Hello everyone, this is my first ever post on CC.
Every day, my parents keep telling me to apply to schools that can offer me lots and lots of financial aid/scholarships. I reply “okay” but in reality, I have no clue how any of the stuff work. Like, do you have to request for a financial aid or does the college offer you one when they look at your college app? (assuming you have a good SAT/ACT score and GPA)
And second, I have heard a lot about someone getting accepted to a school with an early admission/decision but I have no clue what it means. Does it mean that that person sent in the application early to JUST that college?
Can anyone please, please clarify to me how both of these work?
Any help would be greatly appreciated 
Early Action vs. Early Decision:
https://professionals.collegeboard.com/guidance/applications/early
In a nutshell, EA is non-binding so you can EA to many schools (though some schools will only allow you to EA to their school and no others), ED is binding (meaning you have to go there if accepted), so you can only ED to one school
As for financial aid. You can go to the school websites you are interested in and run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) to find out what kind of aid you would most likely get at that school. However, you would need to know some of your parent’s financial information. You also want to see what kind of merit scholarships there are. You apply for financial aid separately from your admissions. For merit scholarships some are automatically from your admissions application, and some have their own application (and deadlines!). You have to check each one.
There is a plethora of information on the web and on these boards…you should read to get a basic understanding and then come back with specific questions.
Thank you! I had no idea how this website functioned so I just decided write down my thread. I’ll make sure to read around the website next time
No harm…I tried to give you a quick/short answer, but there is lots to learn, so my advice is to go learn what you can and then post specific questions you can’t find the answer to. This is also the kind of thing you can learn from admissions talks when you tour colleges and (hopefully!) from your guidance counselor.
What year are you? If you are a rising senior, you better learn quick! If you are younger than that, you have time…
Three suggestions – number one repost your query on the financial aid form.
There are lots of experience parents there who will be happy to help you.
Number two - what are your stats? SAT, GPA ?
If you are senior did you take the PSAT? And does your score put you above the national merit cut off number for your state?
If the answer to the above two questions is yes ,
then there are lots of universities that will offer you merit scholarships.
If you are a rising junior, then you should study hard this summer for the PSAT. Find a high score you can take in October if your high school does not offer it.
Khan Academy has some free online study sessions that can help you to prepare.
That one test can mean the difference between hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merit aid and none.
Number three. And this is REALLY important – you need to sit your parents down and have the MONEY talk NOW.
You need to find out exactly how much money they can afford to pay each year for you to go to college.
Applying to colleges that you can’t possibly afford will do you no good.
So as uncomfortable as this will be, find a time and ask your parents to please fill you in on the reality. They will need to give you all that information so you can fill out the FAFSA and PROFILE applications in order to for you to qualify for financial aid.
Many private colleges require you to fill out the profile application – it will say so on their financial aid page.
Get going! And get back to us with your information.