Your Guide to Financial Aid

What is Financial Aid and why do you need it?

There are many indisputable truths about the US, one of them is that access to higher education is expensive. Period. The average cost of a bachelor's degree at a public school is approximately $17,797 per year, according to NCES. This means that more likely than not, you will need financial aid if you plan to attend a college or career school here.

Financial aid is essentially money that you receive to help pay for this.

Financial Aid can cover tuition and fees but also room and board, transportation, books and other school supplies etc.

Types of Financial Aid

There are several sources of financial aid assistance available to help you attend school:

Grants

Grants are gifts. They don't need to be repaid (unless you withdraw from school and owe a them a refund) . There are several federal and private grants available (such as the Pell Grant).

Scholarships

Scholarships are also free money! They are usually offered both by non-profit and private organizations . Scholarships can be based on one or more factors : need, academic merit, area of study, talent etc.

Loans

Loans. My least favorite kind. A loan (private or public) is an amount of money that you borrow to attend your college or career school and then repay once you complete your studies. Loans accrue interest overtime, so it's important to understand how your repayment options are set up so that you can successfully pay them back (in case we don't succeed in making the government forgive student loans)

Work-Study Jobs

Work-Study is a program offered by the governments that allows you to pay for school by working a part-time job on or off-campus.

Note: This doesn't necessarily mean that you don't get paid (that's a mistake I made freshmen year that kept me from getting a job so).

Learn more about the Federal Work-Study program here.

Source : https://studentaid.gov/