Every year, the federal government spends more than $86 billion to help young people go to college. As the single largest provider of student aid in the world, the US federal government offers grants, fellowships, loans and work study programs.

Your key to this massive treasure chest is the FAFSA, otherwise known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The application, which can be filled out on paper or on-line, calculates your family's ability to pay for your college degree. Calculations are based on income, assets and other factors, such as the number of additional dependents in college.

The FAFSA is used not only by the federal government to determine your aid eligibility, but also by your college or university to allocate its own scholarships, plus state and private assistance.

In short, the FAFSA is the most important document you will fill out in your quest for college – second only, perhaps, to the college application form. To maximize your award, follow these four easy tips for filing your FAFSA:

# 1. Be Prepared
Before you even start filling in your FAFSA, make sure you have gathered all the required materials, including:

• Social security cards

• Income tax returns from the previous tax year

• Your spouse’s documents – if you are married; your parents’ documents – if you are a dependent

• Current bank, mortgage and investment statements

#2. Beat the (Filing) Buzzer
The FAFSA’s deadline is June 30th, but many schools offer "priority processing deadlines". In other words, getting in your FAFSA early will qualify you for first-come, first-serve aid through your college. Therefore, aim to return your completed FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1st.

#3. Be Pedantic About the Particulars
Double and triple check the accuracy of the information on the FAFSA, because even minor mistakes can cause costly delays. Be on the look out for these common errors:

• Use only your legal name

• Confirm all social security numbers

• Count yourself as one of the members of your household attending college during the award year

• If your parents are divorced and remarried, include your step-parents' income and assets

#4. Go Virtual
Applying on-line is faster – not to mention preferred, by a growing number of colleges and universities. To apply on-line, go to the FAFSA site. In lieu of signing your application, the on-line FAFSA requires a secure, individual PIN number, which you can apply for here.

May 14, 2006

The First Rule of Financial Aid is to apply! It should be rule number two and three as well, it's that important.

Why is it so important? Because you will never know how much money you can receive until you apply, if you don't apply you are guaranteed nothing. This may seem quite obvious but a recent article in the WTOP (Capital News) has shown that lower income earning families are not applying for federal aid.

The FAFSA can be a pain to fill out but think of how much more of a pain trying to juggle all your debt will be down the road. Federal aid comprises the bulk of financial aid so filling out the FAFSA is a good idea. The form is now online and the FAFSA website can be read in both Spanish and English. In addition there is information that will help you to fill the thing out.

The WTOP article brought up another good point: don't wait until the deadline has passed. This may seem like common sense but there are a lot of people that wait until the deadline has passed and then apply. When their bill comes around they are surprised at the amount but since the deadline passed they really never applied, pay attention to those due dates!

Don't let the sticker price scare you off and if your reading this article your on the right path to find money for school. But make sure you apply for aid at every kind of school, whether it be private, public, community or trade get your application for aid in and try to do it as early in the game as you can.

Student Financial Aid >>>

May 4, 2006

Throughout most of the application process the potential student is courting the college but as a recent article in the New York Times points out, when decision making time approaches the roles are reversed.

Some schools will lay on the charm extra thick to entice students to choose their acceptance. Personal e-mails, letters, phone calls from Professors, small receptions are all just a few examples of how the college will court their acceptees. According to some college admission staff high quality students have more options to choose from because they are applying to more schools, therefore to them it is increasingly important to lay it on thick.

I don't know about you but I missed the boat when it came to personal invites to sail on the dean of admissions yacht before I made my decision on where I ended up. But if it had happened I'm pretty sure I would have based my decision on which school was going to cost the least.

April 26, 2006

It's a tough time to be applying for college these days. Not only are college tuition rising but the number of applicants are increasing in droves while the number of spots for admittance are staying the same.

This translates into lower admission rates and a sharp increase in competition. Enter the new college counselor or the Independent College Consultants.

College Consultants are offering their services to parents and their high school students to help these kids get an edge over the competition. The consultants look at scores, admission rates, geographic representation, extra curriculum and diversity factors to determine which colleges need the kind of students their clients represent.

The college consultants spend quality time with their clients but it comes at a hefty price. Enough research and time can accomplish the same thing for any student or parent who really does their homework but many parents and student s claim that paying someone else to do this time consuming research is worth the large sum the consultants charge.

Contact your local high school college counselor for information on where to find a college consultant or perform a search on google or your favorite search engine.

The Alaska Travel Industry Association or ATIA Foundation is currently offering fourteen academic scholarships to individuals who wish to pursue a career in tourism. The awards total $25,000 for the selected students.
The applications are due at the ATIA Foundation office by April 17th, 2006. You may contact David Lee (907) 646-3303, for more information or go the ATIA website by clicking here.

February 13, 2006

Many gay students in the past have tried to downplay their sexual orientation when trying to earn scholarships or grants. Today the number of scholarships for gay students are on the rise.

Organizations such as the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association offers various student awards and scholarships for aspiring gay and lesbian journalists. With some dedicated research gay students can find a plethora of scholarship opportunities. Many private donors to organizations that offer the scholarship cite the lack of help and support they had when they were going through the process.

It is always a good idea to be specific as possible when applying for scholarships and grants. Embracing and capitalizing on what makes you different will open up a whole new range of scholarships that may be closed to may others.

February 9, 2006

At least 175,000 people are denied federal financial aid due to prior drug offenses according to a recent article in Yahoo News. However, the Budget Reconciliation Act that was just passed has provided a provision to allow students who have drug offenses a new chance at federal student financial aid.

The provision is targeted at older non-traditional students. Federal Financial aid forms began requesting information on convictions in the year 2000. Individual states vary in how their policies for distributing aid to drug offenders.

January 30, 2006

If you are a student you may already be conscious of your grades for college entrance purposes. One more reason to keep those grades up is the correlation between grades and financial aid.

Students don't have to be the valedictorian or the next Rhodes Scholar but good grades will equal more money. A combination of good grades & early application for financial aid is a wonderful formula for gaining financial aid. Scholarships and grants also come more easily to students who have shown hard work through good grades. If you plan early enough and study hard to receive good grades there is no reason you should not be able to gain thousands of dollars in financial aid.

January 30, 2006

The sticker price of tuition is increasingly a scary prospect. How on earth do these schools expect people to pay more than the average median income of a U.S. family?

And more importantly why must they charge these prices?

There really is no simple answer to those questions. The main thing to remember is not to get discouraged because financial aid is available and will heavily lighten the financial load families and students must bear. Tuition sticker prices are not carved in stone and can be etched away by finding the right financial aid avenues to follow.

Colleges and Universities are in a constant state of competition for top students. Therefore, they are always trying to "one up" the competition by offering bigger and better programs, buildings, educators etc. And although any given university or college may seem very well off the reality is they don't have the money to spend that they are spending. The result is extremely high tuition and fees.

January 25, 2006

The Academic Common Market is an organization that sets up exchange programs for students between a league of mutually recognized states.

Students who are planning on studying a subject that is not offered by their state school may attend an out of state school for in state tuition. The school must already have an exchange program set up with your state.

Not every state participates in this program and as stated earlier the academic program the student wishes to study must NOT be offered by the student's state schools. The Academic Common Market is not commonly publicized and will require some research. You can try doing a Google search by typing in your state and the words: academic, common, market. Most high school guidance counselors and college financial aid offices will have information on this subject so it would be a good idea to check with them as well.

Participating in this program could save you thousands of dollars a year, well worth looking into. The Academic Common Market is also great for those students who are determined to leave their home state.