Tuition is high and getting higher. The way to save money is to be a smart college shopper. That means college searching and deciding should be a family affair rather than left to high school juniors to figure out.

You would not send a sixteen year old to a car dealership to buy a car on his own -and a car costs much less than college. College costs are more to house prices. Given that fact and the fact that parents would like to retire one day, it is in the best interests of parents to be involved in the search and decision process.

All years of high school are important to preparing for college. Ninth and tenth grade are years when students jump-start both their GPA and their activity resume. Eleventh grade is the year that students ramp up college efforts with visits, essays and an ever increasing amount of rigor in their courses and leadership in their extra-curriculars. Twelfth grade is the year students continue to add rigor to their course schedule and more leadership to their activity resume.

Too often, both students and parents are unaware of the important role that each year of high school plays in preparing students for college.

Colleges want students who are intellectually curious and altruistic and who want to grow. They are also looking for students who are grounded, welcome a challenge and have a reasonable chance of success at their institution. Having a good work ethic and evidence of playing (and studying) well with others are also a plus. In addition to all of those things, colleges want students who want to be at their institution to study a major that they offer.

Each prospective admissions candidate has many of these attributes but in different levels of personality and skill development.