Transcript College Financial Aid “Putting the Puzzle Together”

College Financial
Aid
“Putting the
Puzzle Together”
Presented by:
Dorothy Gilliard
HESAA and FASNA LLC
What Is Financial Aid?
 Financial
aid is money that can help you
pay for college. Some aid needs to be
paid back or earned, and some aid is a
gift. This money is available to all students
that qualify.
Financial aid can
help you go to
college
Getting financial aid can
make it possible for you to
go to college. Or it might
enable you to attend a
college you thought you
couldn’t afford.
Where Does Financial Aid
Come From?
 Federal
Government
 State Government
 Private Sources
 Financial Lenders
 Family Contributions
Types of Financial Aid
 Grants


Need-based
Merit-based
 Scholarships
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Need-based
Merit-based
Often based on specific criteria
 Loans
 Work
Things You Need To Know
 What
is the Cost of Attendance?
 What is the EFC?
 What is Financial Need?
What is Expected Family
Contribution (EFC)?
 Amount
family can reasonably be
expected to contribute
 Stays the same regardless of college
 Two components
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Parent contribution
Student contribution
 Calculated
using data from a federal
application form and a federal formula
What Does a College Cost?
 Depends
choose
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on the type of college you
Community College - $10000
Public University - $32000
Private University -$40000 to $65000
Vocational School - $20000
What is Cost of Attendance
(COA)?
 Direct
costs
 Indirect
costs
 Direct
and indirect costs combined into cost of
attendance
 Varies
widely from college to college
What is Financial Need?

In general terms, financial need is the
difference between what a school costs and
what you and your family can afford to pay
Cost of Attendance
–
Expected Family Contribution
What Steps Can You Take
NOW To Prepare For Later?
 Its
never too early to prepare for college
and career
 Its an on-going process
 Focus on:
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Grades
Extracurricular Activities
Athletics
Community Service
For HS Freshmen:
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Take challenging classes in core academic subjects.
Meet with your Guidance Counselor
Involve yourself in School or Community based activities
Start a list of your awards, honors, paid and volunteer work,
and activities. You will need this information for college
admissions applications
Take a look at the FAFSA4Caster along with your parents to
get an estimate of your financial aid eligibility.
https://fafsa.ed.gov/FAFSA/app/f4cForm
Work towards saving money to help defray some of the
expenses you will incur
Check out KNOW HOW 2 GO:
http://knowhow2go.acenet.edu/
Stay focused. If college or any postsecondary institution is
in your view you’ll have to work diligently towards that
goal.
For HS Sophomores

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Continue to meet with your assigned counselor to discuss
colleges and their requirements
Continue to dedicate your time to outside activities
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Research colleges that you have an interest in.
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These outside activities can translate into viable scholarships
Websites
College Fairs
Site Visits
Consider taking a practice PSAT to become familiar with
what you will face when the PSAT becomes a reality for you
Also take the PLAN test: http://www.act.org/planstudent/
or other standardized tests to get a warm up
Begin to think about college finances
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Visit college websites to find out their costs, grants, scholarships
and the qualifications
Explore the HESAA website to become familiar with their
financial aid offerings. www.hesaa.org
For HS Juniors
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Your academic record will go a long way toward either
helping or hurting your chances of gaining admission to
your schools of choice. You can make up ground here if
your grades have not been so good
Consider possible college majors
Continue researching colleges that you may have an
interest in and pay close attention to admissions
requirements and financial aid availability
Search for Scholarships
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www.Fastweb.com
www/Scholarships.com
www.Zinch.com
Do volunteer work; especially if you haven’t in lower grades
Attend an ACT or SAT prep workshop or purchase practice
materials to prepare for one or more of these exams
Attend College Fairs
Attend a Financial Aid Night at your school or somewhere
locally to get a flavor of what you can expect
What Types of Financial Aid
Can I Expect?
 Federal
Pell Grant
 Federal SEOG Grant
 Federal Perkins Loan
 Federal Work Study
 Federal Direct Loans
 NJ TAG Program
 NJ Class Loan Program
 NJ Various Scholarship Programs
When Do I Apply For Financial
Aid?
 The
process begins in January of the year
that you graduate High School
 Juniors: January, 2016
 Sophomores: January, 2017
 Freshmen: January, 2018
Its never too early to begin the
process!
 Spend
some quality time on the HESAA
website to learn everything you need
about state and federal financial aid
www.hesaa.org
Explore the Federal
Government’s Website, too.
 You
will find a wealth of information that
you can use NOW and LATER when it will
truly make a difference.
 Obtaining
Financial Aid for College is a
process…YOU can do IT!!!!!!!!
Good Luck and….
Do
Your best…..to get
your best!!!!!!!!!!