Financial Aid?

I am a junior in high school and I want to go to college after graduation next year, but my parents don’t have a lot of money. How can I get financial aid so I can go to college?

Henry, New York, New York

There are several important steps that you can begin taking during your junior year, towards getting financial aid for college from a variety of sources.

First, I recommend filling out the FAFSA4caster at http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov with your parents. The FAFSA4caster is a simple online form that is similar to the real FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid, http://www.fafsa.gov), which you will have to fill out when you are officially applying for financial aid with a college. The FAFSA4caster will allow your family to see what kind of federal financial aid you will qualify for when you are applying to college during your senior year. Also, colleges use the results of the FAFSA to determine your institutional aid, should they offer it.

Another important step that you can begin in your junior year is researching the types of financial aid that are available at the schools that you are interested in. Different schools will offer you different financial aid packages if you are accepted, which you can compare when making a decision about which college to go to. Some schools offer sports scholarships for athletes, or merit scholarships based on things like your high school GPA or SAT/ ACT scores. Others have policies that qualify them as “need blind” and/or “full need”, which is a popular phrase right now among most private schools. When a school declares itself “need blind”, they are vowing to applicants that their financial situation will have no effect on their application to the school, and some also promise to meet their full demonstrated financial need based on the results of their FAFSA. Be sure to investigate if the school you are applying to is “need blind” or offers a “full need” package.

When it comes time to apply to college, don’t forget to make sure you meet the deadlines for financial aid applications, which are often separate from the deadlines for the general application. Also, be sure and get your FAFSA in on time. (There is more information on the website about dates and availability.)

The last thing that I would recommend you do during your junior year is begin to research and apply for scholarships from independent organizations. Many non-for-profits, community foundations, businesses, etc. offer scholarships to students in small amounts that can really add up and be a huge help with expenses! The deadlines and requirements for these scholarships vary depending on the organization, so start researching now to make sure you don’t miss out on the opportunity to apply. At the bottom of this entry I have included a list of national scholarships you can apply for as a junior or even sophomore, while many require you to wait for your senior year. These are only national ones, so be sure and research those in your area.

A tool that I found useful when applying for scholarships was to print out a basic, blank calendar and fill in all of the deadline dates. That way they were easy to keep track of.

**I strongly advise you to check with the schools you are applying to regarding their policies about local scholarships, because many of the “full need” schools will reject other forms of scholarships, as they are already agreeing to meet your full demonstrated need.

-Ali

Some national scholarships you can apply for before senior year:

Discover Scholarship Program

Best Buy Scholarship Program

Ayn Rand Essay Contest

Signet Classics Essay Contest

NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund Scholarship

Apple of the Year Art Competition

Holocaust Remembrance Essay Contest

National Peace Essay Contest

Scholarship Experts Scholarship

American Planning Association Essay Contest