I know this thread has gotten a little stale, but I was looking for information on the "College Admission Assistance" workshops after having received an invite for my step-daughter. I found their web-site to be very thin on details - so much so that it raises my bull-o-meter to full strength. On their own "Q&A" section the question about cost is posed. Here's the answer:
"There is no cost for attending the workshop or the personal interview. Additional services are made available to those students and families needing our services."
In other words, "we'll sell you something after we've got you in the room." I don't think any legitimate company should be afraid to talk about what is offered and at what cost. The fact that they peddle services in the same manner as time-share condos is a real warning sign for me. I would love to hear from anyone that has actually attended, but I'm steering clear and will use services that are more up front about what they're doing. For those of you that haven't received this - the web site is
http://www.caaworkshop.com/index.aspx. See if you don't agree that it's really long on platitudes and extremely short on "what do you really offer" an "what can I expect to pay".