Understanding College Planning Packages: Which One Fits Your Family?
April 4, 2026 · Christopher Parsons, College Planning Centers
One of the first questions families ask when they contact College Planning Centers is: "What does this cost, and what do we get?"
It is a fair question. College counseling is a significant investment, and you deserve to know exactly what you are paying for before you commit. The challenge is that every family's situation is different. A sophomore who is just starting to think about college needs different support than a senior who has six applications due in eight weeks.
That is why CPC offers multiple service levels. Not as a sales ladder designed to upsell you, but because different families genuinely need different things at different stages.
Here is how our packages work, what each one includes, and how to figure out which one is right for your family.
The Initial Consultation
Who it is for: Any family that wants to understand where they stand and what the process looks like.
The initial consultation is a free, no-obligation conversation — typically thirty minutes — where we talk through your student's current situation. This is not a sales meeting. It is a genuine assessment of where your family is in the college planning process and whether working with CPC makes sense.
During the consultation, we cover:
- Your student's academic profile (GPA, test scores, course rigor)
- Your family's goals and concerns
- A realistic assessment of where your student fits in the admissions landscape
- What steps make sense right now — whether or not those steps involve hiring us
Many families walk away from the initial consultation with a clearer picture of their situation and a few concrete next steps, even if they decide not to move forward with a full engagement. That is by design.
Sign up for a free consultation if you want to start here.
The Comprehensive Planning Package
Who it is for: Families who want full support across the entire college planning and application process.
This is our most popular package and the one that delivers the deepest results. It is designed for families who want a partner through every phase — from building the college list to submitting applications to comparing financial aid offers.
What It Includes
College List Development We build a personalized college list based on your student's academic profile, interests, values, learning style, and your family's financial parameters. The list includes reach, target, and safety schools — typically eight to twelve institutions — with a written rationale for each recommendation.
For families in Horry, Georgetown, and Charleston counties, this means factoring in South Carolina public universities, regional private colleges, and the in-state scholarship landscape that makes certain schools significantly more affordable.
Essay Coaching We work with your student through the entire essay process: brainstorming, outlining, drafting, revising, and polishing. This covers the Common App personal statement, school-specific supplemental essays, and scholarship essays.
The work starts in the summer before senior year and continues through the fall deadline cycle. Your student writes every word — we guide the process and provide honest feedback at every stage.
Financial Aid Strategy We help your family understand how financial aid is calculated, which schools on your list are likely to offer strong packages, and how to compare offers when they arrive. This includes FAFSA and CSS Profile guidance, merit aid strategy, and an honest assessment of what each school is likely to cost after aid.
Test Prep Planning We build a realistic testing timeline — SAT or ACT, practice tests, preparation windows, and retake dates — so your student is not scrambling in the fall of senior year. We also advise on test-optional policies and when submitting a score is the right strategic choice.
Application Review Before any application is submitted, we review it. Activities list, essay, supplemental materials — everything. The goal is not to create a perfect application. It is to make sure nothing is missing, nothing contradicts, and the application presents your student accurately and completely.
Ongoing Communication You have direct access to me throughout the engagement. Not through a portal. Not through a coordinator. When you have a question at nine o'clock on a Tuesday night because your student just told you they want to change their major, you can reach me.
How Long It Lasts
The comprehensive package typically runs from the summer before junior year through May of senior year — roughly twenty-two months. Some families start earlier; some start later. We adjust the scope to match your timeline.
The Senior Year Intensive
Who it is for: Families who come to CPC in the spring or summer before senior year and need focused, accelerated support through the application cycle.
Not every family starts early. Maybe you did not know private college counseling existed. Maybe your student's school counselor was handling things until they were not. Maybe life got in the way.
Whatever the reason, the senior year intensive is designed for families who need to get up to speed quickly and execute a strong application strategy in a compressed timeline.
What It Includes
Everything in the comprehensive package, condensed into roughly eight to ten months: college list development, essay coaching, financial aid strategy, application review, and direct communication.
The difference is pace. We move faster. We make decisions more quickly. And we are honest about trade-offs — if your student is starting in August, there are some opportunities (like early testing retakes or summer campus visits) that are no longer available. We focus on what we can control and make the most of the time we have.
Why It Works
The senior year intensive works because the fundamental process is the same — we are just moving through it on an accelerated schedule. The quality of the college list, the essay coaching, and the financial aid strategy is identical to the comprehensive package. The primary difference is that we do not have the luxury of a two-year runway.
For families on the Grand Strand or in the Charleston area who are realizing in the spring of junior year that their student needs more support than the school counselor can provide, this is often the right fit.
How to Choose
Here is the honest framework I give every family:
Start with the consultation. It is free, and it will give both of us enough information to determine what level of support makes sense. Some families walk in thinking they need the comprehensive package and realize a lighter engagement is fine. Others come in planning to handle things themselves and realize they want full support.
Consider your timeline. If your student is a sophomore or younger, you have time. The comprehensive package is designed for that runway. If your student is a junior or rising senior, the senior year intensive may be the better fit — not because it is lesser, but because it is built for your reality.
Consider your family's capacity. Some families have the time, knowledge, and bandwidth to manage portions of the process themselves and just need strategic guidance at key decision points. Others want a partner who handles the full scope. Neither approach is wrong.
Consider your student. A highly self-directed student who just needs essay feedback and a second opinion on their college list has different needs than a student who is overwhelmed, disorganized, or unsure about what they want. We tailor the engagement to the student, not the other way around.
What We Do Not Do
Transparency matters, so here is what CPC does not offer:
- We do not write your student's essays. Ever.
- We do not guarantee admission to any specific school.
- We do not take on more families than we can serve well.
- We do not charge by the hour for ongoing questions and check-ins within an active engagement.
Next Steps
The easiest way to figure out which package fits is to have a conversation. Sign up for a free consultation and we will walk through your family's situation together.
If you want to get a quick sense of where your student stands before we talk, take our free College Readiness Quiz. It takes five minutes and provides a useful starting point.
You can also explore our resources library for free guides on college lists, financial aid, essays, and more.
Christopher Parsons is the founder of College Planning Centers, with offices in Murrells Inlet and Mount Pleasant, SC. He has spent more than twenty years helping families across Horry, Georgetown, and Charleston counties navigate the college planning process with clarity and confidence.