High School Seniors: Online Tools Help Find Schools

(NewsUSA) - Thousands of high-quality colleges and universities exist across the country, so finding the right college can prove daunting. Some high school students hire consultants to match them with schools, but there's no need to hire a professional if teenagers do their homework.

Sallie Mae, the nation's leading saving-and-paying-for-college company, offers these tips to students and families as they begin the college selection process:

- Develop a Target List. Applying to the right schools involves finding the ones that work best for you. This involves identifying your criteria and determining what is most important to you when it comes to curriculum, location, size, campus life, athletics, housing, cost and more. Visit www.CollegeAnswer.com/schoolsearch and narrow your search by finding the schools that meet your interests.

- Decide Where to Apply. Once you have a list of potential schools you are interested in, it is time to decide where you want to apply. Manage your search by filing information by school

and by keeping a calendar of all deadlines. Visit www.SallieMae.com/organizesearch for more information.

- Explore How to Pay. A new tool, available at www.SallieMae.com/Plan, lets students and families build a customized plan to pay for college. Students and families can estimate and compare total education costs at over 5,500 colleges and graduate schools and develop paying-for-college plans for each of the schools on their short list.

Sallie Mae encourages families to use its 1-2-3 approach to paying for college: First, use free money. Fill out the FAFSA to access need-based grants, and research and apply for scholarships. Consider supplementing with current income, college savings, and an interest-free monthly tuition payment plan.

Second, explore federal loans. Available to both students and parents, they can offer low, fixed interest rates and flexible repayment options. Third, fill any gap with private education loans. They are convenient and designed to help students meet the total cost of college.

"Article By: NewsUSA"