A college degree is often touted as the ticket to a better job and a lifetime of financial security. At the same time, the college admissions process often seems to privilege those who are already privileged. Fortunately, students from underrepresented groups and students who are the first from their families to go to college have an advocate in a relatively new initiative, College Greenlight. Raul Alvarez at College Greenlight recently shared with me a list of scholarships specifically geared towards first-generation and underrepresented students. Be sure to check out the opportunities for college funds, and act quickly -- many of these scholarships expire soon: 26 Scholarships for First-Generation and Underrepresented Students.

New England has some of the most prestigious, selective and historic colleges and universities in the country. To see if your grades and standardized test scores are on target for some of the region's top schools, check out these graphs of GPA, SAT and ACT score data: Amherst | Babson | Bates | Bentley | Boston College | Bowdoin | Brandeis | Brown | Coast Guard | Colby | Connecticut | Dartmouth | Harvard | Holy Cross | MIT | Middlebury | Olin | RISD | Smith | Trinity | Tufts | Wellesley | Wesleyan | Williams | Yale

The only thing harder than getting into a selective college is coming up with the money to pay for your education. Many of the country's most elite schools now have a total price tag around $60,000 a year.

June isn't a time when most students are thinking about applications. The majority of seniors are done with their college searches, and most juniors are still working on coming up with a short list of schools. But don't be complacent -- there are billions of dollars out there to help you fund your college education, but you can't win the money if you don't apply. These 22 scholarships with June deadlines range in value from $200 to $25,000. Entry requirements vary from writing an analytical essay to making a prom outfit out of Duct Tape. Look through the options to see which scholarships match your interests.

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• Learn to Identify Scholarship Scams

Rising high school juniors have an important year coming up. Junior year is the last for which colleges will see a year's worth of grades, and ideally those grades will be as good as (if not better than) freshman or sophomore year. Your application will look best if your grades are trending upwards, not down.

Junior year is also a time for advanced placement courses, the PSAT, a first run at the SAT or ACT, and deeper involvement in extracurricular activities. It will be early in senior year when you apply to college, so you can't put off strengthening your credentials until your final year of high school.

These 10 tips for junior year college preparation can help keep you on track as you gear up for college applications.

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