College Access For All

1. First you will read about the different types of colleges that exist on the internet at the United States Department of Education’s website:   http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
2. Next you will select five colleges of your choice to research.  One college must be a four-year Massachusetts state college or university, one college must be a four-year private school or university located outside of Massachusetts, one college must be a four-year private school or university located within Massachusetts,  one college must be a Massachusetts community college, and the other college you may select based on your own criteria.  The following websites will assist you in selecting your colleges and gathering research data.

Title: Institute of Education Science of the United States Department of Education:  College Navigator

URL:  http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/

Title:  CollegeBoard College Matchmaker

URL:http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/adv_typeofschool.jsp

Title:  Massachusetts Department of Higher Education:  Public Higher Education Campuses

URL:  http://www.mass.edu/campuses/phecampuses.asp

1. You will complete a College Admission and Cost Comparison spreadsheet for each of these five colleges.  It is attached below.
2. You will  read about college costs at:  http://www.edupass.org/finaid/costs.phtml.   You will use this information to approximate the costs you will incur by attending the five colleges you have previously selected.  Use the college cost data you have inserted into your College Admission and Cost Comparison spreadsheet to complete this task.  I have attached a College Cost Analysis spreadsheet for you to complete. 
3. You will use the information you have gathered for the College Admission and Cost Comparison spreadsheet as well as information you have gathered from the resource websites, to generate a list of the top five criteria you are looking for in a college. Please list these criteria in order of most important to least important.  I have attached a worksheet entitled the 5 College Criteria Most Important to Me
4. You will create a free login account on the Princeton Review website:  http://www.princetonreview.com/Login3.aspx?uidbadge=%07
5. After you create your free account, you will use the Princeton Review’s Counselor-O-Matic Best Fit School Search to generate a list of good college matches for you based on various criteria you select.  You will print out the list of your best fit matches and identify at least six colleges you would consider applying to.