Financial Aid
Also known as "Need Based Aid", it is money for college made available by the Federal Government and administered through the colleges for students coming from families with limited ability to pay. To qualify for financial aid, students must go through a process generally called "FAFSA" which stands for "Free Application for Federal Student Aid". The actual process requires some dilligence and patience, but it has been made much better in recent years with the online application. And for the benefits, it's well worth the effort!
Financial aid usually comes in three catagories:
- Grants: Money given to the student (or often directly to the school) to cover college costs. Grant money does not have to be paid back.
- Loans: Money given to the student to cover college costs. Loan money does have to be paid back! But these loans usually have a much lower rate than any regular loan you could get at the bank. And, students still in college may not have to begin paying back until they have exited college depending on the particular loan.
- Work Study Jobs: Money earned by the student for performing a part time job usually on campus. This money comes to the student in the form of a paycheck which they can then decide how to spend themselves.
Those are the big three. Now those are just broad catagories and there are many different types of grants. There are many different types of loans with different rates and terms of payment. You will have to pay close attention to the college financial aid officer at the school you attend to get the specifics regarding your financial aid package should you qualify.
 Now, about qualification. As a matter of course, every student intending to go to college should apply! Even if they think they will not qualify, you never know! Also, it is possible to not qualify for grants, but still quailify for low interest loans and a work study job. And there are many scholarships which consider income levels and use the FAFSA and it's EFC to qualify. So do not just assume you won't qualify. Apply!
Planning to apply for financial aid really should start by your junior year. Students and Parents should start checking out the fafsa website. Parents will definitely appreciate the fafsa4caster. This is a site that can provide a rough estimate of what kinds and how much of the different forms of financial aid a student might qualify for. Parents will need to provide some specific information from last year's taxes and such. But again, it's well worth the effort and the results could definitely motivate you to get your in information ready early for the real application in senior year! Click here or the picture at right to go to the fafsa4caster website.
Actually Applying
Now we're getting serious! The process for applying for financial aid is almost exclusively an online process today. One can still use the good old paper form...if you can find one. The government has stopped sending paper forms to the schools, that's how "online" we all have become.
You will need to set up a private and confidential account with them. To do that, the first thing you will need is a "PIN" number. That is the secret number that you (and only you) will know and with it, you can access your account. Getting a "PIN" is a small process in itself and will take a few days. It is recommended that you get you pin early so that you can then do your fafsa application as early as possible as well. Click here or the picture at right to go to the pin site and start the process.
Now, the big question, when to actually apply? The fafsa website opens for applications for the coming school year on January 1st each year. You can imagine how many people across the country furiously try to access that site on that day. It is not unknown for the site to have problems dealing with the volume of traffic in the beginning, so I probably wouldn't worry about trying to get in the first day, but you definitely do not want to wait two months either! Ideally, according to Jeff Schofield of the UHH finanical aid office, students and parents should get their taxes completed as early as possible and submit the actual (non-estimated) information. The main thing is to get it in ahead of the Financial Aid Application Priority Deadline, which is March 1st for UH Hilo. (Remember, other colleges may have different deadlines so make sure you check with their financial aid office to find out!)
Things to do to be ready to actually apply:
- Go to the CollegeGoal Sunday financial aid presentation/workshop! This is a free service put on each year by PACFAA
- Get your PIN number ahead of time!
-
Parents, do your taxes as early as possible. It's ok if you don't have the most current information though, you can estimate using last year's tax info. (You can find it I hope! If not, better get looking now!) You will have to update your account later with the current info if you can't get it together earlier.
- Print out a "Fafsa on the Web Worksheet" which will call for the same information in mostly the same order you will need for when you do your online inputting. This worksheet will make the process much easier!
- Know which colleges you want to receive your results.
The last thing to do is apply. Have your documents order and go for it! It takes several weeks to get your results in the form of a "Student Aid Report" or SAR, with the most important line being the "Expected Family Contribution" or EFC. The EFC is the amount of money that the government expects that you and your family can contribute to your education. The difference between the EFC and that actual cost of attending a college is where financial aid comes in.
 Here's the FAFSA site. You should spend some time there, not just when applying, but also checking out the various pages and links with lots of valuable information. That's called "doing your homework!" And you will, of course, go there when it's time to apply.
Now that's not all there is to it! You have to be in contact with the Financial Aid office of the college or colleges to which you have applied. It is your job to make sure that they have all the information and within the required deadlines!
Even if you qualify with the highest need score possible, if you do not get your financial aid applications in on time, there may be nothing left to award you. I've heard the process described as this, it's like the college has three bins of aid to give (grants, loans and workstudy). Once the priority deadline has passed, the college begins to take the aid from these bins and awards it to students who qualify and have met all application requirements. Students who come to the process late are not guaranteed any award. Don't be that guy!
Copyright 2009© by mrcarpenters.com. All rights reserved.
|
Financial Aid
