College Planning
High school seniors who are currently enrolled in Big Shoulders Fund-supported schools, such as St. Francis de Sales, and intend to enroll at a City College of Chicago next year could qualify to apply for the Star Scholarship. This scholarship includes coverage for all tuition and books expenses that are not already covered by financial aid.
College Board & Big Future
BigFuture is a free online planning guide that helps all students take the right first step after high school.
Common App
Chicago Star Scholarships
Chicago Public Schools students–and students from one of our Chicago-based Big Shoulders Fund partner schools–can pursue a degree or certificate at City Colleges at no cost as a Star Scholar.
College & Career Online Resources
College Greenlight College Fit Kit: Download the guide to help you find the best college for your needs and interests and ensure you have a bright future. A single document to help each student prepare, plan, decide and apply for their college career.
Choosing Your College Priorities – This is a spreadsheet to help you think about what you want from a college (size, location, major, etc.).
A Step-by-Step Guide to College List Building | College Greenlight >>
Appily: This website is dedicated to connecting first generation and under-represented students to caring colleges, generous scholarships, and life-changing counselors and mentors.
College Search by College Board Website: This website allows you to search from 3,711 colleges based on filters like size, geography, major, diversity, sports/activities and more.
College Search - BigFuture | College Board >>
College Admissions Scattergram: This site allows you to type in a name of a college and see the GPAs and test scores for those students who are admitted. This allows you to get a sense of whether the college is a good fit for you.
Colleges by GPA: Find the Best Colleges for Your GPA | Appily >>
Test-Optional Colleges and Universities: FairTest lists the colleges that are “test optional” or otherwise de-emphasize the use of standardized tests by making admissions decisions without using ACT or SAT scores for all or many applicants who recently graduated from high school.
ACT/SAT Optional List for Fall 2025 - Fairtest >>
College Fairs hosted by NACAC (National Association of College Admission Counseling): You can attend zoom presentations from over 600 different colleges. There are college fairs entirely for those interested in the performing and visual arts or STEM fields too.
Virtual Campus Tours through CampusReel & Princeton Review: It is hard to travel to all of the college campuses and many colleges and universities are not giving college tours because of COVID. You can get a sense of college life by taking virtual tours.
CampusReel - Find Your Best College with 17,000 Student Videos >>
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/virtual-tours >>
College Search Process
Take a Free Career Survey: This a short test, asking your interest in various activities. After you complete the 2-3 minute interest inventory, you will learn about careers and fields of study that fit with your interests.
Free Career Test for Students in High School, College, & Adults >>
My Next Move: You can search careers with key words, browse careers by industry, or answer questions about the type of work you might enjoy. These searches will result in suggestions of careers that match your interests.
Education Planner: This site allows you to match your career with your skills and interests. It also shares job trends and typical salaries for various careers.
Career Exploration
College Senior Timeline/Checklist from College Board: It is important to stay organized throughout the college application process. These documents will help you do this.
Admission Possible: This website gives tips on how applications, testing, financial aid and more. This tagged page details the steps that you need to take to get into college and offers tips and guidelines to make it easier.
Admission Possible®| College Resources for ALL Students >>
The Common Application Website: Many colleges will accept the Common App. This means that you may only need to complete one application that will work for all of your colleges.
Apply to college with Common App | Your future starts here >>
Tips for Writing a Personal Statement from Khan Academy: College applications can be strengthened by a well-written personal statement. Some colleges require an essay and every college will allow for students to submit one. These websites offer to tips to make your college essay stand out among the other applicants.
Writing tips & techniques for your college essay | Khan Academy >>
College Application Process
FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid): This application is required for any financial aid, including federal funding, state funding, and school grants/scholarships. The current FAFSA Form is available and additional information is available with the link below.
FAFSA Application for Federal Student Aid >>
Free FAFSA Completion Services: Ladder Up is a non-profit committed to give free help in completing the necessary applications to receive financial aid for college. They have many resources including: zoom informational sessions, videos, tips to filing the FAFSA, and understanding your award letters.
Is the college financial aid process overwhelming you? We can help >>
Financial Aid Process
Scholarships will decrease the amount of money that you will need to pay toward college. There are so many scholarships but it takes some effort to find ones that you qualify for.
FastWeb: Fastweb is a free scholarship search platform that connects students to college scholarships, trade school scholarships, and financial aid news and resources.
Find Scholarships for College for FREE | Fastweb >>
Sallie: Sallie Mae is here to help financially with private student loans and Sallie is for everything else that comes along with higher education.