Scholarships and Financial Aid

One of the greatest challenges facing our youth pursuing post high school education is how to pay for it, where to find the money, and how to apply for assistance. Do not pay for scholarship and financial aid searches, most of those sites are scams. You can find most of the information on scholarships and financial aid you need or want free. We do not recommend or endorse one website over another.

The first step to applying for financial aid and scholarships is completing a FAFSA (Free Application for Financial Student Aid). The forms and information can be found on their website www.fafsa.ed.gov. Students under age 23 must include parent’s federal income tax return from the previous year. Check with the website for application deadlines, also check with the school to find out their deadlines for the upcoming school year.

Once you have information back from your FAFSA then you can start with one of the websites listed below. This list is by no means exhaustive, but a starting place. Do not forget to check out college, university and technical school websites as well. Each institution of higher education will have private scholarships available only for students enrolled in their institution.

FinAid was established in the fall of 1994 as a public service. This award-winning site (www.finaid.org) has grown into the most comprehensive source of student financial aid information, advice and tools -- on or off the web.

Scholarships.com was founded in 1998 and has had one goal: to help students find the money they need to get a college education. Over the last several years, they have become the largest independent online free college scholarship search and financial aid information resource available. Their mission is to assist students and their families in finding college scholarships and to help them explore a variety of valuable financial aid opportunities.

FastWeb (www.fastweb.com) is a comprehensive website that is continually being updated with the most current information. Each user answers a detailed questionnaire about themselves. The site then uses this data to generate a personalized suite of information of scholarships, colleges, internships, jobs, and more.

The goal of Scholarship Help (www.scholarshiphelp.com) is to educate students about scholarship access and the necessary requirements for achieving maximum financial aid. In addition, they provide information free of charge to help students. They explain how college funding works, the types of scholarships available, how to find them and how to apply for them.

ScholarshipExperts.com was created in July 2000. It currently offers a highly rated free scholarship search service on the Internet at www.scholarshipexperts.com, and assists parents and students at no cost as they look for ways to pay for college.

The CollegeBound Network (www.collegebound.net) is a leading source of education information has more than 20 years experience in providing quality content to potential students and their families.

Institute of International Education (www.iiepassport.org) designs and implements programs of study and training for students, educators, professionals and trainees from all sectors with funding from government and private sources. IIE administers the Fulbright Program on behalf of the U.S. Department of State; IIE also designs exchange programs and technical training for other governmental agencies, corporations and foundations. IIE conducts policy research and provides advising and counseling on international education and opportunities abroad.