| Financial
Aid & Scholarships
FAFSA:
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid must
be filed by all Year 2 students applying for financial
aid. The FAFSA cannot be submitted before January
1st, but it should be filed immediately thereafter.
Families should use the previous year’s income
tax return forms and estimate, to the best of their
knowledge, any changes. If need be, a FAFSA correction
can be filed once the current year’s tax return
is completed. Students can enter up to six schools
on the FAFSA. Additional schools can be added by
using the FAFSA correction form. Paper FAFSAs wil
be available in the CTO this December. However,
online filing (www.fafsa.ed.gov)
is recommended—it speeds up the financial
aid process significantly.
- EFC: The Estimated
Family Contribution is the amount of money the
federal government determines a family can pay
for college based on the information filed in
the FAFSA. The EFC is the same regardless of variable
tuition, room, board and fees at different schools.
Families can predict their EFCs by going to www.collegeboard.com,
and selecting “College Financing Calculators”
under “Pay for College.” Financial
aid calculators are also available at www.finaid.org.
- SAR:
The Student Aid Report summarizes the information
reported on the FAFSA. If the FAFSA was filed
correctly, the EFC will be included in the SAR.
Schools review a student’s SAR and EFC to
come up with a financial aid package.
CSS Profile:
The College Scholarship Search Profile is an alternative
financial aid form that is required by many private
colleges and universities. The form must be filed
in addition to the FAFSA. It can be filed as early
as this October at www.collegeboard.com
(under “Pay for College”).
Financial
Aid Package: Students receive a letter,
directly from the accepting institution with their
financial aid package. Ideally, the financial aid
package meets the difference between the total cost
of attendance (tuition, room, board, books, fees)
and a families’ EFC. To meet this difference,
colleges offer a combination of some or all of the
items listed below.
1. Scholarships
are funds that do not need to be paid back. Sometimes
scholarships are awarded by the accepting institution.
Students often apply for outside scholarships offered
by community organizations, foundations, corporations,
employers and the like. Scholarship information
is published in the College Notes and is also available
in the CTO.
There are also scholarship
web resources, such as:
2. Grants
are funds that do not need to be paid back and do
not require an application. They are often awarded
by the accepting institution. Depending on need
and eligibility, there are also the following federal
and state grants.
- Federal Pell Grant:
The maximum award for the 2005-06 year was $4,050.
The maximum is subject to change. The amount a
student receives is dependent not only on financial
need, but also the costs to attend school.
- TAP: The New York State Tuition
Assistance Program provides up to $5,000 for New
York residents to attend schools in New York State.
3. Work
Study: A federal program that gives students
financial assistance through campus employment.
4. Loans:
Financial aid that must be paid back
- Stafford Loans: these can be
subsidized (the government pays
the interest while a student is in school) or
unsubsidized (the student pays
all the interest, although they can defer payment
until after graduation). Stafford Loans are awarded
based financial need.
- Perkins Loan: This is awarded to students with
exceptional financial need.
- PLUS Parent Loan
- Private Loans
For further details,
visit: http://www.finaid.org/loans/studentloan.phtml
Student aid packages
can differ significantly and often play an important
role in where a students choose to continue their
education. For this reason, it is important to compare
packages carefully. Advice on comparing packages
is available at: “Comparing Financial Aid
Packages” at www.collegeboard.com.
Financial aid web
resources:
www.studentaid.ed.gov
www.finaid.org
www.collegeboard.com
(“Paying for College” section)
www.hesc.org
www.petersons.com
www.princetonreview.com
www.nycolleges.org
www.foundationcenter.org
www.uncf.org
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