Financial Aid for College

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What financial aid for college is available?

Everyone dreams of furthering their education and attending college or university. But when you start looking into the tuition and fee costs per year, this can often frighten people off. Especially when the average cost for public funded colleges are over $5000, and private colleges are over $20,000 ! But this shouldn't be the case as there is a range of financial aid for college available that help to minimise the contribution of your family and make that dream an affordable reality.

Gone are the days when only the rich can afford to educate themselves. Further education is becoming more and more accessible, and this is due to the increasing amount of financial aid made available to cover the study costs. In fact, over 50% of students who attend college or university are receiving some form of financial aid.

Let's look at the types of financial aid for college that are currently available. They can be split into three main categories:

• Grants or Scholarships

The joy of grants is that this type of financial aid for college does not have to be repaid! These are normally obtained from the federal government, state government or the college themselves. Scholarships are a similar type of financial aid for college available, but they are awarded based on the merit of the individual student.

• Student loans

Loans are another form of financial aid for college and provide the largest contribution to fees and tuition costs for students. The main thing you have to remember is that loans, unlike grants, have to be repaid. If you qualify for a subsidized loan like a Stafford loan, you will probably not have to start repaying until after you have graduated and the interest rate will be low. If you have to take out an unsubsidized loan or a private college loan to finance your families Expected Financial Contribution (EFC), their interest rates will invariably be higher and you may have to make interest repayments, or capital repayments throughout your course.

• Work – Study Programs

This really is a self help form of financial aid for college! This is a federal program that gets students to work part-time to help them pay for books, supplies and personal expenses such as food and clothes.

So before you ditch the idea of college, just take a look at the wide range of financial aid for college available. Don't let money stop you. Grants, loans and work study programs are all well within your grasp!