Recommended Resources
Over the years, I’ve evaluated hundreds of career, college, scholarship, and training resources. These are the ones I recommend most often because they have consistently proven useful to students and families.
Free Career Match Tools
Interactive planning tools and AI resources developed to help students compare college costs, reduce education expenses, understand the impact of AI, and build practical AI skills.
College & Lifestyle Calculator
Interactive tool which gives you detailed information on 1,000 careers and 3,000+ schools to help you identify the lifestyle your career choice can provide, as well as how much debt you may have to take on based on your choices. You will also see EXACTLY what the devastating financial impact of this debt may be. Then contact me to explore alternatives.
FreeFull College Experience -
Zero Student Loans!
Enjoy the freedom and independence of living in your own apartment 2 blocks from the beautiful campus of Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. Get a high-demand degree without taking out any student loans - even if you start with no money saved!
FreeBachelor's Degree for Under $20,000
If you are willing and able to live at home while earning your degree, this tool shows how you can start with no money saved and earn high-demand degrees for under $20,000. AND, if you're willing to work part-time you can enjoy a great lifestyle and walk away with up to $10,000 to start your life after college.
FreeLife Before Lectures:
Prepare to thrive in college
Maximize your college experience and beyond by using this bold new approach to preparing for college. If you are even slightly unsure of your path, take 3 minutes to read this, it could change your life.
FreeFuture-Proofing Careers
Review Free Career Match's assessment of how artificial intelligence may affect nearly 1,000 careers in the years ahead.
FreeAI Fluency for Careers
Explore practical AI tools that can help people become more capable, productive, and competitive across nearly 1,000 different careers.
Free
Careers
Explore career options, job requirements, and detailed occupational information.
O*NET Online
Highly detailed information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on more than 1,000 jobs.
FreeMy Next Move
Simplified and concise summaries of more than 1,000 jobs from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
FreeCareer Explorer
Career information for many jobs, including step-by-step “how to become” guidance.
FreeCareerOneStop
Outstanding resource for career exploration, assessment, videos, training, and job-search planning.
FreeLearn How to Become
Additional resource explaining the steps required to enter a particular profession.
FreeNCDA
National Career Development Association self-help career-planning resources.
Free
College Info
Research colleges, majors, and educational pathways.
College Navigator
Absolutely incredible resource for exploring thousands of colleges, with tremendous detail and highly searchable parameters. Best resource ever!
FreeMy Majors
Excellent resource with detailed college and career information.
FreeBest Christian Colleges
The Lord’s Library guide to the best Christian colleges in each state.
Free
Alternative Credits
Earn ACE college credits at very low cost. Check each college for the specific courses and number of credits it will accept.
Study.com
Earn college credits at your own pace for a very low flat monthly rate ($95 — unlimited classes).
PaidSophia.org
Earn college credits at your own pace for a very low flat monthly rate ($99 — unlimited classes).
PaidStraighterLine.com
Fee plus a per-course charge. More traditional than Sophia or Study.com, but still much less expensive than colleges.
Paid
Online Four-Year Schools
Earn a bachelor’s degree 100% online at a fraction of the cost of many brick-and-mortar schools.
Western Governors University
Respected flat-rate, competency-based college with many majors.
PaidUMass Global
University of Massachusetts extension offering both instructor-led and self-paced MyPath courses at a very reasonable price.
PaidCapella
Established online school offering both FlexPath (self-paced) and GuidedPath (instructor-led) classes.
Paid
Non-College Based Careers
Explore skilled trades and apprenticeship opportunities that don’t require a college degree.
College Prep & Admissions Help
Get help with test preparation, essays, and the college admissions process.
Better Prep Success
Local resource for ACT/SAT preparation, essay review, and personal counseling in Central Illinois.
PaidCollege Advisor (Paid)
Personal help with admissions for elite schools ($4,299 to $10,999).
PaidCollege Advisor (Free)
Free useful resources from College Advisor (U.S. News).
Free
Scholarships
Find funding opportunities for your education.
Fastweb
Most well-known scholarship search site.
FreeScholarship Owl
Comprehensive scholarship matching and application platform.
FreeScholly (Sallie Mae)
Scholarship search and application tools from Sallie Mae.
FreeScholarships.com
Large database of scholarship opportunities and college-funding information.
FreeCollege Board
Scholarship search tools from the creators of the SAT.
FreeBold
Scholarship search platform with an easy application process.
FreeAppily
College search and scholarship-matching platform.
FreeCareerOneStop
Government-sponsored scholarship search and financial-aid information.
FreeNiche
Scholarship search integrated with college rankings and reviews.
FreeStudent-Recommended Resources
Have you found a resource that could help other students? Send it to me!
If it’s a good fit for Free Career Match, I may add it here.
Public Administration Scholarships
Scholarships, grants, assistantships, and other funding resources for students interested in graduate study and careers in public administration and public service.
Funding for Theater Education
Ideas, grants, advocacy resources, and funding strategies for schools and educators working to strengthen theater and performing-arts programs.
Specialty Training
Specialized training programs for entrepreneurship and creative careers.
Distillery Labs
Outstanding local Peoria resource for prospective entrepreneurs.
FreeMiracamp
Excellent online course for video editing taught by industry experts (cost is approximately $2,500).
PaidLost Creator Academy
Excellent online video course for content creators, including free and paid content.
Mixed
Personality
Understand your personality type and how it relates to career choices.
Personality Junkie
Excellent MBTI resource combined with RIASEC.
Free16Personalities
Popular free personality test based on a Myers-Briggs type assessment.
FreeTruity
Professional personality assessments and career-guidance tools.
MixedMyers-Briggs
The official Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment.
PaidHIGH5
Strengths-based assessment similar to CliftonStrengths, with free basic analysis and paid detailed reports.
MixedInterest Profiler
Online RIASEC short-form test with career filtering.
Free
Recommended Videos & Podcasts
Listen to and watch expert perspectives on careers, debt avoidance, college, and job searching.
Will 40% of U.S. Colleges Close?
Michael Horn of Harvard Business School presents an extremely compelling case about the future of traditional and online schools, boot camps, micro-schools, and more.
FreeHow College Broke America
Outstanding YouTube video explaining how parents came to think college is the “only way” for their children to succeed.
FreeOnline Job Market Is Dead
Revealing look at the challenges of finding a job in 2025 while explaining the best way to get your first job after graduating college.
FreeHow AI Is Destroying the Value of College
A 12½-minute “must-see” video that every parent and student should watch to understand how traditional schools are failing to equip students for the impact of AI.
FreeBorrowed Future
Dave Ramsey video on the perils of student debt.
FreeTeleios Podcast
2023 podcast with John Vanne interviewing Greg Gipp about student-debt avoidance and how he came to create this program, now known as Free Career Match.
Free