🔒Noll pitches college planning as next major employer benefit

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Pictures of Jeffrey Noll's wife, two sons and a dog adjoin the walls in his Spartan Farmington Avenue office in West Hartford.

Family is at the core of Noll's professional and personal life. As president and founder of College Planning USA, Noll's future is influenced by how well he can assist other families in finding the right fit for their child's college education.

This West Hartford native began his career in the mid-1990s working the property and casualty insurance business for the Arthur Noll Agency. Life insurance and employee benefits were other services he provided in his father's business.

In 2000, Noll said he had an epiphany, of sorts. He saw more clients adding their teenage children to their car insurance coverage and absorbing the dramatically increased premiums.

“They've got a teen driver,'' Noll said he thought at the time. “What's the likelihood that the child is going to college — and that they're like most families out there who have not been able to save for college? … And they're stressing out about how they're going to do this.''

So, Noll added college-planning services to his insurance work, helping families with the financial-aid process and in lowering their out-of-pocket expenses. After the Arthur Noll Agency was sold in 2008, Jeff Noll started his own business — College Tuition Planners.

His services expanded from helping families with financial aid to assisting them secure SAT and ACT-preparatory classes, essay writing guidance and navigating the admissions process. Noll was now knee-deep in the world of college planning. A few years after starting his venture, he renamed the business College Planning USA. The forte now was a one-stop shopping operation, advising families on how to choose the right fit for college — based on the criteria of academics, social and financial assistance.

“What's one of the biggest stressors families have?,” Noll, 48, asked. “It's finances. And one of those stressors is how to pay for college. Stress creates all sorts of health issues.''

From an employer's perspective, that may mean increased absenteeism and decreased productivity. Noll, leveraging his experience in employee benefits, began introducing his services to Fortune 500 companies and other corporate leaders. He encourages them to include his firm's services — with a discount — as an employee benefit under their financial wellness or employee-assistance programs. It's akin to a business offering gym memberships, weight-reduction counseling, or smoking-cessation programs as quality-of-life options to employees.

Noll's business concept is starting to gain traction. Two major anchor clients are a Hartford-based national health insurance company and a New York-based benefits provider.

Noll said his firm now works with 3,000 families; referrals are mostly word-of-mouth, through employee-benefit provisions, or via workshops and webinars. There are 18 employees and offices in Austin, Texas and Portland, Ore.

Fees can range from $150 an hour or service packages up to $2,500. Noll estimates he saves the average family $13,000 a year in college costs. It may be as simple as highlighting how a less-expensive state school may be a bitter fit than a pricier private school; or how a private school with a large endowment may actually be less expensive than a state school. It all depends on a family's financial situation and the student's academic record.

Noll — an accomplished chef and active sportsman — enjoys skiing, bicycling and participating in triathlons. He shared his own college journey as an example about making a wise choice.

A 1987 graduate of Hall High School in West Hartford, Noll initially attended Boston University for a year before transferring to Itacha College. He graduated from Itacha in 1992 with a degree in finance. For him, Ithaca proved to be a much better fit academically, socially and financially.

About 85 percent of families require some form of financial aid, Noll said. About 60 percent of college students graduate in four years, however the average time it takes to graduate is six years. This occurs in part, Noll said, because the initial college pick was not the ideal fit.

Noll finds much fulfillment in his work and alleviating the stress in the college-selection process.

“There are lots of parents out there with major concerns (about college),” he said. “It's very rewarding when you can help someone and bring them peace of mind. That's our goal — to help families.”

Stan Simpson is the principal of Stan Simpson Enterprises LLC, a strategic communications consulting firm. He is also host of “The Stan Simpson Show,” which airs Saturday, 5:30 a.m., on Fox 61.