|
Educational Assistance Programs
Accessing capital to go to college can be a time consuming job, but the truth is that there is so much money
out there for educational expenses it is virtually impossible not to find some kind of assistance.
There are two main areas in the capital marketplace where you, a student, can find money. The first place is
the federal government. The federal government allocates and distributes a certain percentage of the federal budget
to educational purposes. There are a lot of federal education programs that are geared to help individuals. However,
the workload required to distribute these funds is so great that the federal government is unable to do it alone. Instead, how
it works for educational funding, is the government distributes these funds to individuals through the financial aid offices
of educational institutions. This makes it easier for students to apply, and for the federal government to distribute these funds,
because there is a middle man helping both parties. We have listed a database
of all colleges below. This database will allow you to see every schools website for you to gather contact information and to
see what funding each school offers. If you plan on applying for federal dollars you have to fill out the
required FAFSA form. You can start filling this out online right now if you wish! The link is provided for you below.
Otherwise, wait to contact your schools financial aid office and they can help you fill it out.
The second area you can access capital for college is the private sector. The private sector includes a wide variety of
businesses, non profits, institutions, organizations, and other private foundations that donate money.
They give money for a variety of reasons.
Some of theses reasons include tax breaks, legal, and philanthropic reasons. Each charitable organization can give
away this money in any form they wish and to whoever they wish. This can include grants, free money, and scholarships.
We have included a list of some of the best scholarships we could find within the private sector. We hope you take full
advantage of them.
College Funding 101
- This is your guide to applying for financial aid including all grants, loans, and scholarships offered through the U.S. government.
Get started today on your search for financial aid for college.
Super College Scholarships Database
- Search database of scholarships.
Fastweb Scholarships Database
- Search database of scholarships.
Geo Scholarships Database
- Search database of scholarships.
Scholarship Experts Scholarship Database
- Search database of scholarships.
State Grants and Loans
- This link will list you to your states student financial aid website
State by State College Website Listing
- Use this list when you need to instantly find any U.S. college website.
Federal Programs
- Be sure to check out the complete guide to federal programs by clicking here
before you get started with searching for federal educational assistance.
How to Locate Government Grants, Loans, and Scholarships
The following tutorial will help you get started immediately on the college financial aid process for government funding only.
Applying for government aid is the first and most recommended place to start in your search for college funding. Private foundations give away
many scholarships every year and we will go into detail about this area later.
Below you will find instructions on how and where to go to get started on the financial aid process. The process will
determine what grants, loans, and or scholarships you are eligible for. Let's get started.
Step 1: If you know exactly what college you are going to attend or you have an idea of what colleges you
are interested in attending then you should start off by visiting the schools website to learn as much as you can about
the school. Find out what it is going to cost you to go to school there. How much is it per credit hour? Also, it is important to know that
many financial aid programs require that you be enrolled in college full time in
order to be eligible for the funding. Are you the student going to want to stay on your parents health insurance policy?
If so then you must know that many insurance companies also
require that a son or daughter of the policy holder be enrolled in college full time in order to stay on the insurance policy.
Many colleges and insurance companies consider 12 credit hours to be full time. The average college course is 3 credit hours.
So, if you are going to a community college, which costs only $70 a credit hour, you will need to take at least 4 classes
per semester to be considered full time. That's $840 per semester, $1680 per year. $70 a credit hour is a real bargain! Usually colleges that specialize
in a specific trade or career will charge $200 to $400 or higher per credit hour. Determining the cost is highly recommended before
you move on. If you find out that your college expenses are too high then you may want to consider taking your basic liberal arts classes at
a community college before transferring to a bigger college. If you consider this as an option then make sure
you contact the college you would like to transfer to in the future to make sure the classes you plan to take at the community college
will transfer. The Yahoo Directory provides
a directory of every college website in the U.S. It is an excellent place to start researching colleges you are interested in.
Step 2: Talk to your family about paying for college. Ask them what they did to finance their education when
they were in college. Also, if you are still in high school it is highly recommended that you schedule a meeting with
your guidance counselor to see how to apply for local and private scholarships. Your counselor
may be able to help you find scholarships offered through local private foundations that have connections with you school.
If your counselor can't help you, no big deal. We will discuss the procedure on how to find local foundations that
provide scholarships later in this guide.
Step 3: Apply for government financial aid online. It is the fastest and easiest way. Start off by getting a
federal Personal Identification Number (PIN). The PIN is your identifier
that will let you access your personal information in government computer databases like the FAFSA database.
Step 4: Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
This application will help determine your need for financial aid. If you prefer to fill out a hard copy application you should
contact your high school counselor or the college you want to attend.
Step 5: Fill out any other aid or admission forms required by the college. Chances are there will not be any more,
but may include the profile financial aid form.
Step 6: After filling out the FAFSA form you will get a Student Aid Report (SAR). This report will summarize
the information you submitted on the FAFSA form, and will also include your Estimated Family Contribution. Review your
SAR by clicking here. You may have to provide more information
if the report requests it, and also provide any corrections if needed.
Step 7: Next you will get an award letter from the financial aid office of the college. It will let you know what kind of financial aid and how
much you can expect if you attend their school. Look over all the financial aid options they provided to see if you would like
to accept their offer(s). These financial aid options include grants, scholarships, loans, and work study programs.
Step 8: Tell the financial aid office that you accept or reject all or part of their offer(s). Complete any other forms required
by the school.
Step 9: If needed submit your loan application. Make sure you apply for the loans suggested by the college
officials. You can apply for the FFEL Stafford loans by linking to the HESC's electronic Mater Promissory Note (e-MPN).
You can file your Federal Stafford Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN) by using paper forms.
Contact HESC at 1-888-NYS-HESC (1-888-697-4372) or 1-800-445-5234 for details.
Apply online at by clicking here.
Step 10: Apply for financial aid each year you are in college. If you filled out the FAFSA form the prior year then
you will probably be able to use the shorter Renewal FAFSA application. As you move through school you may become eligible
for different types of funding each year. This is because you may become a dependent, the amount of credit hours you are
taking may change, and or your GPA may change. These changes affect your financial aid options each year.
For additional information or assistance contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at
1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) / hearing or speech impaired persons can reach them at 1-800-730-8913.
|
