tap into to bounce ideas off of and share best practices. If you want to enhance your education planning service offering, then the CCFC program is worth your consideration; it’s an investment, not an expense.”

Ryan Firth, CPA/PFS, CCFC

“The CCFC Education Course was just what I needed to broaden my college planning knowledge which comes up a lot in my Divorce Financial Planning work. I found the content to be extremely robust and comprehensive with a lot of additional resources provided within the program to even further enhance your knowledge and expertise. I highly recommend this education path to all my fellow Advisors who are looking to be more, do more and add more value to their client relationships. A great investment of time and money!”

Andrea McGrath, CFP, CDFA, RICP, CCFC

“I highly recommend the CCFC Education Course! The content is current and comprehensive. It was extremely helpful to work at my own pace and go back and review modules as needed. The knowledge I have gained will help me advise my clients better. My education doesn't stop there as it does with most educational courses. The resources and discussion forum will add to my experience and keep me current and always learning.”

Stacy Kimmel, CPA, CCFC

“As a current candidate for CFP®, I found the CCFC Education Course to be a great resource to increase my knowledge above and beyond the five key areas in the CFP® curriculum. The depth of content was exactly what I was looking for as an advisor who has a network of families approaching their college years. The ease of accessibility made it convenient for me to complete the coursework on my own schedule and wasn’t too overwhelming! I look forward to seeing the expansion of this designation within the advisor community and being able to learn from one another as we help families with this important financial decision.”

Scott Kawecki, CCFC