Financial Aid

Need money for college???

Take advantage of all of the FREE money that the federal government, state government, colleges/universities, and scholarship donors have to offer!

First things first, every student planning to end a four-year college/university, community college, or trade/technical school should complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) after October 1st and before June 1st of the student's senior year.

You must fill out the FAFSA online at this website ONLY: https://fafsa.ed.gov/

Types of financial aid:

By filling out the FAFSA, you are able to qualify for federal grants, federal work study, and federal loans based on your "financial need." The government uses the "Expected Family Contribution" (EFC) to determine a student's financial need and how much money that student will qualify for in federal funds. To determine your EFC, the government considers your family's income, household size, total number of students in college, total assets, along with several other factors.

Your federal financial aid package can include some of the following sources of aid:

Federal Grants (example: Pell Grant, SEOG...): FREE money that you are not required to repay.

Federal Work Study: Students are able to work for pay on their college campus at times that fit in with their class schedule.

Federal loans: You must pay back any loans that you agree to authorize for your education. Federal loans tend to have lower interest rates than private loans. Loans to fund your education are part of what some call "good debt." Your education is an investment for your future! However, take out no more than what you need to avoid unnecessary debt.

After processing the federal funds that you are eligible for, colleges/universities (at both the four-year and two-year levels) will use your EFC and the school's "Cost of Attendance" (COA) to determine any college, or "institutional", money for which you may qualify. This could be in the form of grants, scholarships, and/or loans.

In order to qualify for ANY of these funds, you MUST make sure that you file your FAFSA by your college(s) Priority Filing Deadlines. These deadlines can be found at the college(s) financial aid websites. To be on the safe side, it is wise to submit your FAFSA by March 1st, which is the federal government's priority application deadline. March 1st is the earliest priority filing application deadline for that any school. Go to www.FAFSA.gov to complete the FAFSA.

Visit the Federal Student Aid website to learn more about Financial Aid, types of loans and dependency status.

CSS Profile

Some schools require you to fill out the CSS Profile. It's essentially an extra-muscular version of the FAFSA. The schools in Virginia that require the CSS profile are UVa, William and Mary, University of Richmond, and Washington & Lee.