It’s college admission season, and unless you have $300,000 to splurge on a private tutor and high-priced fancy admissions coach, you may be scrambling about prepping your high school kid for the application process.
Fortunately, we live in an area of technology where many free apps are on the market that can help budget-conscious parents get a leg up without shelling thousands of bucks.
Here are five essential digital tools that will help calm the nerves of parents (while saving bank) and will help seamlessly guide college -bound kids to the coveted acceptance – yes!
1) Admittedly: Every family preparing to send their child to college deserves access to the same college prep tools usually reserved for the top-paying clientele. Admittedly has it.
It was founded by a former director of an elite test-prep company and Admittedly is the ultimate, free college advisory platform that uses OKCupid-like algorithms to match students to their ideal schools. It also includes an innovative college prep curriculum to help perfect the college application to land a dream school.
2) GoEnnounce: While saving for college used to largely the duty of parents, it’s now essential for both parent and student. And tactics such as fundraising, scholarship hunting and cutting education costs are getting more and more essential.
GoEnnounce is a social educational network that not only encourages students to ‘ennounce’ and track academic achievements and projects with teachers, mentors and family members but is also a crowdfunding platform to fund raise for tuition, textbooks and to receive the financial help needed these days to pay for college.
3) Scholarship Advisor: Finding scholarships can be stressful process. Scholarship Search (powered by StudentAdvisor.com) is an exclusive app designed to make it easier to find money for college.
Browse handpicked lists on topics including academic, athletic, health care, military, and more. Discover unique and relevant scholarships that you may not have even known about.
With easy search navigation, it’s possible to find and even apply for millions of dollars in scholarships right from your smartphone. Add important dates to your calendar and never miss a scholarship deadline again!
4) The College Abacus: Financial aid offers are confusing and many parents just want to find out their EFC (Expected Family Contribution). However the answer can be complicated and it’s tricky to figure out if the offer includes room and board, all fees, or just tuition. And sometimes schools don’t identify loans as loans but insist on calling it “financial aid.”
College Abacus is a useful tool to compare financial aid offers and helps to demystify the process.
5) Quad2Quad: Take the hassle out of college visit planning with Quad2Quad mobile app, which is a virtual travel assistant, curating and assembling the most important college data for the user. Quad2Quad allows families to plan college visits without spending hours combing multiple college websites.
Good luck parents and kids!