While it may be tempting to look at how you will fund your education before choosing where to get your education, I believe it is best to choose where before thinking about how.  This is because worrying about finances can cause you to aim for less than the best fit for your continued education.

However, once you have identified your top choices, the next step is to learn about scholarship and other funding opportunities.  One of the best sources for information regarding long term planning for funding a college education can be found at http://money.cnn.com/pf/college/.

Some schools are needs blind which means they will choose to accept you without knowing whether you have the resources to pay.  Typically, these schools have many scholarships available and they want a diverse student body.  In other words, they don’t want a student body that is entirely affluent.

Other schools will address costs early on.

Most schools provide financial aid for students who are from low income families.  Some schools encourage students to ask friends and family for financial support.

Grants and scholarships are money you do not have to repay.  Loans are money that you and/or your family will be expected to repay.

 To learn whether you qualify to get federal grants or loans, you must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) (ideally before February 15 the year you intend to start college).  This form will calculate your Estimated Family Contribution (EFC).  It is important to share your FAFSA and EFC with each of the schools that you are considering.  Most schools use this information to assemble your financial aid package.  A financial aid package may include scholarships (academic, sports, music, leadership, early admission, etc.) grants, loans, a work study job and up front or periodic payments.

Scholarships are available directly from schools and also from community organizations such as chambers of commerce, rotaries, clubs and state and national organizations such as businesses, credit unions, professional organizations, etc.

There are also scholarships for descendants of certain families or cultures and members of faith based organizations.

Often the schools you are considering will have information regarding scholarships that are available to prospective and continuing students.

The key to funding your education is to ask and seek.  Ask everyone you know whether they know of scholarship opportunities.  There are many scholarships that go unused year after year simply because no one applies for them.  Plus, there are times when people you ask will choose to contribute directly to your education and some employers (even small employers) offer an ongoing education benefit to their employees and family members.

If you like to travel or are wanting to travel for the first time, you should investigate opportunities to study abroad before choosing a college.

Many college graduates report that studying abroad was one of their most memorable college experiences.  It’s not only a vacation, it can open a new way of life.

Most schools offer a chance to study overseas, but some help provide the language and culture training before you go.

As you review different study abroad options it is important to ask students how well the calendar of college and abroad programs meshed and whether all credits received abroad transferred to the college.  It is also important to look at destinations.  Some colleges advocate for destinations in first world nations, while others advocate for destinations in third world destinations.

Most schools will offer full year, semester long and summer or spring break study abroad options.  Some schools actually make travel experience a requirement of the major. 

Housing arrangements also vary widely from one program to another.  Some programs house you with other international students while some programs house you with a host family so that you will be more fully immersed in the culture and language.

If you are worried about the cost of study abroad, don’t be. Most financial aid offices have scholarship information and grant information for studying abroad. Check out this site for information on the many, many scholarships that are available http://www.studyabroad.com/forum/financial_aid.html

Now, you know what you got to do. Plan, pay and go! Study abroad is unforgettable and you will never regret a minute that you are exploring and having a great time. Have fun wherever you choose to go!

If you are going to play sports while attending university, then you need to choose a school where study and sports can be balanced.

Student-athletes need to be prepared to make sacrifices as they have tighter schedules than those students who don’t choose sports. If you are intending to major in something that is time consuming, be prepared to find that the demands of both sports and study will stack up high. You will be traveling and coaches will demand a lot out of you during practices. However, even though it may seem scary, don’t opt out and take a light load of classes for convenience. One problem that happens in many college teams is “clustering”. This is when a group of student-athletes major in the same thing so as to have a light study load. Surveys show that more than 40% of student-athletes cluster to make more time for sports.  The problem with this is that they’ve chosen to prioritize their sport over their studies and haven’t chosen a field of study that really reflects their individual non-sport interests.

Break the stereotype of the “dumb jock.” The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) has low standards for student-athletes. An article in USA Today showed that athletes only need to complete 40% of their degree course work by the end of their sophomore year, 60% the following year and 80% senior year. However, you don’t have to be one of these statistics. You can push yourself without breaking yourself to the point of giving up.  Communicate with student-athletes at the campuses you are considering and ask them how they balance their sport and study efforts.

If turning pro is your career goal, it is important still to have a backup plan. Less than ten percent of college athletes go on to the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc. I’m not saying you should give up, instead I am saying be realistic so that if things don’t go how you expect them you still will have a degree that can help you attain a job that you will enjoy and that will help you provide for yourself and a family.

Be the first to break out of the mold and set high standards. Don’t be easily swayed by peers to aim low and forget your college studies just so you can focus on the sport. Find a mentor that will keep you accountable to giving your all in the field and the classroom.  Most coaches will support you because they want to see you succeed in both areas. Choose a college where student-athletes have found strategies to excel on and off field.  Then prioritize and do your best and you will get what you want while playing sports in college.

The history of a college usually influences what it is today. If it started as an agricultural school, it is likely to offer fields of study that relate to the science and business management of running a dairy, cultivating crops or preserving foods today. If it started as a seminary for women in a year when women did not typically seek advanced education, it likely has an emphasis on empowering women in the marketplace today. If it started as a health professions technical school it likely offers courses in the most advanced health technologies today. If it started as a teaching school that explored emerging practices, it likely is an education research center today. If it started as a research facility for robotics, it likely has robotics courses today. If it started as a training center for astronauts, it likely trains future astronauts today.

While some may find history a boring study, when it comes to choosing a college, it should not be neglected.

When choosing a college it is also important to consider living arrangements. Some schools require students to live on campus for at least their first two years while other schools have more students who commute from home than who live on campus. Some schools require first year students to live in dormitories while other schools allow for students to live in off-campus apartments. Some schools only provide housing for single adults while other schools provide housing for married couples and families.

Then there is tremendous variation in on-campus options. Some dormitory buildings have a kitchen and dining room in the building. Most have separate buildings for dining. Some have cooking facility within the building, others allow some cooking in the rooms while some require that all cooking occur in separate buildings. Some dormitory rooms house one student, some house two, some house three or four or more. Some are single sex as a whole building, others are single sex by floor and others are mixed on a floor. Some rooms have their own bathroom, some share a bathroom between two rooms and some share a bathroom for a full floor.

Then there is the Greek system. Sororities and fraternities vary so much in housing, study, storage and dining space that it is important to visit each one under consideration.

There is also extreme variation in architecture, layout and age of buildings. Sometimes within a single campus it is possible to choose from a neo-gothic castle-like dorm to a modern cement structure to an on-campus cottage that can be shared with people who have common worldviews or lifestyles.

When choosing a college it is helpful to list your top priorities and then to contact students who are at the schools you are considering. Most colleges have students who are happy to respond by email to questions from prospective students. Then when you learn of a school that has housing options that meet most of your top priorities, it is very helpful to go visit the school to check out the facilities for yourself.

Once you are accepted to a school, you can then list your housing preferences. You are not guaranteed of getting your first choice, but doing your homework and knowing your reasons for your housing preferences will help you get closer to what you want than if you don’t consider these things.

When choosing a college it is also helpful to look at all the courses that are available on campus. In this article I will focus on courses that will be outside of your major. This is because I’ve already addressed courses that would be in your major in the article titled “Degree Programs Offered“.

While your main priority may be to choose a school that will support your career path, it is also important to look at the school’s course catalogue to identify courses that you would want to take for pure fun. For example, one of my friends knew she wanted to be a pre-med major, but she also loves music and outdoor activities, especially swimming. So, she chose a school that had a strong music program including band and also had swimming courses and a swim team and a marine biology minor. While at school she then took all the pre-med courses plus scuba diving and marine biology and even got to swim with whales in the Florida Keys for a course that occurred over Spring Break and swim with another type of whale in the San Juan Islands in Washington State during a summer college course. Now that friend is graduated from college and from grad school and working at a job in the healthcare field that she loves, but she will be the first one to tell you that her work colleagues are more interested in her stories about swimming with whales in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans than in which experiments she did in her pre-med classes.

So while a college education should help you attain your career goals it also can provide you with refreshing activities that make for fun stories for the rest of your life.

If you have chosen a private college the next thing to consider is whether it should be secular or religious. This decision is up to you. In a college that has its roots based in a religious tradition you may be provided with a place to go deeper into the theology and history of your faith. Whereas with a secular college you may be exposed to more diversity in world views. At a religious school there is typically a common ideology that is shared by staff as well as the student population.

In a secular campus you may be given more freedom to do as you wish. At a religious campus more restrictions may be placed on your behavior, for example there may be only single sex dorms and minimal visitation time in the dorms of the opposite sex.  In secular campus alcohol could be a normal thing. In a religious campus it likely to be a dry campus.

A secular campus will usually have a more wide array of majors for you to choose from than in a religious school. Yet if the major you want is specific to a religous school then that school might be the best option for you.

These are just some of the factors that you might want to consider before choosing a particular type of school. Though there are many more factors that you must put into consideration, do the research and then apply!

Another thing to consider when choosing a college is whether you want to attend a private or a public school. One of the best articles I’ve found on this topic is at http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/000294.htm.

Even though the private university I have chosen to attend is 1.68 times more expensive ($32,000/year room, board, books and tuition) than the flagship state university ($19,000/year room, board, books and tuition) in my state of residency, it costs me and my family less to go to the private school because the private school awarded me a full-need scholarship. So I am going to the more expensive school for less cost than it would have been for me to go to the best public school in my state. Plus the private school has the subjects I want to study and none of the public schools have these same subjects. For me it was a win-win to go to the more expensive private school.

Another factor to consider when choosing a college is its reputation.  One of the best known sources of information regarding college rankings is the US News and World Report annual Best Colleges report.  To see the report for 2010 visit http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges. In 2008 Forbes magazine also began publishing an annual list of “America’s Best Colleges”.   Other published sources of college rankings are listed in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_and_university_rankings.

Another method of evaluating the reputation of a school is to seek out people who are working in careers that you find interesting and then ask these people which schools would best prepare someone to work in that career.

It is also helpful to know what terms like “Ivy League” and “Sevens Sisters Colleges” and other sports related terms like “PAC-10″ mean because some people define college reputation by the divisions in which the sports teams play.

Finally, another strategy is to visit the school and see what students, faculty and community members have to say about the school.

The better you understand the reputations of the schools you are considering, the better you will be able to choose one that will be the right fit for you for the full length of time that it will take to get the degree you desire.

The next factor to take into consideration is the size of the school you want to attend. Whether it be a small college in a big city or a big college in a small city, I will do my best to help you make your decision a little bit easier.

Now, if you are looking at a small college located in a big city you will notice that the student body is a very tight knit community. The less people the more chance to create lasting friendships. Another benefit you will notice is that everything is close together and public transportation can take you there, so you most likely won’t need a car. Being in a big city also means that it’s populated with many diverse shops, foods, and people. On the flip side, it may cost more than other colleges because smaller colleges typically are private and more expensive.

If you want a big school in a big city, like the University of Washington in Seattle, it’ll be easy for you to travel around the city. You will also experience a large and diverse student body with students of all ages from all over the world. The bad part is that you will have to work harder in your first few years of school to acquaint yourself with your professors because class sizes in core undergraduate courses are quite large.  Once you’ve established yourself, though, the larger school will provide you the small group experience in your upper class years and into graduate school, because as you progress, the courses will become more specialized and the class sizes will be smaller.

A small school in a more rural environment such as Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine or John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas can provide you with a peaceful place for you to study and focus on your major in a tight knit community.

A large school in a more rural environment such as University of Massachusetts, Amherst can provide you with big school activities such as Division I level sports in a historic scenic community.  Like the large school in a large city it will have large class sizes in the core courses of the early undergraduate years but more opportunity to progress into a wide range of smaller class size specialized courses as you progress.

As you consider school size, it is important to take into account whether you perform better in small or large classes, whether you want to compete in Division I level sports or smaller school teams, whether you want a city or rural environment and how much diversity you want in subjects to study and in student and faculty populations.

The better you know your needs and preferences related to school size, the easier it will be to identify your top choice schools.