I’m a upcoming senior, and I’m curious about how to apply for financial aids or loans for college. Where do you even start? And how does it work when you apply for loans/financial aid.
You will be applying for colleges in the fall and winter.
You need to access the website for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA): https://fafsa.gov .
Create an account and fill out the information and save as you go. Have your parents’ tax information available. Turn in the information according to deadline dates.
You may or may not qualify for Federal student aid, but many colleges use this application information to see if you qualify for other aids and scholarships at their universities.
The best and most aid comes from the universities themselves.
Many posters on this site have lots of helpful information. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Thank thank you so much.
The odds are good that your guidance counselor has a list of local scholarships. They’ll either post it on the school website or send you bulletins.
You need to check the websites for EACH separate college you apply to. The FAFSA will likely be required by all of them. There are schools that also require the CSS Profile, and others that have their own forms. In addition there are colleges that have other required submissions to be considered for financial aid.
Make sure you also check the deadlines for all of these submissions! Don’t miss the deadlines at all!
The FAFSA and Profile forms will be online and available for submission on October 1. You will be using income tax year 2017 when you complete the 2019-2020 forms. So…get those tax forms at the ready.
Complete and submit these forms as soon as you can after October 1.
As noted, the best scholarships come directly from the colleges. Same with need based aid.
There is a Net Price Calculator on each college website that will be updated for the 2019-2020 school year sometime during the summer. But you can run them now for an estimate of your net costs at each school. These are closer to accurate if your parents have income from w-2 forms. If your parents are self employed, own a business, are divorced, or own real estate in addition to your primary residence…the NPCs might not be so accurate.
Many schools do not take excused like ‘my computer jammed’ or ‘I lost power at midnight.’ Pay attention to the deadlines. Have all paperwork submitted. Too many California kids miss the March 1 (or sometimes March 2) deadline and it costs them thousands of dollars.