Meet Tanya Aure of Comprehensive College Planning in Point Loma

Check out Vesta’s very own Tanya Aure, JD, CDFA® Financial Advisor from our San Diego hub recently featured in the SDVoyager. Tanya is a Financial Advisor, Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA), and founder of Comprehensive College Planning LLC. She started working in the financial services industry soon after she went through her own divorce and initially focused on college planning for her children. Tanya expanded her practice to include all financial issues related to divorce for clients at all stages. She offers comprehensive divorce financial planning services by examining asset division options, cash flow analysis, and the future implications of financial decisions (such as paying for college) made during a divorce. Tanya’s purpose is to help families not only survive the divorce process but show them that they will be okay on the other side.

SDVoyager Article

Meet Tanya Aure of Comprehensive College Planning in Point Loma

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tanya Aure.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I am a first-generation Filipina. I went to college and law school in Cleveland, Ohio. After law school, I moved to San Diego, got married and then moved to Washington, DC. I was a legal editor with what is now Bloomberg Law for several years and then moved back to San Diego with one kid in tow and pregnant with my second. Unfortunately, I went through a divorce a couple of years after we returned to San Diego. My main concern when we divorced were my boys. I wanted to make sure their financial future was secure, especially when it came to college. When I spoke to my financial advisor about how to protect the money we had already put aside for college, I discovered that college planning was its own niche in the financial industry. At that point, I had just finished my last freelancing project and was looking to build a business in San Diego. After extensive training and research, I started Comprehensive College Planning (CCP) with the purpose of teaching parents what I had learned about the financial aid system and how to pay for college whether they had saved or not.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
At the beginning, there were so many challenges getting CCP off the ground. I was a single mom trying to balance a new business with small kids. I worked while my kids were in school and after they went to bed. I joined toastmasters to get over my fear of public speaking because I needed to start giving workshops about college admissions and financial aid. The logistics of putting together a workshop included finding venues, childcare and learning how to market myself and my business. In addition, I had to learn how to meet with clients. The whole experience was so painfully uncomfortable because it pushed me way beyond my comfort zone. It was hard to transition from being a legal editor, where I could go days without speaking to anyone while I worked on a project, to putting myself out there all the time to market my business and take appointments. However, as time went on, I became more comfortable with all of the moving parts of my business and finally embraced the fact that being out there is what it was going to take to be successful.

Please tell us about Comprehensive College Planning.
The main purpose of Comprehensive College Planning is to help parents figure out how they are going to pay for college, regardless of whether they have saved or not. Inherent in that process is understanding the financial aid process which is relatively ubiquitous. I provide clarity for families by reviewing their financial picture, teaching them how the financial aid system works and how to fill out their financial aid forms. When planning, I take into account all four years (sometimes five) and factors such as other children and where the family wants to be financially when college is over. Most parents are not that far from retirement when they are putting their kids through college. I always tell parents that, if they have to, they can borrow money for college, but not for retirement.

Last year, I expanded my practice to include divorce planning. Over the years, I have worked with several divorced parents because being divorced can present more challenges when applying for financial aid and affording college. I decided to put my divorce experience to use and obtained my certified divorce financial analyst (CDFA®) designation. I support people going through a divorce by helping them understand their current financial picture, how their assets/debts and cash flow will be divided, and what their new financial situation will look like post-divorce. I firmly believe college planning should be discussed when going through a divorce. It’s one of the largest expenses for parents not long before they retire. Having been through it myself, I can empathize with what people are going through. I can also say that life can be much better after the divorce – it just takes some time. I am passionate about college and divorce planning because it ties all of my personal and professional experience together.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
All of my favorite childhood memories include my brothers. One of my favorite memories is playing in the woods and riding bikes in the summer. My parents worked full-time and we were left to play outside all day, which is not how things are today for kids. We would spend time playing cards, making up stories and running around the neighborhood. Those days are my favorite childhood memories.

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