College Admissions Assistance Scam Arlington, Texas

A few weeks ago my parents got a letter in the mail saying that I had been scheduled for an interview to determine college admission and financial aid eligibility.  The letter said that I "need to attend in order to receive assistance".  I'm in 11th grade and really want to go to college but my parents told me they don't think they can afford it.  My dad lost his job and my mom has been out of work for a long time.  My parents were so excited to get this letter because they thought that maybe they would be able to get financial aid if we went to this interview. 

The letter said we needed to be there 15 minutes early for parking and registration.  A woman called us a few nights before to make sure we were coming.  I told her that my parents didn't have any money so we were really excited that we were being considered for financial aid.  The woman said she was glad to hear that and she promised the meeting would help me get into college with a scholarship.  She told me that I had to be there early and to bring both my parents.  I told her that my dad couldn't be there but my mom would be and she sounded kind of mad but said that was ok.

We got to the hotel on Saturday about 20 minutes early and there was nobody there but we saw a table that said College Admissions Assistance and there was a place to write my name down. There were some other families there and everyone was complaining that nobody was there to tell us what to do. Finally about 5 minutes before 9am someone came out and said they were going to seat us.  We all went into a big room and watched some video about colleges.  This big guy came to the front of the room and introduced himself saying he was some kind of lawyer and then talked for a long time about how expensive college is and how hard it is to get in and how his "private" company was going to help us.

After he talked for about an hour we were all called up one by one for our "personal interview".  My mom and I got called up by the guy who gave the speech and was in charge of the whole thing.  The whole time he was staring at my mom and kept telling her that she was attractive.  He talked to me like I was a kid and asked me some questions but I swear he kept hitting on my mom.  After telling me that I need to focus on school the way I focused on sports the guy said he thought I should be in this program and told my mom it was $1995!!!  I thought my mom was going to cry. I told her that I would do it on my own and not to pay the money and the guy got mad at me and said I wasn't committed enough to college. 

My mom told the guy that she had to talk to my dad and we would call them if we could afford to pay for their service.  At this point the guy we were talking to got angry and said it would cost another $500 if we decided to sign up after the workshop.  When my mom told him she couldn't make those decisions without my dad there this guy who was hitting on my mom the whole time touched her hand and said, "a woman as beautiful as yourself should never have to ask her husband if she could spend money on her child's future". My mom stood up and told me it was time to go.

When we got home and told my dad what happened he wanted to go to the hotel and confront the man but my mom wouldn't let him.  I talked to my guidance counselor at school who said this was probably a scam and there are companies out there like college admissions assistance who try to get money from low income families. 

I did some research on this company and it looks like they are a scam.  I'm just glad my mom didn't pay money to get help that my guidance counselor is giving me.