<p>We are absolute newbies to this. Our oldest daughter will be a senior this year and has very good grades, scores, etc. We were contacted by a company called Benchmark Company that wants to charge an almost $2000 fee to assist her in finding college money. The fee would cover our daughter and all 3 of our other kids that are coming up on college as well. They make it sound like she should be able to find 100% funding. Has anyone ever used this company, or know anything about the company. They are based out of Irving, TX. Any help is appreciated.</p>
<p>Check out finaid.org which has good information on financial aid and buy a book called (I think) how to pay for college without going broke which I have seen highly recommended on this forum. Research yourself a bit and come to CC and ask questions of the knowledgeable and helpful people here. If you qualify for need based aid and/or merit based aid you will qualify without paying someone $2000.</p>
<p>For need based aid Federal aid is applied for with FAFSA which is the ***FREE ***Application For Student Aid. Institutional aid at some private schools is applied for through CSS/profile (which does charge a fee but you will have to pay that anyway to apply for their aid). Merit based scholarships are based on the schools criteria for merit scholarships. An outside company is not going to get them for you.</p>