Right College.
Right Price.
Retirement Preserved.
The College Affordability Program™ is a private planning-and-implementation engagement for families who want the right college, at the right price, with retirement preserved.
Most families treat college selection and college funding as separate decisions.
They are not.
Where your student applies, how they are positioned, what colleges are likely to offer, how your family pays, how your assets are structured, and what the decision does to retirement are all part of one connected financial decision.
- Build a coordinated college affordability strategy
- Identify where real college money may be available
- Protect the retirement plan you have spent decades building
Most Families Are Making a Six-Figure College Decision with Half a Plan
Affluent and successful families are often told to solve college one piece at a time. But college selection and college funding are not separate decisions.
The College Side
Families hire an Independent Educational Consultant for the college list, applications, essays, and admissions strategy.
The Money Side
Then they rely on a financial planner, accountant, an online calculator, or their own research for how to pay, how aid works, how assets are counted, which tax moves matter, and how the college decision affects retirement.
- Two conversations.
- Two sets of recommendations.
- No single coordinated plan.
For many families, college is not a $40,000 question. It is a $200,000 to $400,000 decision across four years.
One Program. One Plan. One Coordinated Outcome.
The College Affordability Program™ was built to solve the coordination problem by bringing college selection, college cost, financial strategy, and retirement impact into one integrated process.
The Plan
This is the strategic written deliverable. The Plan integrates college selection, cost reduction, merit positioning, aid strategy, cash-flow planning, retirement impact, and wealth-preservation considerations into one coordinated framework.
Implementation
This is the guided execution phase. Implementation helps your family act on the Plan by setting deadlines, holding working sessions, reviewing award letters, preparing appeals, providing decision support, and managing the project through your student’s college commitment date.
The objective is simple
Right College. Right Price. Retirement Preserved.
The Program Includes Two Coordinated Models
Most families have never seen these two planning models in the same document. Almost no firms build them as a single unit.
The College Cost Minimization Plan™
The four-year college decision side of the Plan
- Family financial baseline
- Student merit positioning
- College-list affordability assessment
- Strategic aid and scholarship levers
- Target net-cost modeling
- FAFSA/CSS Profile planning considerations
- Award-letter and appeal-readiness strategy
The College Cost Recovery Plan™
The long-term financial life side of the Plan
- Protection review
- Liquidity structure
- Tax-aware savings coordination
- Asset-positioning considerations
- Retirement-impact modeling
- Wealth recovery and preservation strategies
- Implementation priorities after the Plan is delivered
The College Affordability Action Timeline™
The Plan tells your family what matters. The Action Timeline tells you what happens next. This becomes the operational backbone of the engagement: a month-by-month roadmap of deadlines, decisions, documents, conversations, filings, follow-up items, and working sessions that carries your family through college commitment day. Strategy becomes action. Action becomes a coordinated college decision.
Documented Across 1,668 Award Letters Since 2009
Afford College and its partners have documented outcomes across 1,668 award letters since 2009.
Public Colleges
$34,480
Documented average four-year savings
Private Colleges
$107,983
Documented average four-year savings
Award Letters
1,668
Award letters documented since 2009
Total cumulative aid documented since 2009: $2.2 billion
For many upper-middle-class and affluent families, the largest opportunity is not only reducing tuition costs. It is coordinating the college decision with the family’s broader financial life.
Potential Recovery Planning Impact
In preserved wealth, recovered value, or retirement-income equivalent identified through coordinated planning.
College should be a planned bump on the road to retirement — not a detour that knocks the family off course.
Results referenced on this page are supported by the methodology, source data, sample size, time period, and variability factors described at Afford.College/FTC-Disclosure. Results vary by family, student, college, timing, and implementation. Results are not guaranteed.
What Your Family Receives
The College Affordability Program™ is not a course, a checklist, or a one-time consultation. It is a private planning-and-implementation engagement designed to help your family move from scattered decisions to coordinated action.
The Plan
A single integrated written plan customized to your family.
- College Cost Minimization Plan™ — customized strategy for reducing the real cost of college
- College Cost Recovery Plan™ — customized strategy for protecting long-term family wealth
- Family Financial Baseline — the starting point for honest analysis
- Student Merit Positioning Review — how the student may be positioned for institutional money
- College-List Affordability Analysis — which schools are likely to make financial sense
- Retirement-Impact Modeling — how the college decision may affect long-term wealth
- Action Timeline™ — the month-by-month operational roadmap
- Appeal Readiness Strategy — the framework for responding when award letters arrive
- Decision-Support Modeling — side-by-side comparison of realistic college choices
Drafted Tools
Practical tools designed to turn strategy into action.
- Appeal letters, typically 2–5 per student, drafted and reviewed with your family
- Talking points and scripts for conversations with colleges
- Award-letter analysis worksheets showing true net cost by college
- Financial-aid filing checklists and review notes
- Decision-support models at final college-choice time
- Follow-up recommendations for implementation with your chosen professionals
Implementation
Guided follow-through until your student’s college commitment date.
- Maintaining the Action Timeline as the operational record
- Monitoring progress against key deadlines
- Identifying slippage before it becomes costly
- Working sessions at major decision points
- FAFSA/CSS Profile preparation checkpoints
- Award-letter review
- Appeal preparation
- Final decision support
- Email and phone access throughout the engagement
This is not a report that sits in a drawer.
gives your family the strategy.
turns that strategy into action.
help you communicate with colleges.
keeps the process moving through commitment day.
How $7,000 Compares to the Realistic Alternatives
Most families who want serious help with college planning have three choices. The problem is that the usual choices still leave the family responsible for connecting the dots.
Hire an educational consultant.
Hire a college-funding financial planner.
Try to assemble both sides yourself.
| Approach | Typical Fee | What It Usually Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Independent Educational Consultant | About $6,500 | College list, applications, essays, and admissions guidance. Usually no integrated retirement or wealth-recovery planning. |
| College-funding financial planner | About $3,000–$4,000 | College funding strategy, cash-flow modeling, aid positioning, savings strategy, and related financial planning. Usually no admissions, merit-positioning, or appeal strategy. |
| Self-assembled approach | About $9,500–$10,500+ | Two separate providers. Two separate processes. The family is responsible for integration. |
| College Affordability Program™ — Standard Tier | $12,500 | One integrated planning-and-implementation engagement: the Plan plus guided implementation through commitment day. |
| College Affordability Program™ — Founders Pricing | $7,000 | Same Standard Tier Program. Same Plan. Same implementation support. Limited to the first 20 families. |
The Point Is Not More Services.
The point is coordination.
At Founders Pricing, the $7,000 engagement fee is significantly below the Standard Tier and below the realistic cost of assembling separate college and financial-planning help.
- Independent Educational Consultant pricing is based primarily on the 2025 CollegePlannerPro IEC Pricing Survey, which reported 600+ IEC respondents and 2024 pricing data; a publicly available copy of the survey reports an average total cost of services per student of $6,388. (College Planner Pro)
- Financial-planning pricing is based on current consumer-facing fee research and practitioner examples. NerdWallet reports that hourly financial advice commonly runs $200–$400/hour, one-time plans are often close to $3,000, and annual retainers commonly range from $2,500–$9,200. (NerdWallet)
Ready to see whether the Program fits your family?
Schedule a Discovery Conversation →Schedule a 45-minute Discovery Conversation. No charge. No pressure. We’ll determine whether the College Affordability Program™ is the right fit.
Is This Right for Your Family?
The College Affordability Program™ is not for every family. It is for families who see college as both an educational decision and a major financial decision.
Best Fit for Families Who:
- Want a coordinated strategy, not scattered advice
- Have a student approaching the college decision years
- Care about college fit, affordability, and long-term wealth
- Are willing to share enough financial detail for the analysis to be honest
- Want to understand the reasoning behind the recommendations
- Are prepared to make decisions during the planning process
- Have enough at stake — through income, assets, retirement savings, home equity, business ownership, grandparent support, or expensive college options — that a poorly coordinated college decision could materially affect their financial future
Probably Not the Right Fit If You:
- Only want help with college lists and essays
- Only want cash-flow modeling
- Are not ready to share your full financial picture
- Want a quick fix instead of a coordinated engagement
- Prefer to make college decisions one step at a time without integrating the financial impact
If you only need admissions help, an Independent Educational Consultant may be a better fit.
If you only need cash-flow modeling, a financial planner may be a better fit.
But if you want the college decision and the family financial decision brought together, that is what the College Affordability Program™ was built to do.
Why $7,000 — and Why Now
The Standard Tier for the College Affordability Program™ is $12,500. For the first 20 families, Founders Pricing is $7,000.
Standard Tier
$12,500
Full College Affordability Program™
Founders Pricing
$7,000
Same Standard Tier Program. Limited to the first 20 families.
Available to families who engage by August 31, 2026 — or until the 20 Founders spots are filled, whichever comes first.
Founders Families Receive the Full Standard Tier Program
This Is Not a New or Experimental Service.
The lower price reflects a national expansion.
Peter Lampert has worked in college affordability strategy for more than 25 years. What is changing now is not the depth of the work.
What is changing is the delivery model, national reach, and formal structure of the College Affordability Program™.
The Founders cohort gives the first 20 families access to the full Program at reduced pricing as Afford College expands this work beyond its original market and builds the next stage of national delivery.
Founders Bonus: Foundation Phase Surcharge Waived
Families who begin before the student’s junior year may require additional monitoring prior to the start of active application-season project management.
Under Standard Tier pricing, that early-start monitoring normally carries a Foundation Phase surcharge.
Complex Families Are Still Eligible for Founders Pricing
Some families require deeper analysis because of business ownership, multiple income sources, real estate holdings, divorced or blended-family issues, grandparent funding, non-custodial parent considerations, or asset-positioning questions.
Complexity creates risk when ignored, but opportunity when coordinated.
Want to see if your family qualifies for Founders Pricing?
Apply for a 45-minute Discovery Conversation. No charge. No pressure. We’ll determine whether the College Affordability Program™ is the right fit.
What Happens After You Click
The Discovery Conversation is not a high-pressure sales call. It is a fit conversation to determine whether the College Affordability Program™ makes sense for your family.
Discovery Conversation
You schedule a 45-minute Discovery Conversation.
The purpose is simple: determine whether the College Affordability Program™ is the right fit for your family.
No charge. No pressure.
Fit Confirmation
If the Program appears to be a fit, we discuss timing, scope, family complexity, student year, and next steps.
If it is not the right fit, we will say so.
Engagement Letter
If both sides agree to move forward, you will receive a written engagement letter outlining:
- Scope
- Fee
- Payment schedule
- Timeline
- Deliverables
- Expectations on both sides
Nothing begins until that agreement is signed.
Onboarding
Your first Affordability Positioning Session is scheduled.
You receive the checklist of documents required for the family financial baseline and student positioning analysis.
Planning Sessions
The core planning sequence runs over approximately 8–12 weeks, depending on family timing and document readiness.
Plan Delivery and Implementation
The Plan is finalized during the planning phase.
From there, guided implementation continues through your student’s college commitment date.
The first step is simply to confirm fit.
If the Program is right for your family, we will discuss timing, tier, and next steps. If it is not, we will say so clearly.
Want to see if your family qualifies for Founders Pricing?
Apply for a 45-minute Discovery Conversation. No charge. No pressure. We’ll determine whether the College Affordability Program™ is the right fit.
Got Questions?
Here's some answers
Q: What if the Program is not the right fit after the Discovery Conversation?
Q: What if I sign the engagement letter but change my mind?
Q: What if I receive the Plan and decide it is not what I expected?
Q: How is the $7,000 paid?
Q: My student is younger than junior year. Does this still apply?
Q: What about multiple students?
Q: What if my financial situation is more complex than typical?
Q: Is this a coaching program?
Q: Do you sell financial products as part of this Program?
About Peter Lampert, CPA, JD/Esq
College is rarely just an education decision.
I’m Peter Lampert, CPA, founder of Afford College.
For more than 25 years, I have worked in college affordability strategy — helping families understand not just where their student might go to college, but what that decision means financially.
My work sits at the intersection of college selection, college cost, financial aid, scholarship positioning, cash flow, retirement protection, and long-term family wealth.
That intersection matters because, for many families, college is one of the largest financial decisions they will ever make.
The College Affordability Program™ was built to bring those pieces together.
How Strategy and Implementation Are Handled
Education-Side Strategy and Implementation
Afford College provides strategy, planning, analysis, educational coordination, and education-side implementation through the College Affordability Program™.
Financial-Side Implementation
Financial-side implementation must be handled through properly licensed financial, tax, insurance, investment, or legal professionals, as applicable.
Peter’s Licensed Implementation Role
Peter may be able to assist with certain financial-side implementation through properly licensed affiliations and companies, as appropriate. Any such implementation work is separate from the Afford College education-side engagement and is subject to separate disclosures, agreements, licensing requirements, compensation terms, and client consent.
We work with a limited number of families at any given time because this Program requires real attention. The Founders cohort is capped at 20 for that reason.
20 Founders Spots
One Program. One Coordinated Outcome.
If your family is a fit for The College Affordability Program™, the next step is a 45-minute Discovery Conversation.
No charge. No pressure.
If it is not the right fit, we will say so.
If it is the right fit, we will discuss timing, tier, and next steps.
45-minute call. No charge. No pressure.
Results figures referenced on this page are supported by the methodology, source data, sample size, time period, and variability factors described at Afford.College/FTC-Disclosure as the authoritative reference.
Results vary by family, student, college, timing, and implementation. Results are not guaranteed.
Afford College is the trade name of Lampert Educational Resources LLC, a Colorado limited liability company.
Afford College provides strategy, planning, analysis, educational coordination, and education-side implementation through the College Affordability Program™.
Financial-side implementation must be handled through properly licensed financial, tax, insurance, investment, or legal professionals, as applicable.
Peter Lampert may be able to assist with certain financial-side implementation through properly licensed affiliations and companies, subject to separate disclosures, agreements, licensing requirements, compensation terms, and client consent.
Afford College itself does not sell securities, sell insurance, prepare taxes, provide legal advice, or manage assets.