Take Advantage of These 3 Types of Aid
Extra Help: College Admissions
Helping parents get their teen to college
College is expensive, but families can rely on grants and scholarships, work-study aid, and student loans to make it more affordable.
To receive aid from the federal government, families must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Additionally, many colleges ask that families submit the CSS Profile or complete additional applications for institutional scholarships.
The financial aid process could be its own college course – it’s got a language of its own and requires significant research and time to master. Maximize the amount of aid your teen receives by avoiding these 10 common FAFSA mistakes and learning more about the types of aid available. Grants and scholarships, for example, do not need to be repaid, while some student loans must be repaid in full and others can be forgiven eventually.
This is a bonus edition of Extra Help. Have questions about how to apply for financial aid not answered here? Send them here: edunewsletters@usnews.com.
This edition of the newsletter was written by Emma Kerr. The U.S. News Education newsletter team is Josh (@byJoshMoody) and Emma (@emmarkerr).
GET AN A+ IN FINANCIAL AID
Grant and scholarship aid is the most desirable form of financial aid, experts say, so be sure your teen avoids these common mistakes when applying for scholarships. One major pitfall: Reusing essays for multiple scholarships.
The federal work-study program allows students to earn money to pay for college. Learn more about how students can qualify for work-study and how much a student can earn.
If your family is considering student loans, be sure to borrow a manageable amount. For the first time in at least 10 years of data that U.S. News has collected, the average total student debt among recent college graduates who borrowed to pay for school exceeded $30,000, setting a new record high.
About one-third of FAFSA applications are selected for verification, which requires families to provide documentation like tax return transcripts or a signed copy of the necessary income tax return. Be ready in case it happens to you by doing these four things.
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"We hear from borrowers every day who cannot afford their student loan payments, who cannot put food on the table… When you look at the most distressed student loan borrowers who are in default, they are often in the single digits, less than $10,000."
- Cody Hounanian, program director of nonprofit advocacy group Student Debt Crisis.
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Do you have a question about the college admissions process? Write to us at edunewsletters@usnews.com and we'll answer submitted questions in a future edition of Extra Help.
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