Friday, December 31, 2010

Financial Aid

Paying for school is one of the biggest problems students have when deciding to go to school. Before you give up on your hopes for a higher education try some of these tactics and you might be surprised by some of the options you have open. I had some friends in high school that simply decided they were not going to college because they couldn't afford. Instead they decided they would work for a couple years than go back and finish school so that way they aren't stuck at the same low paying job for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately, every friend who has had this attitude either is still at that job or decided to join the military. Not one of them have started to return to school. Now I am completely down with people working and going to school, but try to keep your education at the top of your priorities. Now there are several ways for students to find money.
  1. Scholarships - Scholarships are offered by thousands of companies in the world in addition to even the school that your attending. Start looking around for them and apply to as many as possible. Applying for a hundred is better than just a few because most likely you won't get very many if not any of them. FastWeb.com is a great resource to find some scholarships. They keep an up to date list as well as use a nice easy to use search to make sure your only finding scholarships which you qualify for.
  2. Grants -  Grants are the second best thing to scholarships as they are also free money that you don't have to pay back. There are several different people that offer grants including your federal and state government. The federal pell grant is offered on the national level, while your state level is different from state to state. Do a quick search and your bound to find one. To apply for the federal pell grant fafsa is required to be filled out.
  3. Loans- Loans are the last option when finding money for school. Most loans as well as grants revolve around filling out FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This is fairly complex and time extensive application but it is a must for every student. Even if you don't think you qualify for anything, give it a try and you might be surprised in the results. Fill out FAFSA as closely to January 1st as possible. This is because grants, as well as loans are offered on a first come first serve basis. If you fill it out late, there might not be any money left. Don't worry about following it for subsequent years. You will again want to submit it as close to January 1st as possible, but the form will be partly filled out already because it keeps some of the same basic information.
      Remember before ruling out your options for school, try some of the above. It doesn't hurt to try as all of the above are free to try and you don't even have to accept them if you change your mind. If you are being charged for any of the above to apply, you are being scammed and run away from it. No scholarship, loan, or grant should ask for money beforehand. Good luck and keep trying.