College & Money
There are more than 5,000 institutions of higher education in the United States and each of them does financial aid and scholarships slightly differently, so you'll need to do some research. Here are resources for exploring college financial issues:
It's a good idea to organize your research. We recommend setting up spreadsheet(s) for the college search process that includes information about:
Use each college's Common Data Set to find out what's important in their admissions process (Section B and Section C7)
Majors of interest
Application deadlines
Average/median SAT/ACT scores for the incoming class
Average/media GPA for the incoming class
Types of housing
Type of college - large/small, urban/rural, etc. etc.
Other things in which your student is interested - do they offer study abroad? dual degree programs? 3/2 options where she could earn her masters as well, etc.
Financial aid opportunities
Scholarship opportunities to include application deadlines
Whatever else interests you - quality of food, etc.