Adult Student Links

• About.com Adult / Continuing Education — A human-guided forum with links, articles, blog and forum on several subjects relating to adult students and continuing education.
• AdultStudent.com — Companion site The Adult Student’s Guide to Survival & Success. (This site.)
• Alpha Sigma Lambda — an honor society for non-traditional students with over 300 active chapters.
• Back2College.com — Site has a lot of information for adult students.
• College Level Examination Program (CLEP) — The authorized site for information on testing to gain college credit for acquired life and job experience. Administered through the College Board.
• CollegeTransition.org — “The National College Transition Network helps nontraditional learners, such as veterans, dislocated workers, and under and unemployed adults for college and careers.” Good for students and educators alike. Grants available for students in New England.
• #ContinuingEd, #AdultEducation, #ContinuingEducation — Twitter hashtags
• Federal Student Aid for Adult Students (PDF) — A four page document for nontraditional students, brought to you by the Federal Student Aid section of the US Education Department.
• Association for Non-Traditional Students in Higher Education (ANTSHE) — ANTSHE mission is to “to provide scholarship opportunities, academic resources, and motivational support for non-traditional students, and to celebrate, and to build on the network of faculty, administrators, and advisors that work with and inspire non-traditional students to succeed.” View information about the ANTSHE honor societies — Pinnacle (4 year programs) and Spire (2 year programs).
• “Nontraditional College Students” (HTML version) — A scholarly research paper pertaining to needs, research, and implications on colleges of enrolling adult students. Courtesy of the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) archives. Go to page with the original PDF version on the eric.ed.gov website.
• Non-Traditional Students — Courtesy Elizabeth “BetsyAnne” Sheppard, a former non-traditional student, created to help other nontraditional students. See her blog, too.
• Online Educational Database — Check the Advice section, especially.
• Prior Learning Assessment information — from the National College Transition Network, an organization aimed at educators, but with some useful information for students.
• “Returning to Learning: Resources for Students” — provided by the American Council on Education.
• Why Returning to College After Age 30 (Age 40, 50, Etc.) Might Be Just The Right Choice For You — by Rachel G. Baldino, MSW, LCSW for SixWise.com

• US Department of Education — Portal to free Financial Aid information and financial aid application forms.
• Common Application Online — The recommended college application form for undergraduate programs at over 650 colleges and universities. (Note: You can get some information by viewing their help pages for more information before actually signing up for an account.)
• Ed.gov Institution Search — search for federally accredited colleges and universities.

• US Department of Education Federal Student Aid Sites:
  • Federal Student Aid— Main federal student aid information portal
  • Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) — This is where the official financial aid form resides. Also note deadlines and other useful information at the site.
  • “Guide to Federal Student Aid ” (FSA) — provided by the US government. Check the rest of that page for other resources.
  • Create your FSA ID account — Replaces the old PIN login process.
  • StudentLoans.gov — Federal loans application and repayment portal.
• “About Financial Aid” — Brought to you by the people at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. A great resource.
• College Ahead — Brought to you by Sallie Mae, the large financial aid lender, and aimed mostly at “traditional” students, but clicking on their site map brings up many interesting topics to browse. (NOTE: Used to be known as College Answer.com)
• CollegeScholarships.com — free scholarship listing site.
• EStudentLoan.com — private loan comparison site. Check out their
• FastWeb.com — A FREE scholarship/college matching service. Recently rolled into the Monster.com group of companies. Highly recommended.
• FinAid.org — “The SmartStudent Guide to Financial Aid” has some great resources. Sponsored by Monster.com
• GetCollegeFunds.org — Courtesy of the Oregon State Student Assistance Commission. Useful info for any student.
• LIFETIME (Low-Income Families’ Empowerment Through Education) — “From GEDs to PhDs”: Not very active lately Twitter: #LT_g2p / Facebook / Blog
• Lumina Foundation for Education— From website: “the nation’s largest private foundation focused solely on increasing Americans’ success in higher education.” Through grants and more, they attempt to help particularly underserved student groups, including adult learners.
• Paying for College — Scholarships, Financial Aid — Brought to you by the non-profit College Board.
• Prosper.com — An online person-to-person loan bidding site. You enter your need and a market interest rate request based on your credit score and wait/hope for someone to lend you the money. Payments are made by automatic withdrawal.
• “Strategies for Non-Traditional Students” — Article by Laura Difiora. A good source of information from the Back2College.com website.
• Student Aid Glossary — Courtesy Ed.gov.
• Federal TRIO Programs — Sponsored by the Federal Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE), the TRIO programs supply financial grants and other assistance for low-income college students.
• USA.gov Education (formerly known as The Consumer Information Center) — Always changing. You can get lost once inside USA.gov!
• Women Helping Women — Based in Orange County, California, WHW is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the unemployed and the underemployed the skills and resources they need to get and keep a good job.

• “Challenges to Learning” — from the College For Adults site of the National College Transition Network.
• Attention Deficit Disorder Association — Site is full of great stuff, specifically, the page “College Accommodations” has some good info.
• Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking and Technology (DO-IT) — Resources from the University of Washington. “Promoting inclusion and success for people with disabilities.” Explore.
• FriendsOfQuinn.com — from the National Center for Learning Disabilities.
• Disability Resource Center — one college’s sample resources for students with disabilities, from Foothill College in California.
• LD Online Technology Resources — part of LDOnline.org. A ton of resources. Also use their search box and enter the term “college.” Two pages of particular interest are: “Adults with LD Frequent Questions” and “Success in College for Adults with Learning Disabilities.“
• LearningDifferences.com — Provided by the Richard Cooper, PhD and the Center for Alternative Learning. Check under “Learning Tools” for some good memory hints and articles.
• National Center for Learning Disabilities — Most articles are more for traditional students, but helpful none-the less. An especially helpful one is “A Smooth Postsecondary Transition for Students with LD: What Parents Can Do“
• Program for Advancement of Learning — From Curry College. Check their Publications and Outreach page for a free PDF download of their ebook, A Closer Look: Perspectives and Reflections on College Students with Learning Disabilities.
• “Students with Disabilities Preparing for Postsecondary Education” — Ed.gov article.
• “Support and Resources for Adults with LD” — from the Learning Disabilities Association of America.

• • Distance Education.org — Founded by Benjamin Pfeiffer to help students sort out the cost and differences among distance education programs.
  • Distance Education Frequently Asked Question Archive — Oldie but some goodies.
  • Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) — Specifically, check the The Distance Learner’s Guide companion website for book of the same name.
  • National Council for Private School Accreditation Distance Education Resources — Several online resources related to distance education.

Accreditation

• Peterson’s Online Schools — Distance Learning page.
• Open Education Consortium — “This initiative strives to provide information on all aspects of open education in one place.”
• Distance Learning Resources for Continuing Your Education — from Quintessential / Live Careers from Dr. Randall S. Hansen.
• University of Hawaii — distance learning resources.

• Contents of Your Job Portfolio (PDF) — Captured from archive.org. Older file, but some useful tips
• Portfolio Library — Brought to you by Martin Kimeldorf
• Preparing a Résumé, Cover Letter, or Portfolio — Courtesy of San Diego State University.
• Promoting College and Career Success: Portfolio Assessment for Student Veterans — Links to a free ebook you can download. Courtesy the Council for Adult & Experiential Learning.
• Resources for Career Portfolio — Courtesy of the University of Washington career counselor, Kate Duttro.
• Student Portfolio— Guidelines courtesy of Texas Tech University
• Ten Commandments of Effective Portfolios (PDF) by Kirk R. St. Amant. If the link is dead, search the web for “ten commandments portfolio Amant” and you’ll find a copy somewhere on the web.

• Occupational Outlook Handbook — Courtesy of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
• O*NET OnLine (Occupational Information Network) — Federally sponsored by the US Department of Labor, has detailed descriptions of hundreds of occupations.
• “Top Twenty Requested Items” — as requested at the US Department of Labor.
• America’s Job Bank / Career One Stop — has links to official state job banks.
• Beyond.com — Job search site formerly known as 4Jobs.com
• CareerBuilder.com — Job search site.
• CareerOverview.com — An basic online career information guide using US Government provided stats and definitions. Appears to be sponsored by a consortium of colleges with an online presence.
• EmploymentGuide.com — Online site of the physical guide distributed in 30 markets nationwide.
• Guru.com — “The best place for employers and freelancers to connect, collaborate, and get work done.”
• Job Hunter’s Bible — The official companion site to the perennial best seller, What Color is Your Parachute, by Dick Bolles.
• Library Web Resources for Job Seekers — From WebJunction “The Learning Place for Libraries.”
• Monster.com — Popular job search website that has acquired many former smaller sites. Check out their Career Advice resources.
• World Association for Co-Operative and Work-Integrated Education (WACE) — Get a jump on the job market with a co-op internship, and possibly earn credit too!
• MyPerfectResume.com — Résumé and cover letter writing resources.
• TrueCareers.com — Simple site of job postings brought to you by the folks at CareerBuilder.com.
• Amby’s Work Site —
  “This site is designed to provide information and support through all stages of the employment process.”

• Administration for Children and Families — Services for families and underserved populations. Includes information and links for available government services, such as child care, disability, education. Type “college” in the search box for some good search results.
• Being Fluent with Information Technology — The chapter “Why Know About Information Technology?” is a great summary.
• CampusCalm.com — Has tips on surviving campus. Has sections for students, parents and educators. Several free articles aimed at women are available.
• NEW! “Going to College as an Older Student” – from IvyPanda
• The NEW Time Of Your Life — The Fundamentals of Time Management (25 minute audio). Based on Alan Lakein’s How to Get Control of Your Time and Life book.
• Study Skills Information — Virginia Tech
• Time Management: How to Multiple Your Time — TedX Talk by Rory Vaden
• Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education — This publication addresses subjects important to the future of American Indian and Alaska Native communities. Features both journalistic and scholarly articles. Read items from their special issue on Cultural Resilience
• Educational Resources Information Center Clearinghouse (ERIC Online) — full of scholarly information on the state of education in the US.
• Study tips — From UC Berkeley

• Archive.org — An amazing resource of millions of copyright-free books, movies, software, photos, music, websites, and more. A true goldmine of public domain information.
• Cnet.com — Good source of technology information.
• Guide to Grammar and Writing — From Capital Community College Foundation
• Internet Public Library — No longer being updated, but is still available for searching on many topics.
• Library of Congress — Great place to look up original and primary sources.
• National Archives — Provided by the US Government. Another great place for primary research.
• National news magazines — You should be able to access protected content for free through your college’s library system.
  • Newsweek
  • Time
  • USAToday
• US Census Bureau — More population facts available here than you could ever use.
• Wayback Machine — Part of the Internet Archive project, an invaluable service for accessing historical websites. Great for finding that lost reference! Also fun to view any one particular website over the years.
• Wikipedia — While most colleges will (and should) NOT accept Wikipedia references as sources for your essays or papers, it can be a good resource from which to START your work. Scroll down to the bottom of each entry to find some of the primary sources you are seeking.
• Wired.com — Another good source of technology information.
• YourDictionary.com — Simple, uncluttered online dictionary, thesaurus, quote finder, and much more.

• Clark Howard — Radio and TV talk-show host who’s slogan is “How to Save More, Spend Less, and Avoid Getting Ripped Off.” He does not do paid endorsements of any product, and he funds a staff to take off air consumer advocate questions. Search on his site for “college loans” to get started. Clark is our hero.
• Consumer.gov — Federal site, part of the USA.gov group of public information sites. Check here for recalls.
• Consumer Product Safety Council
  — “CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction.” — though currently, thier website isn’t loading.
• Federal Trade Commission — US government site for overseeing unfair business practices.
• Recalls.gov — Federal site, “Your Online Resource for Recalls.”

• Ask.com
• Bing — Microsoft’s search engine.
• Dogpile.com — Multi-search engine (searches several other serch engines for their best matches).
• Excite.com
• DuckDuckGo.com — Multi-search engine that claims to not track you.
• InfoSpace.com
• Lycos.com
• Search.com — Powered by the CBS media corporation.
• Yahoo.com — Search engine, directory, and curated web portal.