Confused about Financial Aid? Get the Answers Here!

[apples]

OK, I've tried to learn about financial aid, but I still am utterly confused. I don't have a financial aid counselor, and there isn't any financial aid night in my school either. So I have no idea about the financial aid system.
So please can someone explain the whole system?
What I understood is that there are the types of aid
1) Scholarship
2) Grants
3) Loans

Am I right?
And you have to return the loans in some time span wit some interest. Right?
Can someone just explain the whole thing.

 

[ice109]

OK, I've tried to learn about financial aid, but I still am utterly confused. I don't have a financial aid counselor, and there isn't any financial aid night in my school either. So I have no idea about the financial aid system.
So please can someone explain the whole system?
What I understood is that there are the types of aid
1) Scholarship
2) Grants
3) Loans

Am I right?
And you have to return the loans in some time span wit some interest. Right?
Can someone just explain the whole thing.

fill out your fafsa, you'll either get grants + subsidized loans or unsubsized loans.

subsidized means that the government is paying the interest on them while you're in school. once your done with school they start acruing interest.

unsubsized obviously means that they acrue interest while you're in school.

both you have to pay back. both are not covered by bankruptcy. both can be deferred a couple of times.

obviously grants you never have to pay back and scholarships are handled private organizations.

 

[apples]

If I want grant(s?) and/or(?) scholarship(s?), and not loans, then what do I do?
If I fill out my FAFSA, do I automatically get loans?
What's the process if I want to do this.

Thanks a lot

 

[bubbles]

First, you fill out your fafsa. At the end of the application, it will ask you to send it to the colleges you applied to. Depending on what state (if you live in the US) you live in, you might get additional grants and scholarships that are state specific. You have to fill out a fafsa in order for your college/university to give you financial aid (loans, grants, scholarships, work study, etc.).

 

[apples]

if i only want grants and scholarships and no loans.
then if i get a loan, can i cancel it?
any specific procedure for this?

 

[ice109]

if i only want grants and scholarships and no loans.
then if i get a loan, can i cancel it?
any specific procedure for this?

yes you can refuse the loan but my suggestion is to take it. even if you don't spend it stick it into a high yield bank account or cd or something

 

[apples]

OK, thanks a lot for the advice people.
One more thing.
i need to fill out my fafsa, university finaid forms, the CSS form on collegeboard(?), the financial aid profile on collegeboard.
Anything else?

 

[ice109]

you don't have to fill out anything on collegeboard, unless they look for scholarships for you or something

 

[Steve Wilson]

A Few FA Sites

I've found a few fianancial aid/scholarship sites in my travels that I found handy. Hopefully you find the same. You may want to check out:

http://www.finaid.org/" - Tons of info on all sorts of funding options from scholarships to grants to student loans.
http://www.nextstudent.com/" - While they provide student loans and consolidation their site has a bunch of tools and resources. If you look in the left-hand navigation you'll find links to their tutorial, tools & resources and a school directory.
http://studentaid.ed.gov/" - The site the government puts up on the subject. Good to get some advice right from the source when it comes to loans.

Hope this helps. If you find some other good resources please feel free to post them. Information is power. :)

Regards.

Steve