Financial aid basics
The fast facts of financial aid basics are given below:
Everyone should apply for financial aid. There are so many different factors that determine aid eligibility that no one can give you a simple answer as to whether or not you are eligible for aid. Family income and assets are not the only aspects that determine eligibility for need based aid; family size and number of children in college are almost as important.
Parents should make sure that students are involved in and understand the process of financial aid. In most of the schools, the students are the first point of contact for administrative issues. Several times, the process of financial aid is the first step that students must manage their own financial matters for learning purposes.
You should make sure that learning more about financial aid is on your radar screen early. Too often many families put nearly all their effort into the process of admission and treat financial aid as an afterthought. This is a mistake. You can learn as much as you can about the financial aid a policy as well as practices at the colleges your child is considering.
In financial aid basics, you should know that financial aid is nothing but money that is supplied by outside sources to help paying for the cost of an education beyond high school. It is essential to note that there are two categories in financial aid basics. They are need-based and non-need-based.
Need-based financial aid, however, constitutes the major portion of assistance available. When a family does not have sufficient resources to pay for an education beyond high school, it is considered to have financial need. Having documented financial need is the primary requirement for receiving need-based financial aid, although you as well as your child have to meet other eligible criteria as well. Whether or not you have sufficient financial wherewithal to meet the cost of attending a college is usually determined through the collection of the data of finance about your family and then analyzing that data according to a standard set of calculations. This need assessment, or need analysis, results in an expected family contribution. In need-based financial aid there are three basic types.
There is no need to be maintained or repay the scholarships and grants by a job. Scholarships are given to students who have met some criteria, like athletic merit, academic, regardless of whether the student needs the money to help pay for college, while grants are usually based on financial need alone.
Work study allows the students to work only for few hours per week during the academic year as well as full time during the summer days to earn money to help pay for educational expenses.
Widely available sources of need-based financial aid are the loans. You should repay them, but the rate of interest for federal student loans are often lower than for commercial loans, and payments are usually deferred until after the student has completed college.
Non-need-based financial aid is also called as merit-based financial aid. It is normally given to students in recognition of special talent, skills, or academic ability. Basic qualifications for merit-based financial aid are usually competitive in nature, and recipients are chosen because of their abilities in whatever criteria are used for selection. Non-need-based financial aid can also be awarded based on other criteria, like leadership abilities, community service or field of study.
To conclude, financial aid basics include what problems you are facing and why your family should apply for financial aid. Here are the most common worries as well as concerns that parents have about applying for financial aid and why you should not let these concerns stop you from submitting a financial aid application. The application form requests too much personal information regarding you and it is so confusing. You should learn much regarding financial aid and do not face into problems or make mistakes while applying.