The idea behind College CoPlanner came from

personal experience. As parents, we believe in empowering our children.  We want them to make a thoughtful decision—balancing happiness, growth, and future success—while also understanding the investment in their education. To support those objectives, we created a framework where the child first invests in themselves, parents contribute next, and as costs rise, the child assumes more responsibility. This encourages thoughtful decisions about return on investment, career earnings, and life after college.

 

We also established rules for how different funding

sources are applied. For example, any savings from efforts to reduce college costs (like scholarships) first lower the child’s financial responsibility. If savings exceed that amount, the excess is shared between parent and child—aligning incentives.

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The results of our two-year, real-life test

exceeded expectations. Conversations about college finances were easy. Our son chose a top school, covered his share of expenses, and pursued scholarships and an RA role to reduce total costs. He’s now on track to graduate debt-free with a promising future. We believe the approach we took could benefit many families. And with that, College CoPlanner was born.