How to Fill Out The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and Receive Money For College
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Most high school guidance offices provide support for students seeking to earn college grants and scholarship dollars. However, most high school guidance counselors are focused solely on administering the scholarship dollars they award routinely. This typically includes locally awarded scholarships and endowments that have been provided to the schools in previous years.
However, there are large amounts of grant and scholarship money which can be earned from foundations, corporations, government agencies, and private citizens from around the country and in many cases the high school guidance office will not know about these scholarships and may be unwilling to provide support for you in competing for these scholarships.
Keep in mind that completion of every scholarship application process takes time. It is not possible to compete for every scholarship available, nor would it be a good use of your time and resources. Also, you must be careful of offers that seem too good to be true as they probably are. Many scam artists will ask for money up front to provide "professional" assistance in completing scholarship applications. While there are legitimate businesses that do provide assistance in the scholarship application process, you should use these types of businesses with great caution and whenever possible only on the recommendation of individuals you trust who have received results from these companies.
If you choose to pursue scholarships on your own without the assistance of the high school guidance office, then you need to be organized with a variety of documents. These are the same documents which are required for the high school scholarship process and may be available from the high school guidance office.
These documents include:
1. High school transcripts provide the student's grade point average and the student's class rank
2. PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT scores.
3. Listing of awards the student has received
4. Listing of activities in which the student has participated including documentation of the number of service hours earned and the activities in which these hours were earned
5. Scholarship essays
6. Letters of reference for the student
Note that the guidance department can not create or even gather all of these items. However, they may maintain records that will support you in completing scholarship applications, whether private or high school provided.
Sources of Private Scholarships:
No single source exists to document every scholarship that is available or every organization that awards scholarship dollars. There are many organizations that you may wish to contact, or at least check their web site, to determine if they award scholarships.
These include:
* The college or university the student plans to attend
* The specific school or department within the college or university the student plans to attend
* Service, civic, professional and/or community organizations with which the student, parent, or in some cases grand parent is affiliated.
* Religious organizations with which the student is affiliated.
* The student and/or parents employers
* National organizations that award scholarships
o Government agencies and departments
o Corporations and corporate foundations
o National service and civic organizations
Making Yourself an Outstanding Scholarship Candidate:
It is important to remember that the student has opportunity to demonstrate their eligibility for a scholarship in many different ways - scholarship candidates are not just based on grades. Scholarships are awarded based on a variety of different factors that include community service, involvement in student life and student activities, and volunteerism and other civic engagement. Students should document their activities throughout the high school process to make the scholarship application process easier and to ensure that nothing is missed.
It is also important that if an essay is required for the scholarship that the student spend time preparing the essay and ensuring that the essay meets all the requirements. You should also consider having a trusted friend or peer review the essay for grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice, and flow. Finally, ensure that the essay meets requirements for length.
After scholarships are awarded:
Students who are awarded scholarships should remember that the people and organizations which award these scholarships do so because they feel that it is important to invest in the future - and in the education of those who will lead the way in the future. However, it is appropriate to thank those who provide these awards if you receive one. When applying for scholarships on your own - students should verify who to send the thank you notes to for each of the privately awarded scholarships they receive.
However, there are large amounts of grant and scholarship money which can be earned from foundations, corporations, government agencies, and private citizens from around the country and in many cases the high school guidance office will not know about these scholarships and may be unwilling to provide support for you in competing for these scholarships.
Keep in mind that completion of every scholarship application process takes time. It is not possible to compete for every scholarship available, nor would it be a good use of your time and resources. Also, you must be careful of offers that seem too good to be true as they probably are. Many scam artists will ask for money up front to provide "professional" assistance in completing scholarship applications. While there are legitimate businesses that do provide assistance in the scholarship application process, you should use these types of businesses with great caution and whenever possible only on the recommendation of individuals you trust who have received results from these companies.
If you choose to pursue scholarships on your own without the assistance of the high school guidance office, then you need to be organized with a variety of documents. These are the same documents which are required for the high school scholarship process and may be available from the high school guidance office.
These documents include:
1. High school transcripts provide the student's grade point average and the student's class rank
2. PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT scores.
3. Listing of awards the student has received
4. Listing of activities in which the student has participated including documentation of the number of service hours earned and the activities in which these hours were earned
5. Scholarship essays
6. Letters of reference for the student
Note that the guidance department can not create or even gather all of these items. However, they may maintain records that will support you in completing scholarship applications, whether private or high school provided.
Sources of Private Scholarships:
No single source exists to document every scholarship that is available or every organization that awards scholarship dollars. There are many organizations that you may wish to contact, or at least check their web site, to determine if they award scholarships.
These include:
* The college or university the student plans to attend
* The specific school or department within the college or university the student plans to attend
* Service, civic, professional and/or community organizations with which the student, parent, or in some cases grand parent is affiliated.
* Religious organizations with which the student is affiliated.
* The student and/or parents employers
* National organizations that award scholarships
o Government agencies and departments
o Corporations and corporate foundations
o National service and civic organizations
Making Yourself an Outstanding Scholarship Candidate:
It is important to remember that the student has opportunity to demonstrate their eligibility for a scholarship in many different ways - scholarship candidates are not just based on grades. Scholarships are awarded based on a variety of different factors that include community service, involvement in student life and student activities, and volunteerism and other civic engagement. Students should document their activities throughout the high school process to make the scholarship application process easier and to ensure that nothing is missed.
It is also important that if an essay is required for the scholarship that the student spend time preparing the essay and ensuring that the essay meets all the requirements. You should also consider having a trusted friend or peer review the essay for grammar, spelling, punctuation, word choice, and flow. Finally, ensure that the essay meets requirements for length.
After scholarships are awarded:
Students who are awarded scholarships should remember that the people and organizations which award these scholarships do so because they feel that it is important to invest in the future - and in the education of those who will lead the way in the future. However, it is appropriate to thank those who provide these awards if you receive one. When applying for scholarships on your own - students should verify who to send the thank you notes to for each of the privately awarded scholarships they receive.
How To Complete the FAFSA For Your State!
After looking over some of the responses I have received, it appears that there is some confusion about completing a state FAFSA application.HEY, the FAFSA is a federal program. This means that there is no state application form to fill out.
There is only one form to complete.
There are no Texas, Ohio, California and on-and-on forms to complete.
There is only one form to complete and all the links you need are right here in front of you on this page. So take advantage of the work we have done and read this page completely and thoroughly.
After you have completed the online form, the college you have been accepted by and plan to attend will receive a copy of the completed FAFSA and that college or university will administer the federal aid and tailor your financial aid package based upon what you can qualify for in the form of student loans, grants and work-study.
Get Your Fafsa Pin ID Number Before You Start To Fill Out Your Financial Aid Form
What You Need To Get Started On Your FAFSA
http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp
To Complete The FAFSA You Need All This!
Social Security Number. (Be sure it is correct because that's how you get paid at the college you attend.)
Driver's License (if any)
2007 W-2 Forms and other records of money earned
You (and your spouse´s, if you are married) 2007 Federal Income Tax Return.
* IRS 1040, 1040A, 1040 EZ
* Foreign Tax Return, or
* Tax return for Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Federal States of Micronesia, or Palau
Parents´ 2007 Federal Income Tax return (if you are a dependent student)
2007 untaxed income records
* Social Security
* Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
* Welfare
* Veterans benefits records
All Current bank statements
Your or Parents current business and investment mortgage information, business and farm records, stock, bond and other investment records
Your alien registration or permanent resident card (if you are not a U.S. citizen
Then, You Can Complete Your FAFSA WorkSheet Here:
http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before012.htm
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What You Need to Know About the FAFSA
If you have a child who will be attending college, or if you are considering going back to college yourself, there is one document that you must consider filling out - the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. The FAFSA is the most important document in determining eligibility requirements for public financial aid money and it is used by many colleges and universities in determining eligibility for private scholarship and grant dollars as well.The FAFSA is the key to unlocking federal financial aid dollars - over $30 billion in new federal aid in 2005-2006 alone. The FAFSA program is managed by the United States Department of Education, or the Dept. of Ed. The FAFSA is used by the Dept of Ed to determine whether a student, based on the family's income, is eligible for federal grants or federal loans. In addition to being used by the Federal government, most states and many institutions also use the data collected on the FAFSA to determine eligibility for their own grant, loan, and scholarship programs as well.
The FAFSA is a long document that is now completed, almost entirely online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. While paper copies are still available, the online FAFSA is your best option for several reasons. First of all, the online FAFSA allows for the fastest and easiest processing of your information. When you complete the FAFSA online you'll have many opportunities to review your work to make sure it is accurate. If you use the paper document, you have to make sure it's right, mail it in to the Dept of Ed, someone hand enters it into a computer, and then you have to wait until your Student Air Report, or SAR, is returned to check for any errors. With the online FAFSA you receive the SAR electronically within one to five days - about half the time it takes with the mailed FAFSA. And if you complete online and find an error in the SAR, you can quickly and easily correct it online as well.
Yale To Increase Endowment Spending On Financial Aid - A Boon For Students!
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss1 - ReutersJanuary 7, 2008
Yale University, flush with cash from strong investment returns, said on Monday it would spend roughly 37 percent more of its own money on financial aid for students and scientific research in 2008-2009.
The Ivy League school said it plans to pay out $1.15 billion of its $22.5 billion endowment in the next fiscal year after the endowment grew 28 percent in the fiscal year that ended on June 30. New Haven, Connecticut-based Yale expects to spend $843 million from its endowment in the current fiscal year.
The school also said it will "increase dramatically" the financial aid it awards to undergraduate students, but declined to give details before an announcement it plans to make later this month.
Monday's news comes at a time U.S. lawmakers are urging wealthy universities to make tuition more affordable and roughly one month after Harvard University said it would spend an additional $22 million of its $35 billion endowment to cut tuition costs for middle and upper middle class families.
Harvard and Yale are America's two richest universities and their investment returns have long beaten the Standard & Poor's 500 index returns. Yale earned 28 percent and Harvard 24 percent in the last fiscal year 2006-07. The S&P 500 returned 18 percent in fiscal 2006.
Congress Votes 273 - 149 To Increase Education Spending!
College Cost Reduction Act of 2007, H.R. 2669
Only July 11, 2007, the U. S. Congress voted to increase spending on education. Specifically, a gradual increase in Pell Grants will be phased in starting on October 1, 2007. Student Loans Are Being Eliminated By Major Universities!
This is great news for college students! When you consider that the average cost of a university degree is upwards of $40,000 per year, while the average graduating salary is a dismal $25,000. Add the cost of living, food, clothing, transportation, and all those taxes, local, state and federal. It could easily take over ten years to pay back those loans. I say Bravo!
Here are the excerpts if you wish to learn more:
UPenn to eliminate student loans by 2009
Posted Monday, December 17, 2007 at 11:38 am
PHILADELPHIA Officials at the University of Pennsylvania say they'll begin giving loan-free financial aid packages to eligible undergraduates starting in the fall of 2009.
Penn will phase in the changes next fall by eliminating loans for students with family incomes under $100,000.
At the same time, the Ivy League school will reduce need-based loans by 10 percent for students whose families make more than $100,000.
Penn costs about $46,000 a year for tuition and room and board.
Monday's announcement continues a trend among elite private colleges to replace loans with grants in financial aid packages. Harvard University and Swarthmore College announced similar policies this month.
http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1288
======================================================================
Published in the Columbia Spectator (http://www.columbiaspectator.com)
Following Princeton, Schools Switch to Grants
By Keren Daskin
Created 11/26/2007
Since Princeton's 2001 debut as the first private university to eliminate loans in favor of grants, many institutions have followed suit.
Although no other Ivy university has replicated Princeton's move to completely eliminate loans in place of grants, in 2006, Columbia replaced loans with grants for families earning under $50,000 per year. Similar policies were enacted in 2005 by Dartmouth and University of Pennsylvania, which eliminated loans for families whose household income was less than $30,000 and $50,000, respectively.
With a current trend in independent colleges and universities transitioning from loans to grants for students whose annual household income is below $50,000, Wesleyan University is the most recent institution to jump on the financial aid bandwagon.
Source URL:
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/28295
=====================================================================
Duke University Joins Aid Boost Rush
By JUSTIN POPE - Dec 8, 2007
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Duke University on Saturday became the latest elite college to announce a major boost in financial aid. But like even some of its wealthiest peers, it isn't going so far as to guarantee all its students will graduate debt-free.
Instead, Duke - which has a list price of more than $45,000 per year - said it would stop requiring any parental contributions from families earning under $60,000. Students from families earning less than $40,000 will get a full ride, without being asked to take out any loans.
But while better-off students won't have to borrow as much as before, Duke will still ask them to take out some loans. That differs from new policies announced by a handful of prominent colleges recently, including Princeton, Davidson, Amherst and Williams - all of which have replaced loans entirely with grants that don't have to be repaid.
Duke says even with a $5.9 billion endowment, it doesn't have as much to spend per student on financial aid as the schools that have eliminated loans. But even some schools with much bigger endowments than Duke, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford, still ask students to borrow. They argue a degree from an elite school is worth so much over a graduate's lifetime that a small loan is a reasonable investment to require.
At Yale and Stanford, parents earning under $45,000 pay nothing, while at Harvard the threshold is $60,000.
About 40 percent of undergraduates receive aid at Duke, which said total aid spending would rise 17 percent next year to $86 million.
http://www.duke.edu
Here are the excerpts if you wish to learn more:
UPenn to eliminate student loans by 2009
Posted Monday, December 17, 2007 at 11:38 am
PHILADELPHIA Officials at the University of Pennsylvania say they'll begin giving loan-free financial aid packages to eligible undergraduates starting in the fall of 2009.
Penn will phase in the changes next fall by eliminating loans for students with family incomes under $100,000.
At the same time, the Ivy League school will reduce need-based loans by 10 percent for students whose families make more than $100,000.
Penn costs about $46,000 a year for tuition and room and board.
Monday's announcement continues a trend among elite private colleges to replace loans with grants in financial aid packages. Harvard University and Swarthmore College announced similar policies this month.
http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/article.php?id=1288
======================================================================
Published in the Columbia Spectator (http://www.columbiaspectator.com)
Following Princeton, Schools Switch to Grants
By Keren Daskin
Created 11/26/2007
Since Princeton's 2001 debut as the first private university to eliminate loans in favor of grants, many institutions have followed suit.
Although no other Ivy university has replicated Princeton's move to completely eliminate loans in place of grants, in 2006, Columbia replaced loans with grants for families earning under $50,000 per year. Similar policies were enacted in 2005 by Dartmouth and University of Pennsylvania, which eliminated loans for families whose household income was less than $30,000 and $50,000, respectively.
With a current trend in independent colleges and universities transitioning from loans to grants for students whose annual household income is below $50,000, Wesleyan University is the most recent institution to jump on the financial aid bandwagon.
Source URL:
http://www.columbiaspectator.com/node/28295
=====================================================================
Duke University Joins Aid Boost Rush
By JUSTIN POPE - Dec 8, 2007
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Duke University on Saturday became the latest elite college to announce a major boost in financial aid. But like even some of its wealthiest peers, it isn't going so far as to guarantee all its students will graduate debt-free.
Instead, Duke - which has a list price of more than $45,000 per year - said it would stop requiring any parental contributions from families earning under $60,000. Students from families earning less than $40,000 will get a full ride, without being asked to take out any loans.
But while better-off students won't have to borrow as much as before, Duke will still ask them to take out some loans. That differs from new policies announced by a handful of prominent colleges recently, including Princeton, Davidson, Amherst and Williams - all of which have replaced loans entirely with grants that don't have to be repaid.
Duke says even with a $5.9 billion endowment, it doesn't have as much to spend per student on financial aid as the schools that have eliminated loans. But even some schools with much bigger endowments than Duke, including Harvard, Yale and Stanford, still ask students to borrow. They argue a degree from an elite school is worth so much over a graduate's lifetime that a small loan is a reasonable investment to require.
At Yale and Stanford, parents earning under $45,000 pay nothing, while at Harvard the threshold is $60,000.
About 40 percent of undergraduates receive aid at Duke, which said total aid spending would rise 17 percent next year to $86 million.
http://www.duke.edu
FAFSA Guestbook
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May 26, 2010 @ 2:44 am | delete
- Very interesting lens, good advise! Thank you for sharing
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IncreaseYourGPA
Mar 14, 2010 @ 3:27 am | delete
- Nice lens, you've got some good tips in there.
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NatashaBright
Jan 12, 2010 @ 1:14 pm | delete
- This information was really helpful! Thanks!
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alohaitsaj
Jan 3, 2010 @ 1:13 am | delete
- Great lens! If you have a moment, I'd be so appreciative if you would take the time to check out my lens on personal finance tips for college students. :)
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Greetings! My name is Preston Hill and I am glad be of service. This lens was created to help people like myself who want to help their kids thru college.... more »
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