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College admissions
Course: College admissions > Unit 3
Lesson 3: College search: Other important choices- Comparing colleges based on financial aid policies
- Comparing colleges based on special focus or affiliation
- Comparing colleges based on diversity
- Comparing colleges based on location, size, and housing
- Comparing colleges based on campus activities
- Comparing colleges based on majors offered
- Student story: Prioritizing financial aid in the college search
- Student story: Prioritizing location in the college search
- Student story: Prioritizing financial aid, major, and location in the college search
- Student story: Prioritizing size, campus, major, and selectivity in the college search
- Student story: Prioritizing size, selectivity, diversity and financial aid in the college search
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Comparing colleges based on financial aid policies
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What types of financial aid are there?(6 votes)
The U.S. Department of Education awards about $150 billion every year to help millions of students pay for college. This federal student aid is awarded in the form of grants, low-interest loans, and work-study funds.
Grants are typically awarded on the basis of need and generally do not have to be repaid. There are four types of federal student grants:
Federal Pell Grants are usually awarded to undergraduate students who have not yet earned a bachelor’s degree. (In some cases, students enrolled in postbaccalaureate teacher certification programs may receive Federal Pell Grants.) The maximum Federal Pell Grant award for the 2013-2014 award year is $5,550; however, the actual award depends on the student’s financial need, the college’s cost of attendance, the student’s enrollment status, and the length of the academic year in which the student is enrolled. Students can receive the Federal Pell Grant for up to the equivalent of 12 semesters.
Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (FSEOG) are awarded to undergraduate students with exceptional financial need. The amount of the award is determined by the college’s financial aid office, and depends on the student’s financial need and the availability of funds at the college.
Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grants are awarded to students who intend to teach in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students from low-income families. If the service requirement is not fulfilled, it could turn into a loan.
Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grants are awarded to students whose parents or guardians were members of the Armed Forces and died as a result of performing military service in Iraq or Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001. To qualify, a student must have been under 24 years of age or enrolled in college at the time of the parent’s or guardian’s death.
Loans consist of money that the student borrows to help pay for college, and must be repaid (plus interest). There are two federal student loan programs:
The Federal Perkins Loan Program is a campus-based program that provides low-interest loans to undergraduate and graduate students. The amount of the award depends on the student’s financial need, the amount of other aid the student receives, and the availability of funds at his/her college.
The William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program enables students and parents to borrow money at low interest rates directly from the federal government. The Direct Loan Program includes Direct Stafford Loans, which are available to undergraduate and graduate students, and Direct PLUS Loans, which are available to parents of dependent students and to graduate and professional-degree students. A Direct Stafford Loan might be subsidized or unsubsidized. Direct PLUS Loans are always unsubsidized. Subsidized loans are based on financial need and are available only to undergraduate students. The federal government pays the interest on subsidized loans while the borrower is in college and during deferment. Unsubsidized loans are based on the student's education costs and other aid received. The borrower must pay all accrued interest on unsubsidized loans.
The Federal Work-Study Program enables students to earn money during the school year while also gaining valuable work experience, typically in part-time, career-related jobs.
Other forms of financial aid that might be available to students include:
State government aid. For more information, contact the state’s higher education agency. You can find the state agency’s contact information at http://wdcrobcolp01.e http://d.gov/Programs/EROD/org_list.cfm?category_cd=SHE.
Aid from the college. Students should contact the financial aid offices at the colleges they are considering for more information.
Scholarships. Some states, local governments, colleges, community organizations, private employers, and other organizations award scholarships based on academic ability or other factors. For more information, visit StudentAid.gov.
Tax credits for education expenses. For more information about the American Opportunity and Lifetime Learning tax credits, visit http://studentaid.ed.gov/types/tax-benefits.
Aid for the military. For more information, visit http://studentaid.ed.gov/types/grants-scholarships/military.(29 votes)
Hopefully not off-topic, but how much does a scholarship grant you and how do you achieve one? (what subjects)(5 votes)
Do most colleges take into account more than just income when giving out financial aid? For example, my parents both make enough money to support me but we have a large family and I have a sibling with Down Syndrome (lots and lots and lots of medical bills).(1 vote)- Yes, as most of their financial aid will be based upon your parents tax information, which accounts for dependents, disabilities, etc.(5 votes)
Do universities take into to consideration the currency conversion when thinking about giving international student scholarships or any other type of financial aid? What if in my country, I have a good financial situation, wouldn't need help, but when converting to dollars, the situation changes, do they consider this condition?(3 votes)
Hi! I'm still not sure where I should begin when I start to do research about college. Can you tell me what should I do research first about college?(2 votes)
This entire course on college admissions is excellent, and if you have gotten this far and are still not sure, I recommend that you suspend any other progress on the course and return to lesson 1, sistening all the way through to the final lesson. Pay attention to everything that the teachers and other contributors say, and take notes as you go. You're sure to get better ideas on all that you should do, and what to do first, from the entire course, than from what anyone can type into this little box.(3 votes)
when applying to a school should one send in their financial aid request before their application
a(3 votes)
what if a student has the skill, but doesn't have money to study?(3 votes)- What are the requirements for receiving financial aid?(2 votes)
It varies from school to school. All schools offer need-based financial aid, which is offered based on your family's income and other factors like siblings in college. Many schools also offer merit scholarships that students can compete for, or other demographic scholarships.(2 votes)
At the0:45second time marker, where would you recommend finding out what the deadlines are?(2 votes)
is college hard to do if you have not alot of money to start off(2 votes)
0:45Video transcript
- [Man] We are here with Sean Logan, director of college counseling
at Philip's Academy. Sean, one things that students
often ask themselves is, "Should I be thinking about financial aid "during the college search
process, or is it something "that doesn't really come until "the very end, once I'm
making my decision?" - [Sean] The financial
aid piece has got to be right up front in the research process. It's a very important piece to consider. You know, a couple things
with need-based aid, for most families the
financial aid process is a scary process, you
should never be afraid of asking what you would
consider a stupid question. I've been doing this for 25 years, I still confused on how
schools use their terms. So if you need things defined for you, ask the right questions until you get your questions answered. Applying for financial aid by
their deadlines is critical. Many schools will exhaust
their financial aid budget as they send out all
their admission letters. So, if you get into a
school and then decide, "Okay I'm admitted, now I'm gonna submit "my financial aid paperwork," they may not have any money left, so financial aid deadlines are critically important. And just in this research process, a couple of words that you're gonna hear, and things to think
about, there's two terms you're gonna hear a lot. One of those terms is "need blind." A school might be need blind
in the admissions process, or a school might be "need
aware" in the admissions process. Need blind typically means
that you will be admitted to the school regardless of whether or not you're applying for aid,
so the school does not take into account if you're
applying for aid or not. They're admitting you
based on other criteria. The term need aware
means that financial aid may be a consideration
in the admission process. So, a school may take
into account that you need financial aid, or that you don't need financial aid in
the admissions process. - [Man] So I guess it
sounds like if you have two students who are
both sort of on the edge of getting in or not
getting in to a school, and that school is need aware,
then they may preference a student who doesn't
need the financial help, versus a student who does. But certainly, if you're
a competitive applicant, then whether or not you
need financial help, the school won't care about that at all. - [Sean] Right. - [Man] Great, and one thing
that I've oftentimes heard is that certain schools do
meet 100 percent of need, other schools don't meet
100 percent of need. How does that sort of
factor in in general, and connect with need
blind versus need aware? - [Sean] Right, so if you're
looking at information online or you have the opportunity
to visit a school, that's a great question to
ask a financial aid officer. "Do you meet 100 percent
of demonstrated need?" And what that means is based on the FAFSA and the profile that you'll
probably submit to that school, one or both of those documents,
those documents will say that the family has a contribution amount, the college will meet the rest of your need based off of that. But, quite frankly, there's
not a lot of schools that meet 100 percent
of demonstrated need. - [Man] Sean, can you
give me some examples of schools that are in that sweet spot? So, they are need blind, they're not gonna take into account my families
financial circumstances when deciding whether to admit me or not, but once I'm in they commit
to meeting 100 percent of my need so they'll
make sure that college is affordable for my family. - [Sean] Sure, so, you
know, one of the ways that this manifests itself
is schools that have great endowments typically tend to
use a chunk of that endowment towards really good
financial aid packages. So, schools like Stanford
University, Wellesley College, Williams College, these places that have very good endowments
and put a lot of money toward financial aid fit that definition and use their resources that way. So, again, it's a really great combination when a school says "We're need
blind and we meet 100 percent "of your demonstrated need,"
but there are many other schools that will meet 100
percent of your demonstrated need even though it's not a guarantee
they give to all students. The bottom line here is,
the better student you are, the stronger program you take,
the better grades you get, the better financial aid packages
you can avail yourself of.