<p>Hi, I'm a rising senior in California. I'll be applying to a few Ivies and other privates, along with three of the UC's. I'm currently aware of:</p>
<p>-FAFSA (Jan 1)
-CSS Profile (Oct 1st)
-State financial form..</p>
<p>What other important aid should I be aware of? Do privates and UC's offer other significant financial aid?</p>
<p>Those are the typical forms. </p>
<p>However, each school may have its own FA forms. if there’s a non-custodial parent, then his family’s income will also get included at ivies and some other schools.</p>
<p>UC’s typically only offer significant aid to low incomes of Calif residents. Are you low income?</p>
<p>How much will your parents pay each year?</p>
<p>What are your stats?
**
What schools will be your financial safety schools<a href=“schools%20that%20you%20KNOW%20for%20sure%20that%20you%20can%20afford%20because%20you%20know%20that%20costs%20will%20get%20covered%20by%20assured%20grants,%20assured%20merit,%20and/or%20family%20funds?”>/B</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Those are financial aid application FORMS…they do not GIVE aid. The aid will be awarded by your colleges, not by the Profile or the FAFSA folks. The FAFSA calculations are primarily used to determine the awarding of federally funded need based aid. The Profile is primarily used to determine the funding of institutional need based aid.</p>
<p>If you are a resident of CA, and your income is below a certain amount, you might qualify for a Cal Grant…only residents of CA can apply for this. </p>
<p>You need to check EACH COLLEGE’s website for required financial aid application forms and supporting materials (some schools require signed tax returns and all schedules for example). And check the deadlines for submission and DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES. Check each school…these vary wildly by school.</p>
<p>Many colleges award merit scholarships. Sometimes these go only to students with demonstrated need; often they go to any applicant that the college is eager to attract. Merit scholarships can range from about $1000 up to full tuition + room, board, and other benefits.</p>
<p>BUT … here’s the tricky part: Many merit scholarships require no separate application. All candidates for admission are automatically considered. But some merit scholarships DO require a separate application and, occasionally, even a nomination from your school beforehand.</p>
<p>You really need to be a detective and read college Web sites carefully to see what merit awards are offered and what you have to do to get them. This can involve a major treasure hunt because scholarship information isn’t always in an obvious place on college Web sites. This is especially important if you are applying to colleges that require a separate application for the best merit scholarships.</p>
<p>There are a number of good threads on College Confidential that discuss merit aid and list colleges with the biggest merit scholarships. For instance, this thread lists institutions with full-tuition merit opportunities: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/211927-institutional-merit-based-scholarships-full-tuition.html</a></p>
<p>Unfortunately, the whole merit aid process can be very frustrating. Not only is it hard to flush out the list of merit awards on college Web sites, but also, even after you do, it’s often tough to assess how much you might actually receive since the language that describes the award winners–and the amount they get–is often vague (e.g., “The Dwight Schrute Scholarships, which range from $2,500 to full-tuition, are awarded to applicants who have shown outstanding commitment to both academics and to their school community.”) Hmmm … kind of hard to figure out who qualifies, eh?</p>
<p>“The Dwight Schrute Scholarships, which range from $2,500 to full-tuition, are awarded to applicants who have shown outstanding commitment to both academics and to their school community.”) Hmmm … kind of hard to figure out who qualifies, eh?</p>
<p>Beet farmers of course! ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Looks like someone made it to the end of my long post without falling asleep. ;)</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies.</p>
<p>I also made it to the end of your helpful post :)</p>
<p>Thanks, Luminouzz. Here’s another idea: If you haven’t done so already, fill out the free questionnaire at FastWeb.com.</p>
<p>This will alert you to private scholarships for which you may be eligible. The FastWeb scholarship database includes scholarship options based on all sorts of criteria–from where you live to your ethnic background to your parent(s)’ place of employment. Of course, there are also those awarded for the most common reasons (academics and special talents). The dollar amounts range from small to very large, so you’ll obviously have to expect a lot of competition for the biggies. Some of the scholarships you’ll find on FastWeb require minimal effort to apply while others may make you jump through lots of hoops. So you can review the list and see which ones cry out to you.</p>
<p>But two key things to keep in mind as you proceed:</p>
<p>1) In most cases, the best financial aid comes from the colleges themselves and not from outside sources.</p>
<p>2) If you do win an outside scholarship, some colleges will lop the amount right off of your financial aid award. Most commonly, the scholarship amount will be deducted from whatever loans the college plans to give you, so that’s not a problem. But sometimes the outside scholarship amount is deducted from the *grant<a href=“i.e.,%20the%20good%20stuff%20that%20you%20don’t%20have%20to%20pay%20back”>/i</a> that the college had already offered. This doesn’t happen a lot, but you do need to approach the outside-scholarship search process with an awareness that it can happen.</p>
<p>Don’t forget the American Opportunity Tax Credit of up to $2500.
There are some qualifications for the credit and it is only authorized through 2010, but in all likelihood will be extended in one form or another.</p>
<p>Can someone explain what CSS is… and where can one obtain Student loans with a (relatively) low interest rate?</p>
<p>D: Man this college thing is complicated :p</p>