Post-Secondary

Planning for life after high school? Whether you are considering a four-year college, community college, or another post-secondary opportunity, this page is designed to help you explore your options and navigate the next steps. Students and families will find helpful information and resources on college admissions, college fairs and visits, athletics, essay writing, financial aid, and scholarships to help make the transition after graduation a successful one.

Connect Common App & Xello

Students use both Common App and Xello to help track their college applications. For colleges that work with the Common App, students send requests to educators to send application forms on their behalf. They request that a counselor send their counselor forms, and a teacher send a teacher evaluation.

They'll continue to complete the rest of their application tasks directly in Common App, including building out their profile, creating the My Colleges list, and submitting the college application.

Once students have synced their accounts, the colleges they save in Common App will show in Xello. Students will also see all the colleges that use Common App by the logo next to the college name. By clicking on one of these schools, they can begin sending a request to an educator.

Helpful Resources

Student Common App and Xello Guide - Provides step-by-step instructions for how to:

  • Link your Common App account with Xello
  • Complete the FERPA Release Authorization in Common App
  • Assign a counselor to send forms

Watch this video to see how to connect your Common App to Xello.

Michigan Institution Updates

Here you'll find a list of all 84 public and private, 2-year and 4-year colleges in Michigan with institution-specific information such as admissions and financial aid.

MCAN Institution Resource

Michigan College Guide

The Michigan College Guide is a tool to help students find a path to the right colleges. It is a great source of information for college selection. 

Michigan College Guide

GRCC - Accuplacer

Upon enrollment, students who have not taken the ACT, SAT or have 12 or less college credits must take the Accuplacer assessment for admissions to GRCC.

We provide three placement tests to determine your strengths and weaknesses in subjects including.

  • ALEKS - All students must take ALEKS, except if you have taken a college-level math course that fulfills the prerequisite for the class in which you would like to enroll.
  • Accuplacer - If you have not taken the SAT, ACT or have 12 or more college credits
  • Levels of English Proficiency (LOEP) - only if you are a permanent U.S. resident and do not speak English as your first language.

A college fair is an event in which representatives from a variety of colleges come together to meet one-on-one with high school students (and parents, too) to talk about their respective colleges and answer questions. They are often equipped with handouts and brochures about the campus, academic programs, course offerings, activities, sports, and more.

Area College Fairs - Fall 2026

How to Prepare

Some tips to help you prepare are listed below. For more information, visit JLV College Counseling.

  • Get to know yourself and what you want in a college
  • Find out what colleges will be attending the fair
  • Do a little research before the fair
  • Have your information ready
  • Be patient
  • Get the college information and the Admission Counselor’s business card
  • Make a good impression
  • Go outside your comfort zone
  • Do further investigation into the colleges after the fair

NCAA

College-bound student-athletes preparing to enroll in a Division I or Division II school need to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center to ensure they have met amateurism standards and are academically prepared for college coursework.

Division I

  • Complete 16 core courses
  • Complete 10 core courses before your 7th semester
  • Earn a 2.3 GPA in your core courses

Division II

  • Complete 16 core courses
  • Earn a 2.2 GPA in your core courses

Division III

  • You do not need to register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. 

Resources

NCAA Eligibility Center - School Code is 230455

Find a complete list of approved courses here.

NCAA related FAQs

NAIA

The NAIA is a smaller association than the NCAA, with just over 60,000 students. It includes two divisions (Division I and II) and Division I in the NAIA is comparable to Division II in the NCAA. First-time student-athletes interested in an NAIA program must register for the NAIA Eligibility Center to determine their eligibility.

Incoming freshman seeking eligibility can get NAIA eligible if they meet the following requirements:

  • Senior Final-Year: 2.3 GPA, or 2.0 GPA with a qualifying test score or rank in the top 50% of their graduating class
  • Senior Mid-Year: 2.8 GPA ,or 2.5 GPA with a qualifying test score
  • Junior-Year Complete: 3.3 GPA ,or 3.0 GPA with a qualifying test score

Students who do NOT meet the minimum 2.3 GPA upon graduation, may still gain eligibility by meeting two of following three criteria:

  • Cumulative GPA of 2.0 on a 4.0 scale
  • ACT of 18 or SAT of 970 (Evidence-Based Reading and Writing and Math)
  • Class rank in top 50% of graduating class (if no class rank, 9 college credits can be used in place of this requirement)

NAIA Eligibility Center

2026-27 Supplemental Essay Guide

What do the supplemental essay prompts really mean, and how should you approach them? College Essay Advisor's experts are here to break them all down.

CEA Essay Guide

CEA Common App Essay Prompts

Get Schooled Free Essay Review

Get Schooled is here to help you with the essays for your college applications and scholarships. Submit your personal statement, supplemental college application essays, and scholarship essays for feedback and we’ll provide actionable suggestions and feedback within one week.

Let us help you have the best chance to stand out to the colleges and scholarships on your list with our FREE college application essay review!

Get Schooled

College Rep Visits @ CHS

Juniors & Seniors: Now is a great time to meet college, tech school, trade, and business representatives to gather valuable information about the opportunities available to you after graduation. Dates and times will be posted here and updated regularly. It is up to the student to check with their teacher to ensure they can miss the 40 minutes of class to attend visits held during school hours.

All visits will take place in the North Lower Forum (Room 1341), unless otherwise noted. The day before their visit, students will be emailed a pass dismissing them from class for the visit.  

Students must sign up at least TWO SCHOOL DAYS IN ADVANCE!

Rep Visit Sign-Up

Spring 2027

  • Stay tuned! Spring college rep visits will be added to this page as they are scheduled.

Off-Site College Visits & Tours

Complete a College Visitation Form and return it to the Attendance Office at LEAST ONE DAY prior to your visit. Note: teacher & parent signatures are required. 

Student financial aid consists of any source of funds available to students and their families to pay for the cost of ANY post-secondary education. 

Free Application for Federal State Aid (FAFSA)

Most financial aid programs require a student to file the FAFSA annually. This is done electronically, via the link below, between October 1 and May 1 (to meet the State deadline).

FAFSA

Prior to completing the FAFSA, the student and at least one parent, must obtain a Federal Student Aid ID (FSA ID). This serves as a legal signature and confirms your identity. 

FSA ID

After completing the FAFSA, you should:

  • Create a MiSSG Student Portal account to complete aid program applications and monitor your eligibility status. Their office awards the first college/university listed on your FAFSA. If you decide to attend a different institution, please update this in the MiSSG Student Portal or call 1-888-447-2687.
  • If you are a Senior, eligible for the Tuition Incentive Program (TIP), you must complete your application by August 31 of your graduating year. To check your TIP eligibility and complete an application, log into the MiSSG Student Portal or call 1-888-447-2687.

You’ll receive an aid offer from each college or career school you applied to and listed on your FAFSA, stating the amount of aid you could receive at the school.

FAFSA Resources

2027-28 Preview Presentation

How to Create a StudentAid Account Guide

Tuition Incentive Program Flyer

Financial Aid Calculator

Net Price is the amount that a student pays to attend an institution in a single academic year AFTER subtracting scholarships and grants the student receives. Scholarships and grants are forms of financial aid that a student does not have to pay back. Net price calculators are available on a college’s or university’s website and allow prospective students to enter information about themselves to find out what students like them paid to attend the institution in the previous year, after taking grants and scholarship aid into account.

Search for a school's calculator at collegecost.ed.gov

Michigan residents can receive FREE college tuition at the following institutions, if they meet financial criteria. Visit the links to learn more.

CHS & Local Scholarships

There are many scholarships that are offered specifically to students who attend CHS, reside in the Caledonia area, Kent County, etc. Some are through CEF, others through local municipalities. These scholarships are listed in our Local Scholarship Spreadsheet. Be sure to bookmark the page and check back weekly so you don’t miss out on new scholarships as they become available!

Michigan Achievement Scholarship

High costs have long been a barrier to higher education, but now, the Michigan Achievement Scholarship is here to help! This program lowers the cost of college and career training for most Michigan graduates, starting with the Class of 2023.

Eligible graduates can receive:

  • $2,750 per year at a community college
  • $5,500 per year at a public or private college/university
  • $2,000 per year for career training to earn a skill certificate

All you need to do is fill out your FAFSA to qualify! Learn more here. 

MI Scholarship Search

MI Student Aid houses a database of Michigan place-based scholarships. A Michigan place-based scholarship means that one of the scholarship components is linked to a Michigan school, county, city or region.

MI Scholarship Search

Common App Scholarship Matching

Common App is excited to share that they have launched a new year of scholarship matching with nearly 2,000 scholarship opportunities available to students.

Scholarship matching automatically connects students to college funding options in their Common App based on information they’ve entered before they even apply. Students may see scholarship matches as early as their junior year of high school, once they create a Common App account and complete the profile and education sections. 

Students can view their scholarship matches in the financial aid section of their Common App account. Scholarships are sorted by deadline, with opportunities that are currently active appearing first. Details (like award amount, application deadline, and where to apply) are also highlighted. 

Check out this short video explaining scholarship matching to learn more.

Fast Food Educational Assistance

Hold an after-school job? Many companies offer tuition assistance and scholarships! A few are listed below:

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