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Online Resources for College Planning
by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P.
reviewed and revised by Robert Needlman, M.D., F.A.A.P.
There is a great deal of helpful information about college planning and financial aid available online. Below are some of the sites that appear useful or were mentioned on other sites as being of high quality. This is not a systematic list, but rather a good starting point.
One good, general site is Think College Early, a colorful and well-organized site produced by the Department of Education to encourage students and parents to plan early for college success. The site offers information on a large range of subjects, including preparing for college, testing, college choice, and financial planning.
Choosing a college
All the sites listed below offer free college search tools. These allow you to either search for information about a particular college by name or to get a list of colleges that meet your criteria for such things as size, location, and majors offered. These sites also have information on a variety of related topics, including testing, application procedures, and financial aid.
- Petersons.com, publisher of the well-known Peterson's Guide, offers a free college search tool. However, you have to register before you can utilize it. The site has quite a bit of advertising, which may be distracting to some visitors.
Financial planning and financial aid
- Official guide. The U.S. Department of Education Financial Assistance home page is an excellent place to start investigating how to finance your child's education. The section titled "Finding Out about Financial Aid" describes all the major federal and state programs, including grants, loans, work-study programs, savings plans, and tax credits. "Funding Your Education" is a thorough, readable introduction to the overall scope of financial aid. The booklet is free and is available in Spanish and English. You can download it directly from the site or order a copy of it by calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center toll free at 1-800-433-3243 (1-800-4-FED-AID).
- Apply here. Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form, the first step in applying for virtually any needs-based aid, online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
- Comprehensive advice. I was impressed by the scope of topics covered by a site called FinAid. Among the offerings on this free site:
- a large collection of tools, allowing you to calculate how much college will cost in the future, how much your savings will grow, what loans will cost, how much financial aid you're likely to be eligible for, and more;
- access to Fastweb (which you can also access directly at www.fastweb.com), a computerized listing of literally hundreds of thousands of possible scholarships and grants. Starting with a detailed questionnaire--asking, for example, your interests, memberships in clubs, intended majors and preferred colleges--the software generates matches the money to your personal profile, providing links to scholarship descriptions and applications;
- a long list of frequently asked questions and an extensive (and very clear) glossary of financial aid terms, plus a list of reference books.
- Loads of loans. TERI (The Education Resources Institute) provides information on several student- and parent-loan programs.
- Saving for college. In addition to sections on the FinAid website, see:
- www.collegesavings.org, for detailed information about State "629" savings plans, including state-by state comparisons and access to regulations and applications;
- www.savingforcollege.com, for detailed information about tax advantages and disadvantages of 529 plans and other strategies.
Tests and testing
- Practice tests. Public libraries may be the best source for practice tests. You can go online to www.collegeboard.com for good tips, information about the tests, and sample questions--all free.
Also see the Princeton Review site and the Peterson's Guide site. Both of these sites have tips on test-taking and free sample questions; however, you can also purchase additional review help online or in person (but it is expensive!).
Criticism of testing
For informative, well-researched criticism of standardized testing for college admissions, see www.fairtest.org.
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Created August 29, 2001
Reviewed and revised September 30, 2004
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