The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a web-based college awareness program that would aid college-bound students in their search for a college or university that fit their interests. Since there is an increase in computer usage among high school aged students, and there are a very few college awareness programs included in the everyday high school curriculum, an internet based college awareness program can save hours of research in that all the information is in one place. It can also provide an alternative resource for those seeking information about college.

A web-based college awareness package was created with Yahoo! Site Builder and Adobe Capitivate3. Users will be able to access different information on the top schools in their field of interests. A pilot test was conducted to evaluate the program. In order to evaluate the web-based college awareness program, a specific group of participants were asked to participate. This group of participants consisted of high school seniors, high school juniors, and professional adults with a variety of knowledge of college preparation and application processes ranging from "very little" to "very strong." The researcher recruited participants by advertising through school announcements, and asking personal friends. The analyses provided positive results demonstrating that the program.s content and material were relevant for college-bound students. A survey created by using Microsoft Word and the website survey monkey (1999) was used to gather data necessary to meet the research objectives. The web site allowed the researcher to choose how the questions and answers were displayed, and structured.

The survey consisted of 2 main sections, 5 rating scale items in each section, 6 open-ended questions, and additional space for added comments under each question. The frequencies of responses to the statements were recorded. Participants chose whether they 1-strongly agree, 2-agree, 3-not sure, 4-disagree, 5-strongly disagree. The open-ended questions helped the researcher refine and make needed adjustments.

Recommendations for further development of the program include (a) further development of the questions, (b) including information about community colleges, and (c) marketing advertising space to universities and educational companies.