Top 10 College Search Websites for Parents

For 35 years, the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA) has supported a membership of independent school and college advisors working in private practice to assist students and families with educational decision-making.

And the nearly 1000 IECA members are among the most experienced and knowledgeable in the industry—drawing on specialized training, counseling expertise, and literally thousands of campus visits.

So when the IECA recently polled its membership on favorite websites for parents, the responses represented the collective wisdom of an extraordinarily qualified group.

“We conducted a survey of members with the college specialty, as part of the partnership between IECA and TeenLife Media,” said Sarah Brachman, manager of IECA communications. “The complete results will appear in their 2012 TeenLife Guide to College Admission, due out later this year.”

In the meantime, here is a sneak preview of the top 10 favorite websites for parents as recommended by IECA members:

• Academic Earth: a user-friendly educational website that gives users around the world the ability to easily find, interact with, and learn from full video courses and lectures from the world’s leading scholars at the world's leading colleges and universities.
  
  
• College Board: the most comprehensive information on registering and preparing for the SAT as well as a powerful college search engine with a variety of interactive tools for college/career planning.
  
  
• College Navigator: the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) college search tool containing all the federal data collected on postsecondary education including everything from enrollment and graduation rates to net price, financial aid, programs/majors, and campus security statistics.
  
  
• College Results Online: an interactive web tool designed to provide information about college graduation rates.
  
  
• Fastweb: a free scholarship search site chock full of advice on colleges, careers, and scholarships.
  
  
• FinAid: an award-winning site designed to be a comprehensive source for student financial aid information, advice, and tools.
  
  
• Go See Campus: a free website providing a variety of resources and tools for visiting campus as part of the college search including everything from campus maps to a Trip Planner that will help book flights, hotels, and car rentals.
  
  
• IECA: the new Education Center offers access to monthly IECA webinars (mostly targeted to college admissions professionals) and an online resource library with free downloads of research, white papers, podcasts, and articles.
  
  
• Student Aid on the Web: free information from the U.S. Department of Education on preparing for and funding postsecondary education.
  
  
• Unigo: a wealth of information including college rankings, university reviews, and college statistics as well as admissions advice from experts in the industry.