Todd Fothergill

Hello, and thanks for your interest in my specialty: college admissions and funding.  As the Founder & CEO of Strategies For College, Inc. I’ve been on the cutting edge of college planning since 1990.  There were not a lot of folks in the college consulting business back then, and I’ve seen the field move from a cottage industry to a booming specialty.  Before that, I was a college faculty member at Towson University and Franklin & Marshall College. I’ve personally helped over 4,000 families make decisions about everything related to college for their children.

My approach to college planning is very different from what you will find elsewhere. 

I’m very relaxed about discussing money and how to pay for college.  While most college advisors want nothing to do with that conversation, the “money talk” is a key service I provide. And, by the way, I don’t sell insurance, investments or other financial products.

My approach integrates cost management, student competitive position and family priorities.  Following this approach, my clients have saved hundreds of thousands on the cost of college – usually because I challenged them to make more efficient use of their financial resources and to consider more suitable colleges for their children.  I can probably help you with that, too.

I recently brought two new software applications to the market:  List HERO and Cost HERO. The former is a tool used by professional Independent Education Consultants to create truly unique college lists for their client-students.  The latter is a college budgeting tool that is currently free to the public. It was recently featured in a CNN Business article and received a very favorable review. 

I am also heavily involved with the national rollout of the SAGE Scholars Tuition Rewards program to financial advisors. This version of the SAGE program allows clients of participating advisors to attain up to one full year of free tuition at over 450 private colleges and universities in the United States.  So far, advisors in the program have generated over $142M in tuition discounts for their clients.

I love to teach.  I’ve spent time teaching at both the Boston Tax Institute and The University of Vermont Tax School. Teaching CPAs and other financial professionals about college funding has been a real eye opener for me.  While doing this, I designed two CPE courses (Strategies For College and Financial Aid Tactics) that were registered with the CFP Board of Standards. I’ve also also presented these courses in whole or in part for state CPA societies in Texas, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont and for several chapters of the Financial Planning Association. You would be amazed at how much the financial  community does not understand about college funding.

I am fortunate to have had my work noticed by the national media, too.  Being featured by Bob Veres in The Dow Jones Investment Advisor, Inside Information, SmartMoney, Kiplinger’s, The Christian Science Monitor, MarketWwatch, The Journal of Financial Planning, The Wall Street Journal and CNN Business has been exciting and gratifying. And it sure doesn’t hurt business growth!

I graduated from the University of Vermont (B.A.), Towson University (M.A.), and Rutgers University (C.A.S.).  I also helped found (as a Charter Member)  The National College Affordability Group. 

I now live in Austin, TX.  If you ever get down here, look me up!