Don't Forget Fafsa If You're College-bound

If you're a high school student completing your junior year or starting your senior year, it's never too soon to start thinking about some kind of financial aid if you're considering college or career school. When thinking about the cost of higher education, many students - and parents - think scholarship first when it comes to footing the bill for college. But there are other ways to fund a college education. One of the best sources for financial aid is still the United States government.

According to studentaid.ed.gov, a student aid portal administered by the U.S. Department of Education, the Federal government remains the single largest source of student aid in America. Grants, work-study programs and loans - these are the three main student aid programs - pay out more than 80 billion dollars annually in aid to high school grads who are willing to learn first in order to earn more later.

Having a good general overview of the three types of aid available from the Federal government is an key prerequisite for filling out the FAFSA, also called the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The qualifying process for Federal student financial aid requires all high school graduates to complete and submit a FAFSA application.

Student aid from the Federal government comes in three basic forms: grants, work-study programs, and loans. The types of aid vary with respect to the dollar value of the aid you receive and whether or not the financial aid must be repaid. Grants do not require repayment, nor do work-study programs, which pay an hourly wage or salary for work performed. Loans, on the other hand, must be repaid, just like a car loan or home mortgage, over a period ranging from 10 to 25 years.

Within this general three-tiered framework, there are several types of grant and loan programs. Many people have heard of a specific type of grant, the Federal Pell Grant, which is generally regarded as the foundation of the Federal student aid program. Other less well-known grants include the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG), the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG), and the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant, a long name that is usually shortened to the National SMART Grant.

There are different loan formats, too. The direct Stafford loan, in which the lender is the Department of Education, is probably the best-known example of this kind of Federal student aid. Depending on the amount of their loan and the payment plan they choose, recipients of a direct Stafford loan have between ten and twenty-five years to repay the government.

With only a pair of exceptions, the amount of Federal student aid you can receive is determined by your financial need. This amount is calculated by subtracting your Expected Family Contribution, or EFC, from the cost of attendance at a college or career school. Your EFC is calculated according to a formula established by Federal law using the information you supply on your FAFSA, including factors like family income, family assets and benefits like unemployment or Social Security. The Federal government informs you of your EFC on your Student Aid Report, or SAR. You'll receive your SAR after the government has processed your FAFSA application.

If all this sounds too intricate, the government has a number of outstanding resources to help you make sense of Federal student aid programs. One of the best resources is the website mentioned earlier in this article, studentaid.ed.gov. Another is "Funding Education Beyond High School", a free 60-page guide available for download at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Delve into these resources as soon as possible in your senior year of high school in order to have the best chance of receiving Federal student aid.