Can someone guide me into getting financial aid?

Question

I'm about to be a senior in high school and will be applying to several colleges in the fall? what do i need to do to apply for financial aid? I have no idea on it. Do I have to ask the schools I apply to or what? I am so lost, no one can help me. whats the starting process.?

Answer 1

You will have to fill out a FAFSA in January, you can't do it before Jan because you have to have your parents tax return back to fill it out. Once that is filled out it will basically do all the work for you by giving you eligibility for federal loans and school grants. On the FAFSA you put down all the schools you are planning to apply to.

Answer 2

Start here

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/

Answer 3

It can vary from school to school. However, the bottom line is that you have to fill out FAFSA - Free Application For Federal Student Aid. That is what determines your family financial situation and it is based on official tax forms and papers that your parents have submitted. Or maybe even you, if you have  a work experience and payed some amount of tax.

Whatever your financial circumstances, FAFSA will not be able to allocate a federal grant that exceeds somewhere around 4,500 5000 dollars. The rest needs to be either covered by scholarships, and loans. However in case of many schools, school itself commits to "meeting full financial need" of their students. That means that if your family combined income is less than 50-60 thousand ( thats the most common range for colleges) they might pay most of your tuition even if federal grant is just several thousand. It varies from schools to school but obviously the top colleges give better financial assistance to students than small state, or community colleges that unlike top colleges dont have as much donations and rely completely on tuition money.

Also, pay serious attention to deadlines. Even if you submit on a date very close to deadline, chances are all the better options will be gone. You should definitely talk to your counselor about the process to learn more.