If you haven’t started already, I want to encourage you to begin looking into Financial Aid options and application deadlines for your years as an undergraduate student. To best understand the sources of Financial Aid you and your family can hope to draw from, below are listed the three categories of financial aid funders:
- The individual institution: Each college and university has its own funding that they can award students in the form of merit-based and need-based scholarships and grants. To be sure that you are being considered for all available institutional funding, you should be researching that on each college website and talking to their admission and/or Financial Aid office.
- The federal and state governments: Students are considered for need-based funding by each individual college by completing the FAFSA (www.fafsa.ed.gov) . Students may receive grants and loan offers as a result. Some colleges may also require an additional submission of the CSS Profile (www.collegeboard.org/css). California residents are eligible for funding at both public and private colleges from the Cal Grant (www.calgrants.org).
- Funding from external organizations: There are a wide variety of independent organizations, business, and groups that offer financial aid to students attending college. These can range from small local organizations (Rotary, for example) to large corporations. There are many sites that can get you started on researching available independent scholarships. Here are a few to get you started:
- www.finaid.org A comprehensive website for the financial aid novice
- www.studentaid.ed.gov US Department of Education resources on financial aid
- www.ftc.gov Federal Trade Commission info about scholarship scams
- www.fastweb.com A database of more than 180,000 scholarships, grants, fellowships, and loans
- www.salliemae.com Student loan information
- www.nasfaa.org National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators; use the Students, Parents, and Counselors link to learn about financial aid in depth
- www.college-scholarships.com Easy access to info on colleges & scholarships
- http://www.clubrunner.ca/portal/SitePages/SitePage.aspx?accountid=2843&pid=56290 Ojai Rotary Scholarships (multiple)