Meet your guides

People who understand the financial and human sides of college.

Thoughtful guidance, practical experience, and a clear-eyed view of the decisions families face.

Experienced guidance grounded in real life.

Meet two advisors who understand college planning from different, complementary perspectives: navigating the system as a parent and helping families make better decisions about their money.

Founder · College-funding strategist

Ivana Cummins

Ivana knows what it feels like to navigate college without a clear financial roadmap. A first-generation Italian-American, she graduated from UC Santa Barbara without financial aid—an experience that still informs the way she helps families today.

Before focusing on college planning, Ivana spent approximately 15 years helping businesses strengthen their operations, accounting processes, and financial systems. She's also a certified mediator trained in conflict resolution, bringing a practical and steady approach to decisions that involve students, parents, expectations, and money.

Her aim is to help families avoid costly mistakes, lower the stress of the college process, and make decisions that work not only for four years of education, but for the decades that follow.

College-planning and funding expert

Ron Caruthers

Ron has spent decades helping families understand college admissions and funding choices while keeping their long-term financial goals in view. His own experience of excelling in high school but struggling to afford college sparked a lasting interest in helping other families avoid the same surprise.

He has worked with more than 4,600 families and is the author of What Your Guidance Counselor Isn't Telling You, a guide to choosing a career and major, finding the right college, and navigating admissions.

A former adjunct instructor at Palomar and MiraCosta Colleges, Ron has been interviewed by national and regional media and quoted in publications including Forbes, Newsweek, and The Wall Street Journal.

Why we do it

The right college decision should support the whole family.

Our goal isn't simply to help a student get into college. It's to make the process more understandable and protect the family's longer-term financial future along the way.

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