Tips for Planning, Timeline& How To Make College Affordable

[Pages:13]Tips for Planning, Timeline & How To Make College Affordable

FINANCIAL AID

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW

1. Merit Based Scholarships

- Money that is awarded based on credentials students submit through their application process ? SO IMPORTANT to put your best possible foot forward

- Some schools have a separate application and some schools don't

- Which also means there could be separate deadlines for these

- You don't typically have to pay these back

2. Need-Based

- Grants, work-study, and loans awarded based on a family's financial ability - FAFSA information

- Grants ? money you don't have to pay back ? State, federal, and institutional monies available

- Work-study ? wage paid directly to the student for working 8-10 hours in an on-campus job

- Loans ? federal loan offerings at educational rates in the student's name unless you choose a PLUS loan which is in the parent's name

1. Resume or talent based scholarships

- Many schools have additional scholarship opportunities that students can apply for

- They can be related to anticipated major, involvements in high schools, sports or fine arts talent

2. Outside scholarships

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- When in doubt, fill it out

? Questions to ask about resume or talent based scholarships:

? If I no longer participate in activity X or change my major will I lose my scholarship

? What are the GPA or class rank requirements

? Is this renewable all 4 years

? Are there participation or curricular requirements and if I don't meet them do I have to pay the scholarship back

? Is this stackable or will it erode my merit scholarship

? Fafsa.

? It's called the FREE application for federal student aid for a reason ? NEVER pay to file a FAFSA

? The FAFSA is available and you can submit it starting October 1 of your senior year

? You can now use 2-year old tax information to file the FAFSA ? it's called Prior Prior Year ? 2018 grads are using 2016 tax returns

? The IRS Data Retrieval Tool will allow you to port your information from the IRS database over to the FAFSA ? use it, it's secure and minimizes errors

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