College planning moves fast for families during the summers before a student’s junior and senior years of high school. It’s the prime time to have an honest conversation with your student about what they want from a college and how much your family can afford.

Start off by making a list of potential colleges based on the type of school, academic programs offered, location, size and cost. If you’ve saved for college in a 529 plan, you might also want to plan to talk to a financial aid officer about the best way to use those assets to help pay for your child’s education. 

Traditionally, those conversations would happen on college visits during the summer months. But with campuses shut down and admissions offices working remotely, prospective students may be unable to do in-person visits for the foreseeable future.

With a little bit of prep, you can “visit” more schools through virtual tours than you might be able to in person. Here’s an article that describes how to make the most of virtual college visits.

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