The 2008 FAFSA will not be available until after January 1, 2008; in-house applications are usually available around October/November.

Most schools will have a “priority” or “on-time” deadline sometime in the spring (March/April) for your financial application to be submitted and complete. So, while the FAFSA is available in January, you and your parents have time to complete the tax paperwork that will be required for filling out the FAFSA.

The FAFSA will generate an EFC (Expected Family Contribution) and schools will use that in conjunction with the COA (Cost of Attendance) to determine what financial aid you will be offered (grants, institutional scholarships, loans). You can aslo start applying now for outside scholarships. Some sites to begin your search are here:

College Board Homepage

www.collegeboard.org

FastWEB

www.fastweb.com

Free Scholarship Search

www.freschinfo.com

Gates Millennium Scholars Program

www.gmsp.org

If you already know the school(s) you want to apply to, go ahead and get in contact with a finanical aid officer for more information (forms that need to be completed, application deadlines, etc.).

Good luck!

First, complete the FAFSA form in January or early February. It can qualify you for the Pell Grant (dependent on income), federal campus work study program (income throughout the school year), need based college scholarships from the college’s endowment fund), and student loans (can opt out of it). It needs to be completed every year until you graduate from college with your degree.

Second, pay attention to the morning announcements for financial aid night. There is a ton of information that night.

Third, even though your guidance counselor might not have any information, your high school guidance office might have a list of local scholarships. These are the easiest to get out of all the scholarships out there.

Fourth, the local public library has a book listing scholarships with some not even listed on the web.

Fifth, search Google.com and Yahoo.com for state scholarships and grants based on your GPA.

Finally, join several free membership scholarship search websites. Most offer a customized search based on the information you enter into the form. There is a scholarship for almost anything out there including wearing duct tape to the high school prom.

Good luck!

Unless you are able to obtain a scholarship for athletics, music or some specific honors program, usually scholarships won’t cover the entire cost.

Here is a general guide of what you should do:

First, complete the online application for federal student loans located at http://fafsa.ed.gov

Then contact the school(s) you wish to attend and see if they have any specific work/study, scholarships, grants.

Start your search for general scholarships, there are thousands of them available, its just a matter of finding them. Most use a scholarship search engine website like Prgram Advisor, Fast Web or Scholarship Experts. You can find links to all of them at http://www.ReviewScholarships.com

Don’t forget to check you local area for scholarships. Contact the VFW, American Legion, Lions Club, Optimist Club, Chambers of Commerce. Any civic or professional organization you can find as they may have some scholarships that don’t get a lot of attention available.

If you find that after all of this you are still short money for books, rent, utilities etc… apply for a private student loan. You can apply online anytime. You should try a couple places, the ones I typically recommend are Chase Bank, you can reach them through http://www.usadegrees.com/chase/ and Student Loan Advisors at http://www.StudentLoanAdvisors.com/

That is a general outline, but be sure to think outside the box when it comes to looking for money for college… ask other student show they pay for school when you are doing a campus visit.

Good luck!

It’s a great source of scholarships and grants.

I hope it will you to find out some scholarships.