There are several websites out there that offer student college financial aids. I am really confused now on the legit place to apply for financial aid. I am a student from NY and planning on 4 yr college in NY. I’ve done some research and asked around school that this is the right place to apply: https://student.collegeboard.org/css-financial-aid-profile
some of my friends said that they apply here: https://fafsa.ed.gov/.
I am really confused on these steps to apply for financial aid and need help to sort things out. College board offer nonfederal aid and fafsa offer federal aid? Pls help.
You need to see which forms your school(s) you are planning on attending requires. This will be listed on the financial aid section of their website. Almost every school in the country will accept the FAFSA, as it issues federal grants and loans based on your family’s income. There are a smaller group of schools that require the FAFSA and the CSS/PROFILE, as they have institutional need based funds to give, so they will do their own aid evaluation using the Profile.
And some schools collect financial information via their own forms. For example, Princeton does not use the Profile…but uses its own form instead. University of Chicago also has its own form.
You do,need to look on each college website asap. See what each college requires for financial aid application submissions…and check the deadlines. Get it all done…and on time.
All your colleges will have a list of required documents. Often there is a timeline of when things are due.
Always fafsa.gov so have your family do tax returns as soon as possible because having that in hand will make filling out fafsa easy. FAFSA will qualify you for federal aid.
We’re in NY too. The FAFSA.gov site is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Fill that out and pay close attention to the last page. If you qualify for state aid, there will be a link to HESC (NYS’s Higher Education Services Corporation) and their TAP form (the NYS Tuition Assistance Program). Make sure to fill that out too. And do check the college websites (find the financial aid page) and see if they require anything else. We haven’t done the CSS (I think those are required by some private schools), but if any of the colleges you’re interested in require it then submit that too.