For anyone with a child in high school and questions about next steps, Sandra Dill is hosting a fair that should answer them.

Representatives from colleges and universities across North America will be at CedarBridge Academy next week.

The fair begins on Thursday evening with an information session that will give parents “direct access to experts and resources” and tools to “navigate the complex world of college preparation, scholarship applications, and internship opportunities”.

On Friday, it opens to students.

It is a free event put on by EDcellerate, the company Ms Dill started a decade ago to address a gap in the access to resources. Although many schools offer virtual tours, “there was a need in our community for families to understand the whole college-going preparation process”.

“Many families can't afford to go overseas and visit colleges so this is an opportunity to bring the colleges to them,” she said.

It was something high-school counsellors had been doing; Ms Dill took it on when they stopped.

From the very beginning, the object was to expose students to academic and technical colleges that they might be interested in attending.

It is an opportunity for them to speak directly with college representatives to learn more about a school and whether it is a good fit for them.

According to Ms Dill, students can bring “completed applications, transcripts and references or whatever they need”, some get conditional acceptances right on the spot.

“That was a big plus. And I do encourage students to do that because even if they choose not to go to that institution, just going through the process gives them a better understanding of what it actually feels like to complete the whole process.”

A common mistake students make is completing the application form but neglecting to upload the required supporting documents. Part of the objective of the fair is to make sure that the entire family is involved from the start.

She planned Thursday with that in mind. Parents will not only have the opportunity to talk with college representatives but “local scholarship providers, internship providers and lending institutions” will be at CedarBridge as well.

“Because parents are responsible for paying for this stuff. In Bermuda, students don't qualify for student loans. So in order to get student loans, the parents have to qualify. The banks and organisations offer educational loans, and [repaying them becomes] the parents’ responsibility, not the student’s,” she said.

The loans have a “low” interest rate and the structure of repayment varies from bank to bank; however, that’s not the only borrowing route.

“Even the Bermuda Credit Union offers educational limits. There are so many opportunities for students to go to college,” Ms Dill said.

The education consultant spent three years working with PeerForward, “a college and career readiness programme” operated by Mirrors.

“What I found in the last few years working with families, is that more and more children are applying to go to college through the PeerForward programme. Many students completed the application form, got accepted, but couldn't go because the families didn't have the funds.”

As such, it is important that parents are aware of everything that is needed so they can advocate on behalf of their children and champion for them, she advises.

The fair is not focused only on academic degrees. Students interested in pursuing trade or technical careers will also find information there to support them.

“If someone wants to be a plumber, they're going to need more than a high-school education. They're probably going to need an apprenticeship or an internship, similar to those offered by the Department of Workforce Development. They're doing some awesome stuff right now, offering internships,” Ms Dill said.

“So often people say, ‘We can't find jobs; foreigners are coming and they're taking our jobs.’ All this interesting stuff. But the thing about education is being prepared because there are very few jobs where you are not required to have some kind of certification.”

The beauty of the fair is that all the information is in one place. Even for families planning to do a tour of schools, it’s a great opportunity to discover options they might not have considered – ones that could be an even better fit.

“It’s why the colleges come down to meet the students, because they can give firsthand reviews of what their colleges have to offer,” Ms Dill said.

“I encourage them not to just talk about the degree, because most of them offer most degrees. It's about the environment. What kind of clubs do they have? Where they are located in terms of access to whatever young people want.”

There are schools which are in city centres, such as St John’s University in New York; others have campuses that are more rural, such as the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.

“It just depends on what the student is looking for,” Ms Dill said.

Where cost or a lower grade point average is a factor, students have the option of starting elsewhere and then transferring to the school of their choice.

Two students were offered $5,000 and $10,000 “institutional scholarships” from colleges after speaking with representatives at last year’s fair.

“And of course, that scholarship is based on merit,” Ms Dill said. However there are many local awards that are merit and needs-based.

“There's no reason for a student not to go to college because they can't afford it, but parents need to understand that it's important for them to submit their financial means information because it's an opportunity for their children to get scholarships. But if they don’t submit it, the application is incomplete.”

Although the fair is focused on schools in Canada and the United States, for anyone interested in a UK education Ms Dill can help. The required Universities and Colleges Admission Service application is “quite different” than what is needed for study in North America.

“We pay home fees so there’s no incentive for the UK institutions, or very little incentive for them to come [to the fair] financially,” she said.

“But a number of our students are going to the UK and the main reason for going is that it's much more cost effective. I will be there to talk with them about the UK application process, how to select schools in the UK, because it's a little bit different.”

While the fair is targeted at parents of students in S3 and the last two years of high school, it is never too young to start gathering information, Ms Dill said.

“Come on Thursday evening, bring your 10-year-old. Because they need exposure. They need to start thinking about it. It's challenging if the student is waiting until Grade 12 to start thinking about applying to university because they've missed so much already. They should have done a college tour, college visits – and they could be virtual if they can't afford to travel.”

• The International College and University Fair Parent Information Session takes place on Thursday from 5pm to 7pm in the CedarBridge Academy gymnasium. Admission is free. Contact Sandra Dill at info@accelerate.com, edcellerate.com or 535-2372 for one-on-one consultations