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Open The Door To Your OWN Successes!!
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Here's a MUST SEE site for college exploration AND online application purposes:
 
This is REALLY a great site to use, if you are looking for information on just about anything to do with Colorado post-secondary opportunities!!  You can check out campuses, investigate statistical data, school general information and more!  You can even apply to the school of your choice right here online!  Check it out for yourself and see what YOU think!
 
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Misc. College Information and Tools:

CMU Now!

This is a GREAT place to go, if you would like your college bound students to look into paying less for their college textbooks!  This site offers new and used titles from an extremely WIDE variety of content areas, and won't charge your kids shipping charges, if they puchase at least two items from them.  Further, they'll make offers to BUY any textbooks that they feel can be resold as well.  It's a great way for your kids to try to recover some of those book expenses they incur at the beginning of each semester.  Check it out, and pass this link along to your students!
 
This site is related to the college textbook link above THIS one, but is directly connected with where you and/or your student can easily re-sell YOUR books to THEM, and potentially make more than you would selling them back to the college.
 

Do you need help making sure that you have the RIGHT roommate when you go to college?  Just because they've been your best friend so far, doesn't automatically make them the ideal roommate.   Check out the guide at this site and see if you were planning on doing these same things to make sure your roommate situation is the best it can be.

 

As you move through the process of applying to colleges, you'll face many deadlines and a lot of paperwork. Print out this work sheet, then write in your application and financial aid deadlines. Note the date when you complete each task so you can see at a glance what remains to be done.
 
If you would like to try to figure out what your current GPA is, click on this link!  It is a VERY helpful calculating tool.  If you need instructions to figure out exactly how it works, they're located under the calculator itself.
 

When looking for JUST the right college to attend after high school, it's probably a very good idea to find a city with a low crime rate, great schools, a warm sunny climate, affordable housing, and plentiful jobs.  Use THIS tool to do just that, if you have at least SOME idea of what you're looking for. 

 

This is a GREAT easy-to-use online calculator, if you're curious about comparing one place against another.  Use a geographic location that you're familiar with to compare against any other location.  Using a tool like this one helps people decide what the economic impact will be when they move from one spot to another.
 
This is another GREAT easy-to-use online calculator, if you're curious about comparing one place against another.  Use a geographic location that you're familiar with to compare against any other location.  This calculator factors in the impact of taxes on your income to help determine the best place to live.
 
If you're interested at all in being a part of the Greek Life, check out this site.  What you find out here just MIGH help you deside whether or not you want to "rush" for your buddy's Greek House.  Your parents might ALSO wish to look in on their OWN Greek web site, just to catch up on what their fraternity/sorority is and has been up to. 
 
This is a GREAT site to go to, if you want to find out more about the educational benefits that are available to you through membership in the armed forces.  They explain topics like the Montgomery G.I. Bill, Military School Credit Program, Tuition Assistance Programs, and more.  Check it out BEFORE you go see the recruiter!
 

College Search Links:

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Go here, if you would like to take an online guided picture tour of your choice post-secondary school.  Most of the ones they can show you also allow you to apply right here online.

 

Where can you expect to get the most for your money?  To determine which colleges and universities offer the best value, we use a formula that relates a school's academic quality, as indicated by its U.S. News ranking, with the net cost of attendance for a student who receives the average level of financial aid.  The higher the quality of the school's academic program and the lower the cost to the student, the better the deal.   See if you can find a school that best fits YOUR budget, and professional interests.
 
Go here, if you want a VERY easy to use tool to help you find out some of the basic information about schools you're considering attending.  Search either by the first letter of the school's name, or by the State you prefer to go to school in.  Either way, it's easy to navigate and figure out.
 
This Universities.com data base searches through over 10,000 colleges to find the information that you seek.  Search by state, or by the name of the school.
 
This is a GREAT site for you to use, if you simply want to perform an alphabetical search for the school of your choice.  Check it out!!
 
This Collegeview.com search engine allows you to customize your search, using key issues like:  Type of school, Areas of study, Athletics, and NINE other criteria.  Personalize your search with this tool, and see what schools turn up as your match.
 
This is a great place to begin any 2-year schools search, if that's how you want to start your post secondary education career.
 
This link is sponsored by USNews, and takes you to a GREAT site, if you want to investigate colleges by their academic rankings.  It has several rankings lists, based on the types of degree program offered,  best values, and more.  Click on the link above, and see how useful this tool can be.
 
This ranking of the country's top undergraduate business programs can help prospective corporate executives and entrepreneurs search for the right school for them.   USNews asked deans and senior faculty to rate the quality of all programs they are familiar with on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished).   See which ones THEY think are the best!
 
This USNews-sponsored site is a GREAT place to go, if you're looking to embark on an engineering degree program and career!  The rankings are based solely on the judgements of deans and senior faculty who rated each program they're familiar with in their category on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished).
 
Rankings in the health professions are based on the results of surveys sent to deans, faculty, and administrators of accredited graduate programs. The individuals rated the academic quality of programs as distinguished (5); strong (4); good (3); adequate (2); or marginal (1), depending on the scholarship, curriculum, and the quality of faculty and graduates.
 
What are the Comprehensive CollegesBachelor's?  These institutions focus on undergraduate education and offer a range of degree programs in the liberal arts, which account for fewer than half of their bachelor's degrees, and in professional fields such as business, nursing, and education.  There are over 325 comprehensive colleges, ranked within four regions: Midwest, North, South, and West.
 
USNews does a great job of allowing you to gain information about the service academies very easily.  Check out this site, if you're at all interested in gaining an appointment or scholarship to one of THESE institutions.
 
You can do a search of the best law school for you, either by name, or by using the worksheet that is supplied online at this site.   Get a customized list of schools that match your particular needs and qualifications. 
 
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Search for a school by name, or use the interactive work sheet supplied by this site,  to get a customized list of schools that match your particular needs and qualifications.
 
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Search for a school by name, or use the interactive work sheet supplied by this site, to get a customized list of schools that match your particular needs and qualifications.
 
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Search for a school by name, or use the interactive work sheet provided by this site, to get a customized list of schools that match your particular needs and qualifications.
 
This site allows you to search for that perfect undergraduate school throughout the United States, South America, Mexico, Canada, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe.  Check it out, and see if you can find that perfect match for you.
 
This is a comprehensive online directory of study abroad and international education. Includes college undergraduate semester, year-long and summer programs, intensive language and experiential programs plus high school and graduate study abroad. Study Abroad in Spain, France, Australia, England, Argentina, Italy, United States, Austria, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, and Japan.
 

College Test and Test Prep Links:

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Take any one, or all 3 of these exams, and see how you score!  The BEST thing, as is usual with MOST things on this site, is that they are all free of charge.  Try them, and see how you might do on them once you're ready to pay your hard earned money for them.
 
Go here, if you're interested in taking an easy personality quiz that's designed to match you with career paths that would best suit YOU and who you are.  The initial reports should be free.  Check it out, and see how they match YOU!
 
How can you find a college where you'll thrive?  Start by taking a careful look at yourself, your interests, abilities, and attitudes.  This is a GREAT site that you can use to begin looking at what schools you might be the most comfortable at.  These 80 questions will take you approximately 15 minutes to complete, and then you'll be provided with some helpful matching information in the end.
 

This quiz matches you with several career possibilities in the way of actual job listing posted on their site nationally.  Find out what you might be good at, and then apply directly to those looking for people just like you.

 

This is an easy to use site that has you complete a quick 17-question quiz to help determine your natural leadership abilities and skills.  It most likely is not a very comprehensive quiz, but could help give you some ideas about yourself.

 

Take THIS brief quiz, if you would like to see whether or not you're presently "cut out" to be an entrepreneur.
 

College Financing Links:

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Go here, if you would like to get an idea of how much it will cost to put your student through college, assuming that they do NOT earn or search for any scholarships, grants, etc.

 

This calculating tool simply allows you to estimate how much college will cost you, should you need to borrow the money to attend.  It doesn't allow you to enter savings considerations into the equation, but it's still a powerful, and easy to use tool for this purpose.
 

Go here, if you want to try to estimate approximately how much you'll need to send your child through college for a minimum of four years.   Enter your child's age anywhere from newborn, to age 17, then hit calculate.

 

Go here, if you're in search for a way to more accurately estimate the total costs of borrowing for your college education, or for that of your child.  Enter the total amount of money that you can expect to want to borrow to cover your college expenses, then brace yourself before you hit the calculate button!!

 

This is a GREAT financial calculations tool that can help you to determine just how much your TOTAL college expenses will be, using whatever current and/or projected information you might have.  Check it out, but brace yourself before you do.
 
Aid right from the seat of your pants.  You can save postage and time by using this link.  This site allows you to complete AND submit your Federal Application for Federal Student bmiting it electronically like this.  It also has an area that will help explain what you're doing.  Check it out!  Get your results back quicker than if you were to use "snail mail."
 

Go here, if you would like to check out the potential for scholarships and grants for college for your minority student.

 

Here's a GREAT way to have college paid for, while you learn a set of skills at the same time.  Check out this option as part of your search for post-secondary education financing.
 
This is the Colorado Student Loan Program's online application site.  Complete and submit your application(s) right here online, as opposed to via the traditional snail mail method.  There are "help" links for those that are unclear about just how to complete these applications.
 
This is a GREAT free service, which allows you to browse and compare lenders for the following loan types:  Private, Alternative, Stafford, Parent PLUS, Consolidation, and  K-12 Prep loans.  Another great thing about this site is that you can apply for what you want FREE right there online. 
 

Use this powerful tool to search for scholarship and loan information based on your needs and qualifications.  Simply enter your personal information to search a scholarship database of 8,000 funding sources--including more than 600,000 individual awards.  The search engine matches the appropriate award to the student's profile.  You'll also find information about each funding source's eligibility requirements, due dates, number of awards, award amounts, and contact information.  You can also request and receive information from private lenders about educational loans.

Sponsored by Finaid.org, this site provides a very  broad base of information related to financing a college education.  You can do scholarship/grant searches, research the costs of various schools, etc.  Again, the VAST majority of this search information is FREE!   USE it!!
 

This is a direct link to Fastweb.com's scholarship and grant search tool.  It runs your information across over 4 BILLION dollars worth of free money for college.  EVERYONE really has a great chance of finding some that they would qualify for.

 

This is the easy-to-use direct link to "CollegesWantYou" matching tool.  Tell them a little about yourself and they'll provide Colleges and Universities with access to your profile.  If there is a match between their requirements and your profile, they  will provide your contact information (name, address, email address, etc) to the school, and you'll be contacted.   It's that easy!