For parents of high school-aged or even younger students, the thought of sending children to college is often daunting. From finding the right school to figuring out how to pay for it, there are many factors that make the college process a full-time job.

When Ian Welham, a financial advisor who moved to Westfield 11 years ago from England, found himself facing a $100,000 tuition bill for his twin daughters' first year of higher education, he made it his mission to find a way to finance it as inexpensively as possible.

"I discovered that nine out 10 families in New Jersey are not getting the aid that they could if they understood the system," he said.

Inspired by the knowledge he acquired, Welham and fellow Westfield resident Paul Partridge founded Springfield-based Complete College Planning Solutions, LLC in 2008.

Since that time, the company has helped hundreds of families save on their children's tuition. Welham presents free statewide workshops twice a month to assist parents in beating the high cost of higher education. The next will be held Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Shimon and Sara Birnbaum JCC in Bridgewater.

While it isn't necessary for students to attend the seminar, it is beneficial to have both parents on hand if possible.

"We crowd a couple of hours of information into an hour so it's very helpful to have both parents there," he said.

During the workshop, the advisors cover the following topics:

• The three biggest mistakes New Jersey parents make when planning for college that cost them thousands of dollars (and how to avoid them)
• How to pick colleges that will give you the best financial aid packages
• How to get college aid even if you have a “B” student
• How to send your child to a top-tier private university for less than the cost of a state school
• How to pay for college in a failing economy without relying on 529 plans, expensive private student loans or winning the lottery

Welham said one of the first things he stresses to parents is the importance of positioning students to get in to the right college for them.

"That has two huge benefits; the first one is that they're going to be happy and they're likely going to get done in four years and the average now is 5.6 years," he explained.

In order to help students ascertain which school might be the best fit for them, Welham said his company takes an inventory of their interests, values and abilities.

"That helps them start to filter down from this 'I don't know what to do' toward an area of studying they might like to undertake and it helps us with finding the right college fit for them as well," Welham said. 

The advisor said they take into account the size school a student thinks he or she would like to attend.

"There's a huge number of colleges in between those huge and small ones and that's an area where we can really help because there's just so many of those colleges and often the student's interests and the parents' interests differ. It's always interesting to discover that mom and dad want him to go to Rutgers and he wants to go to Pepperdine in California," Welham noted. 

While there's never a wrong time to begin saving or planning for college, the sophomore and junior years "are really the sweet spot for helping them finding the right college; there's still enough time," he said.

The second benefit of picking the right school is the likelihood of increasing the chances of both financial and merit aid, Welham added.

Another important factor that Welham said he frequently revisits in his workshops is the idea of looking at the "expected family contribution" rather than at "the sticker price." 

A mistake that Welham said he made and has learned from is believing that because he was from an affluent area he wouldn't qualify for aid.

"Coming from England I wasn't familiar with the system and I had to get up to speed fairly quickly. Make sure you file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to at least put yourself in a position for aid and make sure that you can get inexpensive government loans," Welham advised.

The cost of tuition is increasing by an average of six percent each year, and often the reality of that doesn't hit families until they start looking at colleges and often it is already too late to lessen the financial burden at that point, Welham said.

"We fill in the knowledge gap for people which enables us to find solutions for them. We have a huge amount of knowledge; we have a great data base. For a family to do all the research themselves, it's a full-time job," he said.

At the end of their workshop, Welham and Partridge distribute "report cards" to attendees and are proud to say they have been receiving "pretty high grades." Many have noted that the pair have added a layer of expertise they haven't found elsewhere.

"Guidance departments are so busy today dealing with more than just college. Plus, they're not comfortable talking about the money side of it. The counselors do a great job but they're under a lot of pressure to do other things," Welham said.

Complete College Planning Solutions offers a free one-hour evaluation for familes who are interested in learning how to identify ways to avoid overpaying. 

"It's very eye-opening for people," Welham. 

For more information, visit Complete College Planning Solutions' website, or call 973-467-0101 or email Info@CompleteCollegePlanningSolutions.com