• Slideshow - College will likely be the second most expensive decision of your life! It’s never too early to start preparing, particularly as it relates to college savings and financial aid.
  • Slideshow - College will likely be the second most expensive decision of your life! It’s never too early to start preparing, particularly as it relates to college savings and financial aid.
  • Slideshow - College will likely be the second most expensive decision of your life! It’s never too early to start preparing, particularly as it relates to college savings and financial aid.

College Selection

There are tons of resources to help you narrow down your choices. Here are a few things to keep in mind when making your selection:

  • Location - The campus location including local activities, nightlife, parking situation, and other factors. May be an urban, suburban, or rural environment. You may want to consider the school's proximity from home.
  • Diversity - The mix of students including gender, background, race, and national origin.
  • Size - The total student population. Another thing to consider may be the class size and teacher-to-student ratio.
  • Academics - The majors offered at each school. Whether or not the courses will be challenging enough for you.
  • Extracurriculars - The programs and activities offered in addition to academics. May include sports or hobbies that are of interest to you.
  • Cost - The Total Cost of Attendance. Not just tuition, which by the way is at an all time high, but also the cost of room and board, books, fees, and other college-related expenditures. And let's not forget that we will be going for more than one year.

Once you know what you're looking for as it relates to these types, you can start to browse various college selection resources.

College Selection Resources

1) The U.S. Department of Education has a great College Finder to start narrowing down your list of schools. College Board also has a College MatchMaker that may be of assistance.

Now that you have a good-sized list of schools (maybe 20 or so), you can start to learn more about each school. Check out some comprehensive guidebooks.

2) The Fiske Guide and The Princeton Review are the two extraordinarily large guidebooks to get more in-depth information about prospective schools.

Well, you've done it! You've narrowed the thousands of schools down to about 10 schools that interest you. Now it's time to get an even better understanding of where you might spend the next 4 years of your life.

3) Talk to alumni, visit campus (if possible), and ask people you trust. College Prowler publishes great student-to-student guidebooks that offer insider information about campus life in its entirety. Now that you've selected your schools of interest, you can start Filling Out Applications and Obtaining Financial Aid.

logos
Organizations that Go Financial Aid sponsors, is a member of, or otherwise endorses.