2:58 AM - College Prep Los Angeles -Applying for College Financial Aid is a lot easier Than You Would Imagine!
The
ever-increasing cost of college tuition has caused many people
to throw away their dreams of attending college. Desperate for
money, more and more people are turning to minimum wage jobs
after high school, instead of trying to go through college due
to high expenses and no means to pay their way. Unfortunately
there are still many people out there who are completely
unaware of all the different options for
college financial
aid
that are available to them. If you are one of those people
struggling with the decision of whether or not to try and get a
college degree, don't despair! There is a solution out there -
you just may need to do a little extra digging.
If
you feel you are in over your head trying to figure out how to
get yourself into college, your local
college prep Los
Angeles
counselor should have several resources available to help
you achieve your goals of becoming a college graduate. Starting
out on your own can be a bit scary when attempting to wade
through the waters of college tuition. Ahead you will find some
guidance on how to begin this journey - and hopefully you will
avoid the sharks.
First,
get your finances in order - gather as many details of your own
personal finances as possible. Basically, filling out a
financial aid application is very much similar to filing your
annual taxes. The government needs to know why you would
qualify for college financial aid so you need to provide any
information that will help you get the money you need. This
means making all of your income, places of employment, parents,
and/or dependents information ready and easily accessible for
the purpose of completing the application. That's right, even
if you are over 18 you will need both of your parents (or at
least one, if they are divorced) financial information in order
to properly apply for financial aid. In fact, your parents'
information is required on every college application for
financial aid until after you turn 23 years old. The government
will then use all of these statistics to determine how much you
will actually be expected to pay yourself and how much aid you
will be awarded.
The
next step is going online and filling out the FAFSA (Free
Application for Federal Student Aid). This is by far the
easiest and most effective way to get all aid you need and you
do not need to fill out multiple forms. The earlier you get
this done (BEFORE the deadline) the more it will benefit you.
The faster you can get your hands on your SAR (Student Aid
Report), the easier it will be for you to map out your
educational finances.
Check
out
www.collegemadeeasy.org
for any further questions that you have about this process or
attending college in general.