ANNOTATED WEB RESOURCES

http://www.hillel.org
The website for Hillel contains information about Jewish student life on campuses across this country and Canada.

http://www.chabad.org
Chabad services often supplement university and Hillel programming.

http://jliconline.org
OU-JLIC educators strive to enhance the learning opportunities available to students, and also to bolster an infrastructure for Orthodox life to flourish.

http://www.educationunlimited.com
Information on summer programs

The following sites offer a good start for early college planning and research. They are mostly search engines or sites that offer a primer on looking for colleges.

http://adventuresineducation.org/
College and career planning, elementary

http://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search
This is the revamped search engine from the College Board (the people who brought you the SAT).

http://www.petersons.com
College and financial aid search engines, also some test preparation help

http://www.gocollege.com/
This site also contains some thoughtful essays by professional college counselors.

http://www.howstuffworks.com/college-admission.htm
Has an excellent reputation among college advisers

http://www.collegeconfidential.com
This is a forum for discussion of relevant topics, with plenty of opinion.

http://www.collegeexpress.com
There is a good search engine for colleges plus maps and directions.

http://www.collegedata.com

http://www.collegeview.com
Provides webtours and news articles

http://www.schoolsintheusa.com/

http://collegeprep101.com
Very general, but chatty

The sites in this category are more specific than the ones above, usually focusing on some special interest:

http://www.fairtest.org/optinit.htm
Looking for a school where SAT tests are optional? This site will provide that information and a lot more.

http://www.ctcl.com
This is the Colleges that Change Lives site – very special schools.

http://www.bestbizschools.com
Specializes in business schools, both undergraduate and graduate

http://www.sportsmanagementdegrees.net
Specializes in sports management programs

http://www.allnursingschools.com
Specializes in nursing programs

http://www.engineering-colleges.info/
http://www.allengineeringschools.com/ If you are interested in attending an engineering school, these sites will give you information about programs and careers.

http://www.campusstarter.com/
Thinking of college in Canada? This is a search engine for study north of the border.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/usa http://www.studyabroad.com These sites provide search engines for programs in Britain and world-wide, respectively. The latter site allows the user to search by subject or program area, country or city.

http://www.collegeresults.org
A site publishing graduation rates for colleges and universities, compiled by the Education Trust, a highly respected organization; worth investigating.

http://www.kiplinger.com/personalfinance/tools/colleges/?
A business magazine's approach to choosing a college – what is the best value? The site analyzes public colleges in a very thorough way, but there are no real surprises here.

http://www.hillel.org/
Among other things, this site provides links to Hillel chapters on campus.

http://www.chabad.org/centers/campus_cdo/jewish/Campus-Directory.htm
Chabad serves over 150 college campuses.

https://oujlic.org/
JLIC works under the auspices of the O-U and places a rabbi on each of many college campuses to support Orthodox life.

http://theheart2heartproject.org/
H2H is a grassroots movement that provides lots of information about observant Jewish life on campuses, including kosher dining and Shabbat.

http://actstudent.org
This is the ACT (American College Testing program) site with information about registering for and planning for the ACT exam.

http://www.act.org
American College Testing program

http://sat.collegeboard.org
This is the site for SAT and subject test registration.

http://www.fairtest.org/optinit.htm
Fair Test is an excellent site, providing a list of schools for which submission of standardized test scores is optional.

http://www.finaid.org This site is excellent and has it all: the basics on financial aid, links to FAFSA and other scholarship forms like the Profile Form, and other information.

http://finaid.org/calculators
The federal government now requires colleges to post somewhere on their website a "calculator" to help families estimate what they will be expected to contribute to the cost of college, the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC). This site has links to similar calculators that will help you get a general idea of college costs.

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov
Use the FAFSA on-line at this site.

https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/index.jsp
Financial aid profile.

http://www.ParentPlusLoan.com
This is the PLUS Loan Resource Center site.

www.hesc.ny.gov
Links to the NYS Higher Education Services Corporation for more information on the TAP awards and other NYS grants, including the Excelsior Scholarship

http://www.asa.org
An FFELP loan guarantor; there is a calculator to determine eligibility on this site.

http://www.collegescholarships.com
Commercial search engine for scholarship programs.

http://www.mappingyourfuture.org
Federal Family Education Loan Program site; has mostly financial aid information but seems a cut above the rest.

http://www.collegesavings.org
State 529 plans for saving for college

http://www.elmresources.com
A commercial lender's site

http://www.fastweb.com
Another search engine for scholarships; links to applications here as well.

http://collegeapps.about.com
This site offers a free newsletter with the latest college news. Informative, but rarely strikes close to home.

http://www.collegenews.com
Has links to college newspapers, an invaluable source of information.

http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/rankings.htm
A well-done site by the University of Illinois-Champaign-Urbana contains links to many different ranking organizations.

For help through the actual application process, try the following links:

http://www.commonapp.org
The Common Application is available on this site.

http://www.coalitionforcollegeaccess.org/
The Coalition for Access, Affordability, and Success is a newer organization that includes many top colleges. The Coalition offers a new application option, but no colleges give preference to the Common App or Coalition App.

http://www.ncset.org
The National Center on Secondary Education and Transition seeks to increase the capacity of national, state and local agencies and organizations to improve secondary education and transition results for youth with disabilities and their families.

http://www.landmark.edu
This site provides links to summer programs for students with disabilities.