There are many colleges and universities to choose from and so little time to make the right decision or so it seems! There appears to be a master list which is sold to every college and university known to man, presumably right after the PSAT scores are in. Suddenly your mail box and e-mail boxes are filled to capacity with enticing information. How do you decipher this new found information? This is an excellent question since every school seems to have a beautifully orchestrated brochure and exciting web site well start early in your search.

I am a list maker. I guess one could say I am a type "A" person, a planner, an executor of deeds, if you will. My son (the intended college attendee) is quite the opposite. He is a "let the chips fall where they may" type of person. Having said that, I felt it was my duty to get this ball rolling down the proverbial hill. So here was my strategy.

1. Never rely on the high school guidance counselor. Their information is often useless. Remember, they have quite a cache of students in their charge and your child's needs are usually not at the top of their list during this crucial time.

2. Reserve your child's spot for the PSAT and SAT tests early. The colleges take the highest scores from all tests taken (a buffet if you will) in the SAT process. Fortunately for us, my son only needed to take the test once but for others a few times turned out to be the charm.

3. Make a list of the "must haves" in a school. For my son it was the en suite bathroom (can you imagine). He is a high academic achiever but felt he could learn anywhere. Essential to his list were his living accommodations, making this paramount to his final decision.

4. Make a list of intended majors. This will eliminate a lot of schools and colleges immediately. Should your intended major be engineering, a small liberal arts college is not where you should be looking.

5. Cost. Decide early what your affordability index is. Take into account those hidden expenses such as travel to and from school and how many times this will occur; those late night calls for spending money or monthly allowance money if that is what you plan on; clothing, dining; ancillary travel and entertainment expenses; books, etc.

6. Scholarships and financial aid. Decide early on if you will need financial assistance. We learned early on that the Ivy's do not offer merit aid, but only that which is need based. This caused us to look elsewhere as 50K per

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