Curated Resources
Helpful Links
A handful of trusted sites Ryan personally recommends for researching colleges, applying for aid, and finding scholarships.
College For All Texans
A great site for students staying in Texas for college — probably the most useful site we've found to help families prepare. Many topics are Texas-specific, so it won't be as useful if your student is looking out of state. Includes the Apply Texas Application (for admission to any Texas state university), free SAT prep, and information on the College Access Loan — currently one of the best loans to help cover out-of-pocket expenses not covered by need-based aid.
College Board
Register your student for the SAT and check results. There are online prep tools plus sections walking through planning for college, researching colleges, applying, and paying for it. This is also where you register for and submit the CSS Profile — the additional aid form some private colleges require. One of the most useful sites we've found; we also recommend signing up for the "Question of the Day."
FAFSA
The U.S. Department of Education's official site — used to submit the FAFSA form, apply for FSA IDs, make corrections or add a college to a processed FAFSA, retrieve Student Aid Reports, and more. An excellent resource that can answer many of the aid questions you may have.
Fastweb
The best site we've found to research independent scholarships. This is only a little over 3% of the scholarship money awarded annually, so don't spend too much time here — but it's still worth registering to apply for any scholarships that fit your student's situation.
Peterson's
A very good site to help with researching different colleges, finding your student's best-fit college, admissions requirements, and much, much more.
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