Student Aid on the Web Skip Navigation

College Matching Wizard


Type Location Setting Size Academics Cost Campus Life Student Body Results

Switch Mode: To College Finder

When it comes to planning your college education, the cost of attending college should not be your main concern. Do not let cost be the only reason for choosing one institution over another.

Unlike other costly purchases, you can and likely will get help paying for college. This help is typically made up of grants, scholarships, and loans. There is a lot of financial aid available - tens of billions of dollars go out every year - and some of that could be yours.

The FSA Students Portal's Financial Aid Wizard allows you to plan out, in 7 easy steps, your entire financial aid packages online! Notice we said "packages" - our wizard will help you find and calculate virtually everything you need for any and all schools you're interested in. It will show you the deadlines for filing financial aid applications for the colleges you select, walk you through scholarship searches, help you estimate your expected family contribution and federal aid, and provide you a tool to interpret and analyze your financial aid award letters.

To use the wizard to your maximum benefit, we recommend you go through the steps in order, starting with Step 1, Estimate Costs.

Type of College

Many people have heard about the big state colleges or the Ivy Leagues, but may not know about the other thousands of colleges in the United States. In order to find the college or university that best matches your personality, read the descriptions below and see the related information in the right-hand column for advantages and disadvantages to each type of school. You may find that there are many college opportunities that you have not considered.

Choose one of following types of colleges:
: Offers two-year academic programs of college-level courses and typically awards associate's degrees. Many courses from two-year programs can be transferred to a four-year college and applied towards a bachelor’s degree.

: Offers specialized studies or majors and awards bachelor's degrees. Many 4-year colleges/universities and bachelor’s degree programs also offer graduate study programs. Note: 4-year colleges may require more than four years to complete.



Would you like to attend a private or public college?


: Private schools rely on endowments, tuition, and fund-raising campaigns for their money. They generally have higher tuition because they do not have a high level of government subsidies.

: Public schools are operated and subsidized by the state in which the school is located. For that reason, they are relatively inexpensive for state residents, but charge a much higher tuition to those that live out of state.




Please rate how important this factor (public/private) is in your college decision:
How important is your selection?
           


Previous Next
   TOP    
ALERT: An institution's inclusion in these searches does NOT imply approval of the institution or its programs by the U.S. Department of Education.

The information in the college matching wizard is provided and updated by third parties including the respective colleges and universities. While the colleges and universities are able to update the college matching wizard information at any time and this section, thereby, has the potential to offer the most accurate and up-to-date information available, the information is not independently validated, and no party associated with this website can accept responsibility for its accuracy.

End of Page