 This week the website of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators www.nasfaa.org published the results of a poll of over 700 peopleabout their college decision experience. Over half indicated that they "felt lost" during the process. Searching the web for college information can be a challenge. It is not unusual to type the name of a college in a search engine and receive a list headed by other colleges as a result. The word "ad" appears by those first few colleges that are usually for-profit institutions. Comparing college costs can also be a challenge when college websites report costs and other information in a variety of ways. Tuition and other costs are reported for one semester on some websites and for two semesters on others. Unless students read the fine print, they get an inaccurate idea of the costs of colleges. The US Department of Education provides unbiased college information through College Navigator at https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/. Additionally, the Department of Education provides access to student financial aid information at https:studentaid.ed.gov. States governments also provide information about public colleges in each state. |
