Student Financial Aid

What is Student Financial Aid? 
A Financial aid is money given in the form of loans, grants, scholarships or work-study jobs to students to help pay for college tuition. Grants and scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit or need and do not have to be repaid. Loans are money borrowed from banks or other institutions that have to be repaid. In a work-study program, the student has to work for a certain number of hours per week to earn money for college expenses. 
 

The best place to look for grants and scholarships is at the colleges that the student is applying to. Besides colleges, a wide variety of private and public companies, associations and foundations offer merit scholarships and grants. All grants and scholarships have eligibility criteria that the student must satisfy. The financial aid could be of two types: merit-based and need-based. The main provider of need-based financial aid is the federal government followed by colleges. 

The federal government's aid application is known as the FAFSA, which stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The federal government and colleges use the FAFSA when federal funds are being distributed. When colleges distribute their own financial aid, they use the PROFILE application, created by the College Scholarship Service of Princeton, New Jersey. Some colleges use their own institutional applications. 

When you want to apply for student aid, talk to the financial aid administrator at your college or career school of your choice to determine your cost of attendance (COA). This will determine how much money you will need to pay for your college education. The COA is the total amount it will cost a student to go to school and is usually expressed as an annual figure. The COA includes tuition and fees; on-campus room and board or housing and food allowance for off-campus students; and allowances for books, supplies, transportation, loan fees, and dependent care; costs related to a disability; and miscellaneous expenses, including an allowance for the rental or purchase of a personal computer.

While you can apply for financial aid any time after January 1, to actually receive the funds you must be admitted and enrolled at a university. Most financial aid offices require that you apply for financial aid for each year of your college to determine if your financial circumstances have changed. 

Student loans are loans offered to students to assist in payment of the costs of professional education. These loans usually charge lower interest than other loans, and are also usually issued by the government and could be either given to the students directly or to their parents.

The Work-Study Program provides jobs for undergraduate and graduate students with financial need and allows them to earn money to help pay their education expenses. The program encourages community service work and work related to the student’s course of study.