The families of nearly 56,000 middle and high school students across South Dakota received a mailing earlier this month to remind them it is never too early to prepare for life after high school.

The South Dakota Board of Regents sent out its South Dakota CollegePrep planning packet to all public school students in grades 7-12.

Last year, the state Legislature authorized the Regents to obtain the names and mailing addresses of public school students to inform them about postsecondary education options and career planning.

With that, the South Dakota CollegePrep packet was developed. In addition, a Web site, www.sdcollegeprep.info, contains the same information as well as links to hundreds of resources on postsecondary preparation and planning.