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Choose the best colleges for you FIRST,
then work
on the finances
 Too often, parents have been known to
say, “That school’s too expensive – there’s no way.” But until you apply and get
accepted to a college, you really don't know what the out-of-pocket cost will
be. It’s like the sticker price on a new car – very few people pay out-of-pocket
the full sticker price. So the correct order is:
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You should decide where you want to go to college.
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Fill out the applications and send them in.
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Then begin the work on figuring out the finances.
The real first step in the process
began 16 years ago, when your parents began a college savings fund for you.
Whether or not that is true in your case, most of us actually start the process
with the primary financial aid form:
The Free Application for
Federal Student Aid or FAFSA. The form and
instructions are available online or in paper form in your high school’s
guidance office or a college admissions office.
This form is filled out as soon as you
can into the calendar year you will be starting college (if you’re going to
college in September, 2003, submit the FAFSA form soon after January 1,
2003). Filling out the FAFSA is similar to filling out an income tax form
– not fun to most people, but doable and necessary in order to maximize your
financial aid opportunities. Your parents will need their tax
information and your tax information from the year that just ended to be able to
fill out the FAFSA form. The tax forms themselves do not
have to be completed, though, before you send in the FAFSA.
After you’ve submitted the carefully
completed FAFSA form, in one to four weeks the U.S. Department of
Education will send you your Student Aid Report (SAR), which confirms the
information you sent and tells you your Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
The EFC is part of the equation that the colleges’ financial aid officers will
use to calculate how much federal student aid for which you qualify and what
kind of financial aid “package” the college will offer.
Financial aid breaks down into three
basic categories:
Grants and scholarships
– which is money that does not have to be repaid.
Loans – which is
borrowed money, usually with low interest rates, which must be repaid, in most
cases after you’ve graduated from college (or left college for an extended
length of time).
Work-study – which is
when you work at a job while in college to help pay your college expenses.
Move on to
"Succeeding"
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