Site Review

Quite a few readers of my blog have asked me why I don't try to publish a book with all of this information.  I think that that would be counter productive, as the information needs to be frequently updated to be current.  The uselessness of using a handbook format was brought home recently when I checked a website to which I frequently refer and was unable to access it.  A lot of formerly free sites now limit content and require paid subscriptions.  As this is the case, I decided to publish a post that lists some of the sites I like and use the most and provide information as to changes to them.  Within this post I'll only write about websites to which changes have occurred. If it's not listed here, the site is pretty much as it's been described in previous posts, notably those of Tuesday, December 14, 2010 and that of Tuesday, May 1, 2012.

• Frequent readers of my blog know how often I refer to articles in The Wall Street Journal.  Sad to say, wsj.com seems to have reserved a lot more of its content to subscribers only.  If you're not a subscriber, you often get just a brief synopsis.  Likewise, searching wsjclassroom.com takes you to a page where you can sign up for a 30 day trial.  After the trial period, you need to become a paid subscriber.
• www.college.gov, which was administered by the Federal Department of Education, has been incorporated into the new StudentAid.gov website.  Links are provided to College Navigator, the Federal Student Aid Facebook page, FAFSA on Twitter, and the Federal Student Aid YouTube channel.
• www.rcan.org/schools/links.html was a good site administered by the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ.  It provided links to multiple useful websites such as the Library of Congress, College Board, et.al.  "As of March 9, 2015, this is a new website" and no longer provides this service.
• englishclub.com was a great site where you were able to get valuable help with writing your college application essay.   Now, disappointingly, it no longer provides this assistance, as it now deals with helping people teach and learn English.  It specifically provides ESL (English as a Second Language) instruction.
• Grockit.com is still a site that provides preparation for the SAT, GRE, et.al.  However, users must pay a fee after a free 50 question trial.
• StudentAid.com was the site for a service offered for a fee by Prudential Financial through which they provided college cost and planning reports.  It's no longer available.
• www.smartmoney.com also no longer seems in effect. 

I've checked most of the other sites I've mentioned in my posts and they are still in existence and provide useful information.  Some have even gotten a lot better these past few years, notably www.unigo.com, Zinch.com and a personal favorite - careercornerstone.org.