Ah, he should be getting guidance from his counselor at school...
At my kid's high school, their counselor met with them at the beginning of their junior year and told them about the resources for searching colleges. We did a trip at the end of their junior year, when they had narrowed their choices, but my older son applied a couple of places even after he was done with the whole process; like in January of his senior year.
I went to 4 colleges; a small private school, a community college, an upper division state university, and a large state university. They all had their plusses and minuses. You get what you put in. In some parts of the country (like here in New England) it is not common to go to a community college and it is still frowned upon. I know, that is stupid, but it's the truth. My older son thought he wanted to go to a small "alternative" type school and applied to all schools like that. He ended up going to Hampshire College for a year and then transferred to U Mass Amherst, because he found out he really liked the diversity of a big campus.