Our Mission at CollegeReadyParent
Real numbers. Real families. No paywalls. No sales funnels.
Our mission: CollegeReadyParent exists to give every family—regardless of income—free, clear access to the real numbers behind college costs, so they can make decisions without paying a gatekeeper for information.
CollegeReadyParent is a parent-built, parent-first project. What started as one dad trying to make sense of scholarships for his own kid has grown into a college-by-college scholarship database, a 50-state aid library, and a growing set of parent guides —all free, ungated, and written in plain English.
Our goal is simple: if a family has internet access, they should be able to see the same scholarship and cost information that people often pay consultants or expensive programs to find.
What We Stand For
1. Real Numbers, Not Vibes
We focus on what actually moves the bill: scholarship amounts, GPA and test score ranges, state aid, net price, and stacking rules. Not generic tips, not feel-good slogans.
2. Free and Ungated, Always
No accounts. No paywalls. No “get matched” quizzes or partner schools quietly steering the advice. The same level of detail some families pay consultants to access is here for free.
3. College + State Aid Together
We map both sides of the picture: college scholarships at hundreds of public universities, and state scholarships, grants, and tuition discounts in all 50 states. Families deserve to see everything on the table.
4. Transparent and Source-Backed
We don’t expect you to “just trust us.” Every college and state page includes source notes pointing to university websites, state agencies, and federal data, so you can verify or dig deeper.
5. Updated on a Real Schedule
We review and refresh our scholarship, cost, and state-aid pages at least twice a year. College pricing changes fast; families shouldn’t be planning off a blog post from 2019.
6. Built by a Parent, For Parents
This project grew out of one family’s attempt to make sense of an opaque system. That lens shows up in everything: plain English, no scare tactics, and respect for parents who are doing this on top of everything else in their lives.
Where We’re Headed
Under the hood, CollegeReadyParent is more than articles. It’s a structured scholarship and cost database that we’re building college by college and state by state.
Coming soon: a free, ungated scholarship filter tool that lets you search our data by GPA, test scores, state, and more. No accounts, no subscriptions, no hidden funnels—ever.
The goal is simple: a parent or counselor should be able to sit down, plug in a student’s basic profile, and quickly see real scholarships and cost scenarios that could work for their family—without paying anyone for access.
How to Use CollegeReadyParent Right Now
- Explore the College Scholarships Directory to see real award ranges and scholarship structures at specific universities.
- Check the State Scholarships & Grants pages to understand what your state (and neighboring states) offer.
- Read The Real Cost of College so the numbers on award letters stop feeling like a foreign language.
If this site helps your family see the options more clearly—and stress a little less—it’s doing what it was built to do.