Tapping the knowledge base-

[Nephythys]

I am starting to research colleges and funding options for the eldest in earnest-

He wants to be a chef-so college info focusing on the culinary arts. He also would like a business degree.....

So far ordered info from Johnson & Wales and the Art Institue of CO-

Now I am going to start pulling in info for funding, scholarships, etc etc....

Does anyone have any guidance to good places to look into?

I'll check out just about anything :) thanks!

[BarTopDancer]

Go to FAFSA on the Web (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/) and fill out the Free Application for Federal Aid.

Always remember you should never pay for information about scholarships or aid. Anything worth your time will be free.

[Strangler Lewis]

The dream of being a professional chef does not exactly kick start one's Monday morning. Anyway, there seems to be lots of information below.
Culinary Institute of America web site (http://www.ciachef.edu/admissions/choosing/)

[Alex]

It has been so long since I'm been involved in that I don't really have any specific advice.

However, at a much higher level I would say to make sure he is involved in and actively participating with the process and that you're not just doing everything for him. As much as it may seem that it is something that needs to be done even if he won't invest himself, college is something you have to have a personal drive for.

And if he doesn't even have enough of one to work out where he wants to go and how to go about paying for it then he's going to quickly fall under the train when he actually gets there and finds out that nobody makes you go to class, that the instructors don't really care all that much if you pass or fail (if you care, they'll care, but if you don't care enough to work at it they generally have better things to spend time on).

[BarTopDancer]

What Alex said.

Seriously.

I would recommend the Business Degree first, then the culinary arts school. He will want to make sure that wherever he gets his business degree is nationally accredited and that the units are transferable to other schools. Quite a few voc tech schools are non-transferable and he would not be able to take his units elsewhere if he changed his mind and didn't like the school/program.