Guide to Education Grants

As the 2006 fall semester comes to an end and the holiday season begins to peak, most college students are probably not spending a lot of time thinking about how they are going to pay for the next school year. However, we are just a few weeks away from the opening day for submitting the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) for 2007-2008. The FAFSA is used to determine a student’s eligibility for grants, scholarships and loans. New applicants and continuing student who need to renew their financial aid can begin to submit the FAFSA on January 1. The sooner students submit their FAFSA, the more likely they will be given priority status and receive the best financial aid packages available. It is also important to note that the many financial aid programs offered through state higher education agencies and individual schools have deadlines that vary greatly throughout the year, so submitting the FAFSA early ensures that students don’t shut themselves out from possible sources of funds.
Although the FAFSA can be a bear to wrestle with, all future and current students are strongly encouraged to spend 60-90 minutes completing the form online at www.fafsa.ed.gov to find out what funds are available to them.  A study conducted by the American Council on Education found that almost one million students who would have been eligible for grants did not receive them simply because they did not apply. The money was there for the taking, but the students just did not reach for it.
Tuition costs are too expensive to leave money on the table. Students need to prepare to grab all the aid that they can possibly get by submitting their FAFSA immediately after January 1.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 17th, 2006 at 9:22 am and is filed under Education Funding News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.