Navigating through the college and scholarship application processes is no easy task. Students need all the help they can get. Unfortunately, for many Latino students in the U.S., the odds are stacked against them because their parents never attended college themselves so they are not familiar with the process. Also, many parents aren’t able to communicate with college representatives and scholarship committees due to language barriers. Finally, there just isn’t enough information about these processes in print or on the internet in the Spanish language.

Fortunately, there are a few online resources that offer valuable information in Spanish for parents and in English for the students. Here’s a list, in no particular order, of the top five bilingual online resources geared for college-bound Latino students and their parents.

FAFSA
Spanish version: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/es_ES/index.htm
English version: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is the form students must complete in order to apply for financial aid (grants and loans) from the federal government. Some state and local governments as well as private entities use the form to determine eligibility for their own financial aid and scholarship programs.

English-Spanish Glossary
Bilingual version: http://www.tgslc.org/pdf/Spanish_glossary.pdf

This glossary offers Spanish and English translations of the most important college application process terminology. I advise parents to print this glossary and have it with them whenever they are in communication with college representatives in person, on the phone or by email.

AlumnoLatino.com
Bilingual: http://www.AlumnoLatino.com

Ok, this is a shameless plug for my own website. Newly launched, alumnolatino.com is a social network where students and Spanish speaking parents can go to find and/or share resources and advice related to the college and scholarship application processes.

NewFuturo.com
English version: http://newfuturo.com
Spanish version: http://newfuturo.com/es/

This website is full of articles and videos covering a wide range of college related topics such as how to apply for financial aid, how to search for scholarships and how to choose a college major. It also includes a variety of online tools to help students and their parents plan their college application process.

U.S. Department of Education
English version: http://www.ed.gov
Spanish version: http://www2.ed.gov/espanol/bienvenidos/es/index.html

This is the official website for the U.S. Department of Education. ...