Financial Aid

If money is not a problem when it comes to college tuition and fees then I guess you can skip this page (actually you can still save some money even when your parents make $200,000 in total a year, though unlikely).

Anyhow, college tuition is more expensive ever, the chart below can give you an idea of how quickly college tuition has inflated over time:

In order to make colleges more affordable, financial aids are given out to students through 2 main categories:

• Gift Aid: these aids are given to students free, examples of this would be scholarships, grants, work-study,...etc
• Self-help Aid: students are expected to fund a part or all of their college tuition by themselves, primarily through loans.

FAFSA and CSS Profile

• The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and CSS Profile are financial aid applications that students need to complete to receive gift aids from the government or the academic institutions that they're applying to.
• Each application has clear instructions on their website for both FAFSA and CSS Profile but if you need extra help, our school holds financial workshops as well. Please contact our Mr. Scott for more information.
• The deadlines for financial application are mostly final, if you miss them then you might not receive any financial aid at all.
• Lots of schools just requires the FAFSA but a handful additionally requires CSS Profile as well, always triple-check to avoid your application being marked incomplete by the admission committees of the schools you're applying to. In some cases, like Princeton, it requires the applicants to submit an additional and school-specific financial aid application.
• Use official websites only! Since these financial aid applications require your parents' income tax return as well as your social security number, be aware that there are illegitimate websites out there that want to steal your information. Be careful!!!

Scholarships are a form of Financial Aid as well. There is a wide range of different types of scholarships:

Athletic Scholarships:

If you're a high achieving athlete in high school and recruited to play in college, there is a high chance that you will receive a full-ride scholarship in the next 4 years.

Community Service Scholarships:

The name is self-explanatory, if you have volunteered extensively in certain organization(s), you may be qualified for these scholarships. You can also seek community service scholarships from the schools that you're applying to, especially if they're religious institutions.

Heritage Scholarships

These private scholarships are designated towards minority ethnic groups' members. You can find some right here. Similar to community service scholarships, some schools offer heritage scholarships as well from generous alumni. Always check your school's website!

Academic Scholarships

• Academic scholarships are given out based on your academic achievements.
• Some academic scholarships are guaranteed if students achieve certain scores on their GPA and SAT scores. Note: the criteria change every year.
• Additionally, if you score very high on your PSAT tests, you may qualify for National Merit Scholarship Program. Many colleges give out half to full tuition scholarships for this achievement.
• QuestBridge finalists can also get very substantial scholarships.

Hybrid Scholarships:

These are the most selective scholarships that require you to be competitive in GPA, test scores, leadership and community service. Not only they offer full-tuition for 4 years but also yearly allowance for you to work on personal projects. An example of this would be the Mock Family Scholarship at USC

Other Scholarships:

• Many years there are thousands of unclaimed scholarships because they relatively offer smaller amounts of money. However, if you can get on a handful of them, the amount of aid can add up pretty quickly.
• Here is the list of 10 best sites to hunt down scholarships.