Fed Financial
financial aid....?
hi i will be attended college next fall, and i want to know what financial aid is, when i fill out application, what exactly is it going to do? do i still have to pay for college? can you fill me in on financial aid please?
Public Comments
- Hello! Financial Aid is simply the term used for all forms of "money help" for a college student. It covers loans, grants, scholarships, work study...etc. Right now you should be looking into scholarships for school. www.fastweb.com is a great site to start with. You enter in your accomplishments, interests, ethnic background, etc, and FastWeb automatically finds scholarships that you are likely able to apply for. It's a wonderful help! Also, ask your school what scholarships might be available to you. Check with the college you want to go to as to what scholarships they have specifically. Grants are a godsend. Here in California (i'm not sure what state you are from) we have the CalGrant. Basically, you apply each year and you can get a grant (that you don't have to pay back) based on your financial need. My family has very little money, so I got a pretty good ammount from the state every year. People with higher incomes usually get less. But every little bit counts! I would check with your school, again, to see if there is possibly a state grant available to you. For sure there is a Federal grant system. http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/index.jsp Both scholarships and loans are "free money." You don't have to pay them back. Loans, on the other hand, you do have to pay back. But you can defer the payment until you have been out of college for 6 months. Also, interest rates are generally pretty low. It is unlikely that you will get out of paying for college. Unless you are a spectacular athlete or the next Einstein, a full-ride to college isn't going to happen. But you can pay LESS if you utilize all the financial aid programs available to you. Best idea: talk to your counsellor. If you don't have one, talk to a favorite teacher. They can help you out with all of this. Good luck!!!!!!! :-D
