About College Money Search
Over the past decade, college admissions have changed dramatically and the cost of tuition has skyrocketed. Few families have the financial means to pay for college outright. Instead, the majority of families need help to find additional sources of funding and guidance for how to lower their cost of college.
At College Money Search, we understand these problems. We don't necessarily agree with how the current college admissions and financing system operates, but we know how to operate within its framework. Through our research and analysis, we educate families on the financial aid process and help them find schools that will offer them the most money.
College Money Search was founded with the simple mission to help families find colleges that will be more affordable for their financial situations. We work with families to create an initial list of colleges that are more likely to be generous with their need and merit based aid. Most families believe applying for private scholarships will help them pay for college. The reality is that the largest scholarship dollar amount will come from colleges themselves. The hard part is researching, finding and applying to those colleges that will be more generous with their aid.
College Money Search helps families research and find colleges that will offer the most need or merit based aid. By using the IPEDS government data in conjunction with data collected from colleges (the Common Data Set), we are able to study, analyze, and create a personalized list of colleges that are more generous with their aid. After families receive their list, they are able to delve deeper into the process to define a smaller set of schools for their student to apply to.
College Money Search was started by two professionals with backgrounds in financial services, data science, and education policy. In addition, we are parents who have been through the college admissions and financial aid process ourselves and will continue to do so for several years to come. Having other friends and family with similar age children, we are constantly reminded of the student and parent perspective of dealing with this overwhelming process.
Our Crew
Debbie has a passion for educating families about college funding to help them avoid long-term debt. She is also the founder of Road2College, a website dedicated to trustworthy information, education, and an independent voice to help families navigate the world of college admissions and financing. Debbie has an MBA in finance and has worked in financial services for investment, credit card and student loan companies. After experiencing the college admissions process with her eldest child, she used her experience working in financial services to help families better understand college financing and ways to cut college costs.
Michelle Kretzschmar is the founder of DIYCollegeRankings, a website devoted to sharing and explaining how to use data to research colleges. While homeschooling her son, Michelle put her background in data analytics and education research to the test by finding a college that offered her son merit scholarships and a spot on their baseball team. Now she shares her research and knowledge to help more families make better college decisions. Michelle has a background in data analytics science and education research with a graduate degree in Education Public Policy.