Government & General Financial Aid

(The following content was previously available on guideforparents.com, developed and maintained by Jan A. Maas)

All the facts about financial aid, plus forms you can download.

Start Here

The Student Guide:  The best starting point. A rich source of government information on financial aid.

Other Good Resources

CSS/Financial Aid Profile:  An application for financial aid, used in common by many colleges; presented by the College Scholarship Service of the College Board. Requires valid credit card.

State Higher Education Agencies:  A directory from the U.S. Department of Education. See what your state offers in the way of financial aid.

FAFSA on the Web:  is your entry point for the all-important Federal financial aid form. And use this page Federal School Code Search page to find School Code numbers for the FAFSA.

Finding out about Financial Aid:  Another good Department of Education pamphlet. Gives general information about the total financial aid process.

Funding Your Education:  A primer for students from the U.S. Department of Education.

Money For College With Upromise Savings Plans:  Information on college savings plans.

Sallie Mae:  Information about the financial aid process. Includes a set of interactive financial aid calculators and a glossary of financial aid terms. Sallie Mae is the "nation's leading provider of education loans."

$cholarship $cams Site:  Warnings from the Federal Trade Commission about common scholarship scams.

Financial Aid Calculators

About this time, families are filling out the federal financial aid form, FAFSA. As long as a student is a family dependent, the amount of aid he or she receives from the government will be determined, in part, by the family's total income. See FAFSA on the Web for more information.

The FAFSA form requires parents to enter their income. From these figures, the goverment will establish a sum called the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). As the name implies, this is the amount that a family is expected to pay toward the cost of college.

As they fill out the form, many families would like to know what their EFC amount might be. Several web sites provide financial aid calculators that fill this need. Here are four of the best:

--ACT Family Need Estimator:  This page also calculates costs at specific institutions.
--FinAid Calculators:  Leads to an EFC calculator, and also includes a cost projector, savings plan designer and loan payment calculator.
--Sallie Mae's WiredScholar site. WiredScholar also includes other calculators, covering such needs as savings goals and college cost forecasting. Start here for these services.