CollegePlannerPro
CollegePlannerPro (CounselorDock Inc.) is a SaaS platform serving over 3,000 independent educational consultants with CRM, college research, application tracking, billing, and an AI research assistant for college planning practices.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersRaleigh, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What CollegePlannerPro does
CollegePlannerPro, operated by the Delaware-incorporated entity CounselorDock Inc., is a cloud-based SaaS platform purpose-built for Independent Educational Consultants (IECs) who manage private college advising practices. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in Raleigh, NC, the platform serves over 3,000 counselors with a unified system combining CRM functionality, college research tools, application deadline tracking, billing and invoicing, calendar and alerts, broadcast email, and student-facing portals. Its core product is differentiated by a proprietary content library of thousands of college profiles built on licensed feeds from College Navigator, Peterson's, Fiske Guide, and Common App, augmented by crowdsourced deadline corrections contributed by the member community. The company also offers Athena AI, an NLP-driven research assistant for college queries, and a CustomCollegePlan student portal, with a Multi-Consultant team tier extending the platform to larger IEC firms.
The company operates a tiered monthly subscription model priced by active student client count, ranging from a 10-client tier through an unlimited tier, with a 30-day free trial and self-serve signup. Distribution is product-led through the company website, supplemented by demo requests, personal training sessions, and affiliate partnerships with the three principal IEC industry associations (IECA, HECA, NCAG). The platform integrates third-party modules for SAT/ACT prep (ArborBridge), assessments (AchieveWorks), essay prompts (Prompt), and payment processing (Braintree, PayPal), and embeds native Google Drive and iCloud Calendar account linking.
In December 2025, the company received a strategic growth investment from The Brydon Group and appointed Steve Sullivan as CEO to lead expansion. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, and MidCap Advisors served as the exclusive financial advisor.
CollegePlannerPro firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CollegePlannerPro
- Legal name
- CounselorDock Inc.
- Website
- https://collegeplannerpro.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- CollegePlannerPro (CounselorDock Inc.) is a SaaS platform serving over 3,000 independent educational consultants with CRM, college research, application tracking, billing, and an AI research assistant for college planning practices.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CollegePlannerPro industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Educational Consulting Practice Management Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210), Educational Support Services (611710)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Degree Planning, Course Planning & Academic Progress Monitoring (EDAFAMAI)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Financial Aid Administration & Packaging (EDALAJAA)
Keywords
Where CollegePlannerPro is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Raleigh
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
CollegePlannerPro business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription SaaS: Monthly subscription SaaS service with tiered pricing based on number of active student clients. Billed monthly in advance. Annual prepayment options available at discretion.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Up to 10 active clients |
| Subscription | Monthly | Up to 20 active clients |
| Subscription | Monthly | Up to 30 active clients |
| Subscription | Monthly | Up to 40 active clients |
| Subscription | Monthly | Up to 50 active clients |
| Subscription | Monthly | Unlimited active clients |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
CollegePlannerPro product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CollegePlannerPro is a cloud-based SaaS platform built for Independent Educational Consultants (IECs) to manage their college planning consulting businesses. It combines CRM, college research, application deadline tracking, billing and invoicing, calendar/alerts, broadcast email, and team collaboration features, plus a student-facing portal (CustomCollegePlan) and an AI research assistant (Athena AI).
Product overview
CollegePlannerPro is a unified SaaS platform for independent educational consultants (IECs) combining a core CRM and college planning management system with modular add-ons. The core platform (CollegePlannerPro) provides client management, billing, calendar, and communication tools. Key modules include Athena AI for intelligent college research, CustomCollegePlan as a student-facing portal for deadline tracking and college list management, Multi-Consultant accounts for team collaboration, and specialized features for college profiles, application deadlines, checklists, broadcast emails, and comparative reporting. Assessment integrations include AchieveWorks for personality/career testing and ArborBridge for SAT/ACT resources. The platform serves over 3,000 independent educational counselors.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- CollegePlannerPro Core Platform Cloud-based SaaS platform for Independent Educational Consultants (IECs) to manage their college planning business, organize student data, track applications, run billing, manage calendars, and communicate with clients and families. Sold via tiered monthly subscriptions based on active student clients.
- Athena AI AI research assistant that uses natural language processing to answer queries about college characteristics beyond standard datasets (campus amenities, dining, niche institutional features). Delivered as a Chrome extension connected to Google Drive for document-aware research.
- CustomCollegePlan (Student Portal) Student-facing portal that lets high school students view suggested colleges, manage their own college lists, track application deadlines and requirements, schedule meetings, and monitor admission decisions as part of the consultant's service.
- Multi-Consultant (Team) Accounts Team edition that allows multiple consultants to share access to a single account, assign students to teammates, manage sub-account permissions, and collaborate on shared student caseloads.
- AchieveWorks Assessments Personality and career assessment tools (via AchieveWorks) integrated into CollegePlannerPro for student use; purchased and activated with license keys within the platform.
Quantifiable outcome
- Strategic Admissions Advice grew from 25 to close to 400 clients over five years using CollegePlannerPro
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use CollegePlannerPro
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
CollegePlannerPro technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration6 records
AI capability4 records
Feature11 records
CollegePlannerPro partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- PromptcoreEssay prompt sourcing partnership; Prompt collects and updates essay requirements for colleges displayed in CollegePlannerPro profiles. Free to activate; costs incurred only when purchasing access for students.
- Peterson's College DatacoreLicensed source for application deadlines including Early Action, Early Decision, Regular Decision, Priority, and Transfer deadline types.
- College Navigator (U.S. Department of Education)corePrimary data source for college profile information including admissions statistics, financial aid data, and institutional details.
- Common AppcoreApplication deadline data scraped from Common App website when it opens on August 1st each year.
Scale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
CollegePlannerPro competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Naviance (PowerSchool): Naviance is a college and career readiness platform serving schools and districts, with overlapping features for college research, application tracking, and student planning. It is comparable to CollegePlannerPro in product functionality but serves school-based counselors rather than independent educational consultants, making it a broad incumbent in the adjacent K-12 segment.
- Xello: Xello is a college, career, and future-readiness platform serving K-12 schools and districts globally. It offers comparable college search, application tracking, and student profile features but is positioned as a school-based solution rather than for independent consultants, making it an incumbent in the broader category.
Direct peers
- MaiaLearning: MaiaLearning is a college, career, and life-readiness platform used by schools to support students through college planning, application tracking, and goal setting. While primarily school-focused, it competes for mindshare in the broader college planning software category that CollegePlannerPro targets with its IEC-focused offering.
- SchooLinks: SchooLinks is a modern college and career readiness platform serving high schools with features for college application management, student tracking, and post-secondary planning. It overlaps with CollegePlannerPro in college search and application tracking but is targeted at school counselors rather than the independent consultant segment.
- BridgeU: BridgeU, owned by Wiley, is a college and careers guidance platform primarily serving international schools. It provides college matching, application tracking, and counselor tools closely analogous to CollegePlannerPro's IEC-facing features, making it a direct peer in product and workflow.
Emerging players
- Going Merry: Going Merry is a scholarship and financial aid platform used by high school counselors and students to find and manage scholarship applications. While narrower in scope than CollegePlannerPro, it overlaps in the financial aid and college planning workflow that IECs deliver, positioning it as an emerging player in adjacent tooling.
- Cappex: Cappex is a college search and scholarship matching platform serving students directly. While not focused on the IEC workflow, it overlaps with CollegePlannerPro's college research and discovery features and represents an alternative channel that bypasses consultant intermediation.
- CounselorMax / CollegePlanner Pro alternatives (CounselorCloud, CollegeReady): CounselorCloud is a smaller, niche practice management tool built for independent educational consultants. It directly competes with CollegePlannerPro for the same IEC customer base with similar CRM, college planning, and student tracking features, representing a head-to-head emerging competitor in the vertical.
Others
- Common App: Common App is the dominant college application platform used by U.S. colleges and universities, providing standardized application submission. While not a direct competitor (CollegePlannerPro integrates with and scrapes its deadline data), Common App shapes the application workflow and could expand into counselor tools, posing a long-term adjacency.
- College Confidential: College Confidential is a large online community and resource hub for college admissions. While not a SaaS product, it serves as a free research and peer-support alternative that competes for IECs' and students' attention on the research side of the workflow CollegePlannerPro supports.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
CollegePlannerPro social profiles
Digital presenceCollegePlannerPro financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CollegePlannerPro leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
CollegePlannerPro funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CollegePlannerPro M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CollegePlannerPro
What does CollegePlannerPro do?
CollegePlannerPro is a cloud-based SaaS platform built for Independent Educational Consultants (IECs) to manage their college planning consulting businesses. It combines CRM, college research, application deadline tracking, billing and invoicing, calendar/alerts, broadcast email, and team collaboration features, plus a student-facing portal (CustomCollegePlan) and an AI research assistant (Athena AI).
Is CollegePlannerPro a public or private company?
CollegePlannerPro is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was CollegePlannerPro founded?
CollegePlannerPro was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is CollegePlannerPro based?
CollegePlannerPro is headquartered in Raleigh, United States, in the North America region.
How does CollegePlannerPro make money?
One revenue line is on record: subscription SaaS.
Who are CollegePlannerPro's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Naviance (PowerSchool) and Xello. Direct peers are MaiaLearning, SchooLinks and BridgeU. Emerging players are Going Merry, Cappex and CounselorMax / CollegePlanner Pro alternatives (CounselorCloud, CollegeReady). Others are Common App and College Confidential.
Does CollegePlannerPro have an API?
No public API is recorded for CollegePlannerPro.
What industry is CollegePlannerPro in?
CollegePlannerPro's product category is Educational Consulting Practice Management Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFAMAI, Degree Planning, Course Planning & Academic Progress Monitoring, with a secondary code of EDALAJAA, Financial Aid Administration & Packaging. Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7372.