subject: Financial Aid to Help With College [print this page] If you are looking for financial aid for your college education, you will need submit an student aid application, or a FAFSA, to the federal government. You must submit this application as early as January first the year before you attend college, but submitting it as early as possible is definitely recommended. You must resubmit your FAFSA yearly with updated income and need amounts or you will lose your financial aid. The Department of Education receives each request and then informs the student of how much aid they are eligible for and what percentage of this aid is given in grants and what percentage is in loans. The Pell Grant is a well known grant given by the Federal government. For a while, due to financial constraints, the government had to cease awarding these, but they have recently been brought back.
Federal Stafford loans are popular loans for students with low interest rates, as well as deferred pay back dates that can be held until the student is out of school and has their first job outside of college. In addition to looking at the student's expected contribution, they also determine how much they expect a student's parents to contribute to the education, and also offer government based loans to the student's parents. The student can claim complete independence from their parents in order for their income to not be taken into account, but this means that the parents will not be able to count them as a dependent on their tax return. In addition to the Federal Department of Education there are also state and local departments that have their own Department of Education, which also gives money to students. Normally, each state has their own grant fund, but most do not have a loan program in place. Of course, a student is awarded financial aid based on the tuition and boarding costs for their college or university of choice, so the amounts will vary from school to school.
