Press Release

ESCALATING COLLEGE COSTS DRIVE NEED FOR BIG-PICTURE FINANCIAL PLANNING

Voyant Helps Parents Weigh Pros & Cons of Various Funding Scenarios

AUSTIN, Texas, April 22, 2008 - College acceptance letters have arrived in mailboxes across the country, bringing with them a mix of relief, excitement and financial anxiety. With in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges averaging $6,185 a year and private four-year institutions averaging $23,712 annually, many families are asking "How are we going to pay for this?"

For years, college expenses have outpaced income and inflation rates, making the cost of funding a college education an increasing challenge for families in higher and higher income brackets. Unfortunately, today's tightening loan markets offer little relief, with stricter lending criteria and higher interest rates beginning to bleed over into student loan opportunities. As a result, many families are taking on more liability than they can afford without evaluating the impact on other financial needs - such as retirement. This last point is particularly salient: as more couples wait to have children later in life, they are reducing the time between their children's college years and their own retirement, often creating a difficult financial overlap.

Voyant, a leading provider of self-service financial planning solutions for consumers, offers five recommendations to help parents strike a balance between funding their children's education(s) and preserving their family's financial health:

• Cost of Attendance - Understand your school's total cost of attendance, which includes tuition, fees, room, board, books and miscellaneous expenses. These expenses can range from travel costs and furnishing a dorm room to purchasing a new wardrobe if your student is changing climates.



• 529 Plans - Actively manage your 529 plan investments - don't set them and forget them. If your plan is performing below average or has high expense ratios, look for greater growth and lower expense alternatives. Contrary to other types of investments, most 529 fund choices are fairly conservative. Keeping your portfolio diversified can lead to excellent returns all the way through college.



• Loans - Shop wisely when considering a loan, as the right terms or interest rate can save thousands of dollars over the course of repayment. Home equity loans or lines of credit may offer lower rates and fees than federally-guaranteed Stafford loans (currently at 6.8 percent), but parents should carefully consider this option's impact on retirement and other financial goals.
  
  Families should also consider the total loan cost over time. Most education loans are deferred until six months post-graduation; however, interest starts accruing the day the loan originates. Borrowing $50,000 at 6.8 percent on a 20-year repayment schedule works out to a monthly payment of $381.67 - and adds $41,600.68 in interest over the full term of the note. In addition, some federally-guaranteed student loans have origination fees as high as 2.5 percent.



• Get a Better Financial Aid Package - Consider your college acceptance letter a "bid" for your child's commitment - and an opportunity to negotiate for as much financial aid as possible. Most colleges distribute financial aid packages that include grants, scholarships, work study and loan offers. If your child is offered $5,000 a year in assistance from College A, but only $2,000 from College B, find out if College B will match College A's offer. This strategy works especially well when negotiating with two comparable colleges.



• Explore Creative Alternatives - One option is to qualify for in-state tuition. If you are in the U.S. military, many colleges and universities will offer you and your dependents non-resident (out-of-state) tuition waivers. Another option is to work toward an earlier graduation date. Most colleges accept credits from advanced placement, community college, and summer courses taken during high school or academic breaks. Starting college as a sophomore could reduce undergraduate costs by 25 percent.

"At the rate things are going, parents of today's infants will shell out nearly $60,000 (including room and board) for a four-year public education and more than $140,000 for a private college diploma," said David Kaufman, founder and CEO of Voyant, Inc. "Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the college tuition problem. How a family pays for college is a uniquely personal decision that entails weighing multiple financial variables in the context of their long-term financial picture."

Self-service financial planning tools like Voyant @Home can help parents illustrate the big-picture impact of college expenses, and the real-time consequences of specific planning decisions. Combining what-if scenarios, interactive forecasts and online collaboration tools, Voyant @Home gives college-bound families unlimited flexibility to test and compare which funding scenarios provide the greatest educational opportunity while balancing competing financial needs, such as retirement.

For more information on Voyant's free, Web-based Internet application, please visit: www.planwithvoyant.com.

About Voyant, Inc.

Voyant software simplifies financial planning processes for mainstream consumers. Using interactive planning tools, flexible scenarios and comprehensive reporting, Voyant solutions help users understand the impact of life-changing planning decisions, and encourage ongoing collaboration and dialogue between financial experts and their clients. Voyant, which was spun out of Gossamer Group in 2006, is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.planwithvoyant.com.

Contact:
Cybele Diamandopoulos
For Voyant, Inc.
512-535-4422
cybele@foliocommunications.com