Commercial college counseling centers are businesses offering a variety of services, from study skills to test preparation to individual college counseling and application review. Just as in selecting an educational consultant, you should find out about fees, services, credentials, backgrounds, and professional affiliations of these counselors.
In addition to commercial college counseling centers that may exist in your local community, there are also new private commercial counseling sites emerging on the Internet. Counseling in this new venue should meet the same criteria as if you were consulting an educational consultant or traditional commercial counseling center.
Furthermore, many community-based organizations offer college search services by holding college fairs or maintaining libraries of resource guides to aid in the application process. While these are well-intentioned and excellent supplemental resources, it is important they are not confused with commercial counseling centers.
Ultimately, the credentials of the individuals employed by these centers are paramount in determining the quality of the service a student or parent is seeking.