Finding financial aid for college is one of the biggest challenges most students and their parents can face during the last two years of high school. There are a number of financial aid categories available, including scholarships, grants, student loans, work-study and other programs. There are thousands of resources for finding aid in each of these categories and many of those resources are available online. You can complete forms, apply for loans, and request work-study positions all through the internet.
In general, you should begin applying for scholarships as soon as you possibly can. Finding scholarships to apply for, and completing the application process, is time consuming and can takes a great deal of your effort in writing essays, filling out forms, putting together portfolios, etc.
There are a wide variety of scholarships available, and many, but not all, are dependent on your academic achievement. There are scholarships that focus on other areas of achievement, including athletic activity, religious involvement, and participation in other groups that are hobby or interest based. Some employers offer scholarships to the children of their employees. Many companies and other organizations offer scholarships to students who are planning to study a particular area interest or field of study. Still other scholarships are granted to students of a particular ethnicity or religious membership.
Finding scholarship opportunities can be time consuming, but can really pay off for you in funding your education. Start your search with your High School Guidance Counseling office. Your guidance office is there to help you discover new opportunities and can even assist you in writing essays for scholarship applications. Your college financial aid office is also there to help you find resources. Many companies offer scholarships, so check with your own or your parents’ employer.
The internet has made the search for scholarship opportunities easier and more accessible for many students. There are a number of good websites available that list scholarship opportunities and among the best and most comprehensive of these sites is www.finaid.org. This site contains links to a number of other scholarship search sources, as well as information about financial aid options in general.
The next step in the aid search process is to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form or the FAFSA. You should get all your information together before the middle of January in your senior year in high school in order to complete the FAFSA on time. The FAFSA must be completed and submitted to the Department of Education by June 30th each year; however, the deadline for submitting your FAFSA for State Student Aid may vary, so you should check on that date. Your High School guidance counselor’s office will have FAFSA forms, and college financial aid offices can provide them as well. The FAFSA can also be completed online by going to the U.S. Department of Education Website.
After you submit your completed FAFSA, you will receive a Student Aid Report from the Department of Education that will tell you what types of aid for which you qualify. The Student Aid Report will also be used by the college or university you’ve decided to attend. Your college’s financial aid office will use the Student Aid Report to help determine what “need-based” programs you may be qualified to participate in, including grants, scholarships, and work-study programs.
Your federal student aid can include grant money. Grants are funds that don’t have to be repaid and can be used to cover tuition, books, room and board, and other expenses for college. There are some programs that fall into the federal work-study programs that will allow you to work in your chosen field (i.e. as a teacher) for a period of time after graduation, and will allow you to defer your college costs pending completion of that work-study period. In other words, if you work as a teacher through a work-study program after graduation, you could end up not having to pay a portion of your tuition costs for obtaining your degree.
There are also federal student loans available through the direct loan program. The federal direct loan program gives you the ability to borrow money directly from the U.S. Department of Education. There are subsidized loan programs, which are programs that allow you to not begin paying interest on the loan until you are out of school. Unsubsidized loans require that you pay interest while you are in school.
Sources and types of financial aid are variety, and many students are able to combine a number of different types of aid to fund their education. Make sure you check out all of your options and take advantage of all the different sources of information available on the topic.