<p>I'm a HS senior. Right now should I be applying for external/private scholarships? Then do I fill out FASFA on Jan 1 and send that to my prospective schools? Do I apply for loans after OR before I accept a school? Because, I don't want to accept a school and then get little financial aid.</p>
<p>Just confused about the timeline of things.</p>
<p>You can apply for outside scholarships at any time. Apply to schools this fall and make a note of the deadlines and requirements they post for applying for financial aid. File FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1st. If your schools require CSS Profile you will have to file that too. Schools will send acceptances and then, usually in March/April, they will send financial aid award letters. Pay attention to the deadlines for accepting these awards. After you make your final choice of school you can accept/decline any loans, etc. that they offered. There are steps you have to take to actually get those loans, but that’s the general timeline.</p>
<p>Definitely apply for scholarships ASAP. Especially if you are applying for big national awards - like Coca-Cola Scholars, Kohl’s, Gates Millennium - stuff like that. A lot of pre-freshman scholarships have deadlines around or even before the college deadlines - some of them fall in November and December, so poke around.</p>
<p>The federal loans will be offered to you in the package and you will accept them when that time comes - usually in April. Private loans you will secure after you get your financial aid package and see how much in private loans you actually need to borrow.</p>