It’s October, your last year as a highschool student. Unfortunately, it’s also
officially college season. Due to your junior year being so chaotic and busy, you
haven’t had enough time to start working on your college essays or making a list of the colleges you plan on applying to. Unlike you, it seems that a lot of your
classmates have already started working on their college applications and
submitting their college essays for early decision or early action. Seeing that a lot
of your classmates and friends have already had a head start is making you feel
more pressured to start on your college applications. Alongside the pressure and
worry that you feel, many college applications require you to send money and
multiple documents before submitting the actual application. With the college
applications requesting so many things, you don’t even know where to begin!
So what is one of the first things you should start working on? Depending on your
residential status and how much money your family makes annually, you may
qualify for financial aid. Financial aid is money that is used to pay for college,
research, or school supplies. There are many types of financial aid, and within
those types exist loans, grants, work-study, and scholarships. You may be asking
yourself what the difference between all of these types of financial aid is, so let me
explain: loans are borrowed money that students have to repay after a certain amount of years, grants are free money that students can keep, scholarships are awarded to students for being scholars, and work-study is a type of program
offered to help students attend and pay for school while working part-time.
So what programs or forms can I apply to? Every country has their own different
forms of financial aid, and you can just search for them by looking up ‘country
name’ financial aid or ‘university name’ financial aid. In the United States, there is
a federal form that all students eligible can apply to called the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA form is used to determine your eligibility
to get federal aid and you can use your FAFSA data to apply for other loans, grants, and work-study programs. The current FAFSA form deadline is June 30, 2023. However, the FAFSA form is only used for federal aid and public universities, not private universities, which is where the CSS Profile comes into play. The CSS Profile is used to give non-federal aid and it is free for students with a family income that makes up to $100,000 a year. The CSS Profile form may also give you more money than the FAFSA form can, due to FAFSA being federal money. This year’s CSS Profile deadline aligns with college admission deadlines which are between January 1-March 31.
What if I need financial aid but am an International student? In the United States,
international students are not eligible for federal aid (there are some exceptions),
but they can still get institutional aid based on the college they are
applying/attending. Some examples of grants and loans that are offered to
international students are Pell grants, direct subsidized/ unsubsidized student
loans, and Direct PLUS loans.
In conclusion, it is important to understand your financial needs and eligibility for
certain programs. However, it is also important to remember that there will always
be a way to make ends meet and to not just focus on financial need but also think
about the school’s program, student life, location, and other factors.
●An Ultimate Guide to Understanding Financial Aid.(n.d.-b).
Everything You Need to Know to Complete the CSS Profile. (n.d.).Retrieved October 7, 2022, fromhttps://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/articles/everything-you-need-to-know-to-complete-the-css-profile●International Financial Aid Resources and Information. (n.d.).International Student. Retrieved October 7, 2022, fromhttps://www.internationalstudent.com/international-financial-aid/●How international students can get financial aid. (n.d.). NovaCredit. Retrieved October 7, 2022, fromhttps://www.novacredit.com/resources/financial-aid-for-international-students/