One shared family plan for applications, deadlines, essays, and the FAFSA — with a Merit Aid Finder that shows where your student may qualify for stronger merit aid.
14-day money-back guarantee · cancel anytime
Built by Dr. Mohamed Abouzahra — professor, and a dad who ran this gauntlet three times.
The Johnson family · Sample family · illustrative numbers
Week of Oct 12
Merit aid identified
$46,500
FAFSA progress
7 of 9
Sound familiar?
Not sure where your family stands? Take the free 2-minute FAFSA Readiness Check — no credit card required.
See it working
Every requirement for every saved college — essays, recommendations, test scores, scholarship dates — becomes a shared checklist. Parents get their own tasks. Nobody runs this on memory again.
Two similar colleges can differ by thousands per year in what your family actually pays. We compare your student’s profile against published federal aid data to show estimated merit aid ranges — before the application list is final.
Sample estimates from published federal aid data.
Step-by-step through the 2026–27 FAFSA — contributors, consent, documents — in plain language, with your family’s progress tracked so nothing stalls in October.
Plus an Essay Coach that helps your student plan and revise their own writing — it will never write for them.
The honest comparison
| ChatGPT / Google | Private consultant | ColBuddy | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $3,000 – $10,000+ | $14.99 – $24.99/mo |
| Deadline tracking | Not included | Sometimes | Included |
| FAFSA workflow | Not included | Included | 2026-27 aligned |
| Merit-aid finder | Not included | Manual | Included |
| Family workspace | Not included | Limited | Included |
| Persistence between sessions | Not included | Included | Included |
Why I built this
I'm a college professor and the father of three. By the time my third child started applying, I had given up trying to keep it organized with spreadsheets and good intentions. The missed FAFSA steps. The aid offers we couldn't decode. The consultants charging $5,000 to do work that mostly involved keeping lists — and the families around us who couldn't afford that anyway. None of it had to be this hard. ColBuddy is the system I wished my own family had, three times over. It uses AI carefully — to organize the chaos, surface real financial opportunities, and give parents and students a shared plan. My goal is simple: help students reach their best-fit colleges without their families going broke or losing sleep getting there.
What you can hold us to
Founder access
Everything, plus the money tools.
$19.99/mo
$239.9/yr billed annually
14-day money-back guarantee · cancel anytime
The full family planning system.
$11.99/mo
$143.9/yr billed annually
14-day money-back guarantee · cancel anytime
Start here, upgrade when ready.
$0/mo
Fair questions
Ten minutes of setup. 14-day money-back guarantee · cancel anytime.
— Mohamed, professor and three-time FAFSA dad