Your student is preparing to go off to college in the Fall, has the schools picked out and has sent out the application. Now the questions looms large, how are you going to pay for it??
The first thing you need to do is complete the Free application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at www.fafsa.ed.gov The application for the 2014-2015 year was available starting January 1st, make sure you use the correct application as this current year 2013-2014 is also available for student who are in College now! The application is the Department of Education's site and has a nifty tool to pull your IRS tax information into the application called the IRS data retrieval tool. You need to have already filed your taxes for it to work, but you can use estimates based on last year and once you file your taxes go back onto the site and update.
The next thing you need to do it find out what additional steps need to be completed at the school your student is going to. Check with the aid office, they typically have a website dedicated to spelling out the steps or you can always call.
Once you know what additional forms need to be completed, DO IT. Don't wait on submitting, you could miss out on some opportunities if your student isn't "complete".
Check with your local librarian, guidance counselor or State website (I suggest all 3) to find private scholarship sources to apply for. If your student writes a really strong essay, they can use it again and again to apply for scholarships if it fits what the scholarship council is asking for.
Check a search engine for scholarships like www.fastweb.com cast your net wide to find obscure little scholarships that your student would be eligible for. I received in my undergraduate program a scholarship for Brown Eyed girls ~ legitimate scholarship that provided $500 a year that added up to a whole lot of books by the end of my degree!
Make sure that your student applied for any scholarship available through the school of choice and look over all paperwork that comes in for deadlines.
Once you have your award offer in hand, remember ~ it's not a bill, it's an award and not all awards are equal.
If your student is applying to more than one school and you are deciding which school offered the "best" $$ you have to look at total cost for the year and then scholarship offered. What looks like a huge scholarship may only cover 10% while a small offer and a low cost school could be covering 75%. You also have to take into consideration Fit. If the school is not right for your student and is not going to offer the degree they want, services they need or climate they are used too (climate can be cultural, size of school and Temperature) then sending them off because they offered more scholarship funds is spending good money after bad. You want your students’ college experience to be a positive one. If you pay out of pocket even $500 a semester to find out after a year it's not a good fit and your student is going to transfer you have just wasted your money.
All things to keep in mind when navigating the financial aid waters.
If you find the process too overwhelming, you should reach out to the High School to see if you can get some assistance through them. Your state may also have a state grant agency that can also help you navigate the aid arena like in Vermont the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC) has many great services to help you fill out applications, provide assistance with applying for aid and does informational sessions throughout Vermont to help families get started. New Hampshire has the New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation (NHEAF). Check with your state to see if they have an agency to assist you and your last resort is an Educational Consultant. Don't get me wrong, EdCon's are great if you can afford them but if you really need aid to get your student to College you want to save your pennies and get the help you need that doesn't cost you a dime.
Good Luck and let me know how it goes!
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