Financial aid is one of the first solutions to paying for college and can come from the the government as well as the college you are applying to. Each year students are required to fill out the FAFSA form. This form is available online and should be completed between January 1 and March 1 of the year which you intend to receive financial aid. If you submit the form later than March 1 chances are you will still receive financial aid, but you will receive a minimum amount due to financial aid being allocated to those college students who have submitted there form on time. Be sure to use only the website that we provide to fill out the FAFSA form because other sites may mimic the official form in order to steal your credit information! To prevent this make sure that the website you use has the .gov (stands for government) extension and nothing else.

You will need to acquire all of your financial information prior to filling out the FAFSA form so that you can complete it in a timely fashion. You should also file your income taxes prior to filing out the FAFSA form because you will need this information to complete the form. You will need the income tax information for the you (the student) and BOTH parents (if your parents are separated you may use your step parent's information), recent bank statement for current available account balance, current investment statements for stocks, bonds and other investments, and an estimated net worth value for parents and the student. The government will then use the information you provide on the form to determine how much financial aid you are eligible for.

Because your parents' financial information is included on this form it will be the main factor used to determine the amount of financial aid you are eligible for. This is why your parents are the most important people during the financial aid process. Regardless of whether you parents can help you to pay for college or not, their financial information will be the determining factor to you receiving financial aid from the government. This is very beneficial to students whose parents have low combined annual income, but if your parents are considered to have an average or fairly good annual income then little help is provided through financial aid. This means that if your parents are considered to be in a comfortable financial situation you may receive little financial help from the goverment. Is this fair? Probably not, but this is how the system works.

Other forms of financial aid can be provide by the college that you are planning to attend. All colleges have different programs and ways of providing students with financial aid so it's hard to talk about all of them here. We can however give you information about financial aid in the form of work study programs, loan forgiveness, and scholarly assistance.

Work Study

Work study programs provide you with financial aid through part-time work that you perform throughout the semester. This type of financial aid can be received on a university level or a government level. If your college or university offers a work study program it will be in the form a working somewhere within the college to receive a discount or a free pass. College work study programs include working as an RA (resident assistant) in the college dorms and receiving free room and board for the year, or working in a college cafeteria in exchange for receiving free meals for the year. There are main other forms of work study financial aid available but they are usually college specific so check with you college from more work study opportunities.

The government offers a work study financial aid program through different colleges and universities. You should ask your financial aid advisor if their college participates in this government program and how you can apply for the work study financial aid program. For more information on the government work study financial aid program click here to visit the official website.

Loan Forgiveness

Loan forgiveness is a program in which the government will reduce or eliminate the amount of money you owe on your student loans. There are a few ways in which you can receive loan forgiveness. Usually people who perform volunteer work or are enrolled in military services receive loan forgiveness. Teaching in your field once you have graduated is another great way to receive government loan forgiveness. To find out how you can participate in volunteering work that will count towards loan forgiveness visit AmeriCorps. For more information on military service you can visit the Military website.

Scholarly assistance

Your high school grades DO count when you apply for college and they could actually be worth a lot of money! Scholarly assistance happens on a college level, so the college that you are attending could give you money towards your tuition costs based on your high school grades. You will also continue to receive money towards you college tuition as long as you keep your grades above a specified GPA each semester. You will need to talk to you college's financial aid advisor for more information about scholarly assistance as it is college based.

Best grant and scholarship books to purchase

These two books are among the best resources for finding and applying for grants. They list grants by state, major of interest, and more in about 1000+ pages.

Purchase on of the following books for more information on paying for college

Other Resources and free downloads:

Financial Aid Scholarships Student Loans College Search College Cost Calculator The Common College Application

The Official US Department of Education's Student Funding PDF for 2008-09