​​RESOURCES FOR BOTH PARENTS AND STUDENTS:
​

• The College Board's centralized location for all things Financial Aid. Find an EFC calculator here, links to the CSS/PROFILE application page, a college cost calculator, and much more! bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/tools-calculators
• The Chronicle of Higher Education: THE publication about all issues trending in higher education. You should see copies of this newspaper in every Admissions Office that you visit. www.chronicle.com/
• Inside Higher Ed: You'll find lots of information here on all things college-related, but this site is particularly strong in its coverage of current issues in financial aid. www.insidehighered.com/
• Book: Frank Bruni, Where You Go Is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania (2016): amzn.to/2fUyJ0X
• Book: Edward Fiske, Fiske Guide to Colleges 2023, 39th Edition (2022): https://amzn.to/39xsTAY
• Website: Check out Peter Van Buskirk's fantastic website Best College Fit:  www.bestcollegefit.com/  He offers outstanding advice on the entire college application process, and his regular blog posts are informative and useful. 
• Book: Steven Antonoff, College Match: A Blueprint for Choosing the Best School For You, 13th edition (2017): amzn.to/2kTUnnL
• Book: Donald Asher, Cool Colleges for the Hyper-Intelligent, Self-Directed, Late Blooming, and Just Plain Different (2007): amzn.to/2sxzzqy
• Book: Jacques Steinberg, The Gatekeepers: Inside the Admission Process of A Premier College (2003): amzn.to/2Jvu0CM
• Book: Robin Mamlet and Christine Vandevelde, College Admission: From Application to Acceptance, Step by Step (2011): https://amzn.to/2KoxWTK
• HeartMath:  a biofeedback technology that teaches adults and adolescents to better manage their stress levels: www.heartmath.com/
• Insight Timer: one of the best free meditation apps I've ever used! Explore it to find just the right kind of support begin and maintain a regular meditation practice to reduce stress and increase well-being: insighttimer.com/
• Book: Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Updated Edition (2016): amzn.to/2BcK1YS
• Book: Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking (2013): amzn.to/2Wy2ok3
• Website: Families for Depression Awareness is a non-profit dedicated to helping those who suffer from depression and their families. They offer free webinars, trainings, workshops, publications, and speakers to support anyone struggling with depression. They have particularly great material to help teens. www.familyaware.org/
• Website: Harlan Cohen, author of The Naked Roommate, has two amazing websites: the first is his own webpage, complete with an advice column, as well as helpful videos; the second is a new program that Harlan started called "Best First Year in College," which features webinars and other tools to help students transition from high to college in a healthy way. https://www.harlancohen.com/ and https://www.bestfirstyear.com/
• Website: Interested in taking a Gap Year? Here are 4 great resources to check out to learn more about this increasingly popular option for students: Center for Interim Programs (www.interimprograms.com/), Gap Year Association (www.gapyearassociation.org/), USA Gap Year Fairs (usagapyearfairs.org/), and Go Overseas (www.gooverseas.com/). 
• Website: On the topic of Gap Years, if you're looking for a structured gap year experience but don't know how to make that happen, check out Gap Year Solutions: https://gapyearsolutions.com/ . Owner Katherine Stieveter works with students to tailor the best possible gap year experience for each individual, facilitating the learning of important life skills that students will need to succeed in college and beyond. 
• Website: Intrigued by a different kind of first year of college? Want to earn college credit, get hands-on learning experiences, travel the world, and then get to campus without missing a beat? AND save money on tuition? Then check out Verto Education, an amazing non-profit that helps ease the stress of the college application process while providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for students to start their first year of college abroad in structured learning environments with college professors. www.vertoeducation.org 
• Book: Scott Hartley, The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World (2017): https://amzn.to/2m7iIdJ 
• Website: A wonderful blog by Elizabeth Hamblet, a consultant who specifically works with students who have learning differences. There is a wealth of useful information here about how to navigate college with a learning difference. I recommend looking at "Misunderstanding about IEPs, and 504s, and College Accommodations," and "Testing to Document ADHD for College Accommodations?Maybe." " https://ldadvisory.com/  Also check out her resources page (complete with a free downloadable PDF!) on how to find college disability documentation requirements: https://www.ldadvisory.com/find-docs/ 
• Book: Brennan Barnard and Rick Clark, The Truth About College Admission: A Family Guide to Getting In and Staying Together (2019): https://tinyurl.com/s8njatp
• Website:  Looking for a list of test-optional schools? Look no further! Check out http://fairtest.org/university/optional 
• Website: A FREE scholarship search engine! It also can create ONE application that you may submit to be considered for  multiple scholarships. It even comes in a mobile app format. www.goingmerry.com 
• Website: Another free scholarship search engine, Appily: https://www.appily.com/
• Website: An important 2018 White Paper published by Challenge Success, a non-profit affiliated with Stanford University's Graduate School of Education demonstrating how student engagement during their time in college is far more important to their future success than attending a highly selective college: . https://tinyurl.com/y7cq8hh4
• Website: Resources for building resilience and getting through disappointment and difficulty from Kripalu, a wonderful yoga and wellness center in the Berkshires in Massachusetts: https://tinyurl.com/r9ea7cf
• Book: Perry LaRoque, Taking Flight: College For Students with Disabilities, Diverse Learners, and Their Families (2020): https://amzn.to/2Y9SZ5y
• Website: Looking for a domestic gap year program? Check out Dynamy. Headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts, Dynamy gives students the opportunity to live together in apartments,  have internships in the area, and participate in weekly workshops on such topics as how to live on a budget and how to have a great job interview. https://dynamy.org/
• Website: Another free website that helps students apply for scholarships! Bold.org is MEFA-recommended, and offers exclusive scholarships that students can't find elsewhere.  https://bold.org/
• Podcast: THE KEY with Inside Higher Ed (click here).  Listen to  higher ed. experts address current events in the academic world and beyond. Stream online or subscribe using your podcasting app. 
• Book: Ethan Sawyer,  College Admission Essentials: A Step-by-Step Guide to Showing Colleges Who You Are and What Matters to You (2020): amzn.to/30ojBAd
• Book: Jeffrey Selingo, Who Gets In and Why: A Year Inside College Admissions (2020): amzn.to/3kLRlPG
• Website: Are you looking for insight on what the campus culture is like at a particular school for a Person of Color? Looking for a way to evaluate a campus for equity and inclusion? Check out College Equity First, Inc.'s website: https://collegeequityfirst.org/ . They feature a college equity index, as well as other resources that help Black high school students evaluate potential college campuses. 
• Website: Payscale offers a free Cost-of-Living calculator online where anyone may select a location, type in an annual salary, and then gain a sense of how expensive it is to live in that particular place. Particularly helpful for anyone considering moving to a new city for college or a job. https://www.payscale.com/cost-of-living-calculator
• Website: Run by the U.S. government's Department of Education, College Scorecard is a centralized location where students may research colleges, careers, job training, and access data that will help give a financially realistic view of how much any higher education will cost. https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/
• Website: Are you an underserved student headed to college, and you're worried about how to afford all of those things you may need for your dorm room? Check out Grad Bag, a non-profit organization that collects, cleans, and redistributes lightly used dorm room essentials to students in need.  Students feel more confident about beginning their college journey, AND a lot of stuff is kept out of landfills. Everyone wins!   http://www.gradbag.org/
• Website: Looking for one website that regularly updated lists of available scholarships and contests, AND made it easier for you to search through them? Check out the "Scholarships and Contests" page maintained by JLV College Counseling. Search scholarships by month, by major, by grade level, and much more. https://jlvcollegecounseling.com/scholarships/​
• Website: When taking out student loans to pay for college, it's crucial that both students and their families understand exactly what they are getting themselves into. That's why The Institute of Student Loan Advisors (TISLA) was created. The professionals on staff offer free assistance and advice on student loans, and they are entirely neutral (TISLA is non-profit that is transparent about their funding, since they run entirely on donations and service partnerships). They are committed to helping you! https://freestudentloanadvice.org/
• Website: Ever wonder what kind of a job you could get if you majored in Sociology? What about a language or Physics? The Career Center at the University of Berkeley has created a great website where anyone can explore kinds of careers folks have after they have majored in certain subjects in college. Go and explore - you will be amazed!  https://career.berkeley.edu/start-exploring/majors-to-career/what-can-i-do-with-a-major-in/
• Website: Are you going to be a collegiaterecovery.org/student in college who needs recovery support? Do you want to be an ally for students in recovery while they are on campus? Check out the Association of Recovery in Higher Education: https://collegiaterecovery.org/ Most college campuses don't have adequate supports on place for students in recovery from addition/substance abuse, and the ARHE is determined to change that. You can find out what universities and colleges already participate, as well as get info. on how you can join this organization. 
• Website: Here's another helpful tool to estimate what college is ACTUALLY going to cost you! Check out the website Tuition Tracker: https://www.tuitiontracker.org/  Type in the name of a school and you can see the average amount of tuition discounting that this institution does for families within specific income ranges (you can adjust the family income range by using a drop down menu at the top center of the page). A word of warning: use this tool like you would any other online financial aid tools (like the Net Price Calculator). These are estimates and averages based on historical data - the financial aid package that you or your student receive could look very different, so take these numbers with a grain of salt. 
• Website: Worried about ethnic-based hate crimes on campus? Check out the Department of Education's List of Open Title VI Shared Ancestry Investigations, regularly updated by the Office of Civil Rights. You can find both Elementary-Secondary Schools AND Post-Secondary Schools listed. https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/sharedancestry-list.html
• Book: Ken Duckworth, MD, You Are Not Alone: The NAMI Guide to Navigating Mental Health with Advice from Experts and Wisdom from Real People and Families (2022): https://bit.ly/3TWT3St bit.ly/3TWT3St
• Website: We all know many college websites are so difficult to navigate, but one website makes it easy to access the info. you need to book your campus visits. College Tour Bot helps you get right to the website you need to access to book your college tour. While it's not comprehensive (yet), it's still very helpful and time saving! https://www.collegetourbot.com/
• Website: If your student in the Metro Boston area struggles with executive functioning, check out Engaging Minds. With offices in Newton and Natick, their professionals work one-on-one with your students to help build confidence and independence : https://engagingmindsonline.com/ 
• Website: Are you a student or a parent of a student who has trouble with executive functioning skills? Are you concerned about the transition from high school senior to college first year? Focus Collegiate may help. They offer in-person and virtual support for students to ease the stress of acclimating to college life. While they specialize in assisting students who are LD/neurodiverse, they can provide support for ALL students who may need it! https://www.focuscollegiate.com/
• Website: On the topic of executive functioning help, here's another great resource for anyone (students AND their adults) who needs some extra support getting organized, focused, and motivated. Beyond Booksmart provides customized online executive function coaching to individuals and families to help you set goals and achieve them. https://www.beyondbooksmart.com/
• Website: Need help filling out financial aid forms and understanding how all of that process works? Enter College Affordable. This non-profit exists solely to help families figure out how to pay for college. https://collegeaffordable.org/
• Website: Figuring out how much one year of college would cost a student shouldn't be so difficult. MyInTuition is here to help. Use this online tool to figure out how much you would actually pay for one year of college at 71 participating colleges and universities.  https://myintuition.org/
• Website: Do you or your student have Celiac Disease and you're worried about what eating at college will be like? Not to worry, since there's a non-profit for to help you! Check out The Celiac College Guide, an online database where you can search different colleges and universities and see how they rate when it comes to helping students stay gluten-free. https://www.celiaccollegeguide.org/
• Websites: Concerned about the rise of antisemitism on college campuses? Here are 2 websites powered by Hillel International that are here to help Jewish students make the best decisions for them about where to attend college. Campus 4 All helps educate students about antisemitism and strives to create more inclusive spaces. https://campus4all.org/ . Hillel International has also created a College Decision Hub to guide students about college campus climates. https://www.hillel.org/college-decision-hub/

​
RESOURCES FOR STUDENTS:

• The Khan Academy: FREE test prep! What's not to like? www.khanacademy.org/
• The Prep Factory: FREE test prep, this time with ACT information! www.prepfactory.com/
• O*Net: a great place to explore possible careers, and the majors/training that each profession requires. www.onetcenter.org/
• Niche: A useful search engine when you're exploring colleges and universities. www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges/
• Book: Henry Reiff, Self-Advocacy Skills for Students with Learning Disabilities: Making It Happen in College and Beyond (2007): amzn.to/2HnPMmD
• Book: Harlan Cohen, The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into In College, 7th edition (2017): amzn.to/2kUizXv
• Book: Amy Saltzman,  A Still Quiet Place for Teens: A Mindfulness Workbook to Ease Stress and Difficult Emotions (2016): https://amzn.to/2xdDE8R
• Website: Tools4ToughTimes gives students who are feeling anxiety a place to connect with peer leaders and learn stress management skills.  https://www.upstreamedu.org/tools4toughtimes​
• Book: Andrea Malkin Brenner and Lara Hope Schwartz, How To College: What to Know Before you Go (And When You're There) (2019): amzn.to/2RWrA2M
• Website: Are you a recently graduated high school student worried about how to navigate college? Are you a stressed out current college student? If you answered "yes" to either of those questions, check out Crush College Stress, a coaching service created by Dale Troy. She's created a program to help college students establish the good time-management habits and stress-reduction tools needed to be able to survive and thrive in college. https://crushcollegestress.com/ 

RESOURCES FOR PARENTS:

• U.S. Department of Education's website giving information on how to apply for a Direct PLUS loan for Parents to help pay for your child's education: studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/launchPLUS.action?plusType=parentPlus
• Book: Julie Lythcott-Haims, How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid for Success (2015):  https:// tinyurl.com/w2u37d7 
• Book: George Anders, You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a "Useless"Liberal Arts Education (2017): amzn.to/2xDsyFP
• Book: David L. Gleason, At What Cost? Defending Adolescent Development in Fiercely Competitive Schools (2017): amzn.to/2yvxbkG
• Book: Rachel Korn, ed. How to Survive Getting Your Kid into College: By Hundred of Happy Parents (2007): amzn.to/2sIZvi5
• Book: Karen Coburn and Madge Treeger, Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years, 6th edition (2016): amzn.to/2sIvTS7
• Book: Lisa Heffernan and Mary Dell Harrington, Grown and Flown: How to Support Your Teen, Stay Close as a Family, and Raise Independent Adults (2019): https://amzn.to/2kceVLC
• Website: if you live in Massachusetts, then you MUST take advantage of this FREE resource to help you pay for your child's post-secondary education! The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority exists to help you figure out how to finance college, offering free webinars and local presentations. Best of all, you can call their office during business hours, and they will help you understand everything from how to compete the FAFSA to the complexities of the CSS/Profile. https://www.mefa.org/
• Book: Anthony E. Wolf, Ph.D., Get Out of My Life, but first could you drive me and Cheryl to the mall?: A Parent's Guide to the New Teenager (2002): amzn.to/2EvoHTn
• Websites: Worried about the financial stability of a college or university? Forbes Magazine annually updates their grades a college's financial health, and Moody's Investors Service regularly reviews their ratings for a college's ability to meet its financial commitments (though you will need to be a subscriber to access full reports). You can also check out these two websites that help educate families about this issue: edmit.me and tuitiontracker.org/fitness/ 
• Book: Jessica Lahey, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed (2015): https://bit.ly/4agpVLF 
• Book: Jennifer Breheny Wallace, Never Enough: When Achievement Culture Becomes Toxic - And What We Can Do About It (2023): tinyurl.com/328k582d

Please check this page often, since I update resources regularly!