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Google's expanded college search helps you explore fields of study

It also covers two-year colleges for the first time.

It's a bit late to start looking for colleges for September, but Google is ready to give the spring semester a boost by expanding its college search features. To begin with, there's a new exploration tool on desktop and web (pictured at center) that helps you find US schools based on criteria like their fields of study and location. This includes combined searches -- if you want to find every school in Washington state with a nursing program, you can. It can help you compare aspects like cost and post-school success, and filters can whittle things down based on distance, acceptance rates and similar factors.

The search system has also grown to cover all two-year colleges in the US, not just four-year universities. Results for those schools will also shed greater light on the total cost (including in-state tuition, books and housing) to help price-sensitive pupils. If you're more interested in the four-year schools, you'll be happy to hear that you'll now see popular associate programs and certificates. Simply speaking, Google is doing more to ensure you get into the right college.