Students heading to college this year will likely receive some form of financial aid if they apply. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 66% of undergrads received student financial aid in the 2007-2008 school year, with an average of ,100 awarded. More than half of the students received grants that did not need to be repaid and another 47% received federal student aid and college loans. Just over a third of students received Pell Grants. With so many types of aid, it can be hard knowing where to start. Here is a brief overview of the types of aid available to new and existing students.

FAFSA is one of the most common types of student financial aid. According to the US Department of Education, nearly 70% of this financial aid comes from their programs, like the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. By filling out an application form, students can receive one of the following; Federal Stafford Loans, Federal PLUS Loans, Federal Direct Loans or Federal Perkins Loans. The awards of this program are based on demonstrated financial need. Students should apply for these loans well ahead of the semester. If approved, they will receive an award letter stating how much they’ll get and when. They then submit the check to their school office to cover tuition fees and dorm expenses and the rest of the money is returned to them in cash. For most loans, students will be expected to pay this money back gradually upon graduation.

Another type of financial aid is the Federal Work-Study program, which awards cash to students based on part-time work. To receive this type of college assistance, students must demonstrate financial need, but they also will not be expected to pay this money back. Sometimes jobs are off-campus but they are usually on-campus at places like the library, science laboratories, peer mentoring centers, in administrative offices, at the health center, in theaters, at radio stations, at publishing offices or in the computer lab. These jobs are not usually very demanding, but for this reason, they are very competitive. Compared to a traditional part-time job, students can only work a specified number of hours, depending upon what they are awarded.

Fellowships are a third type of financial aid similar to student scholarships, but they are awarded to students who are committed to a particular field. Private donors and non-profit organizations will put up as much as ,000/year for students pursuing careers in science and technology, journalism, health care, librarian, fine arts, engineering, mathematics, community service and more. Like a scholarship, this money does not need to be repaid by recipients. Students can find these opportunities at www.idealist.org, www.finaid.org, www.whitehouse.gov/fellows and www.ssrc.org.

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There are many documents required for the college admissions process. To keep yourself organized, keep a checklist with the following items; college names and application deadlines, fill out application, take SAT exam, write essay, gather letters of recommendation, send second semester transcript, send final transcript, get physical, add supplementary materials. Once your mess of paperwork has been sent in, you’ll likely issue a big sigh of relief. However, this is only the beginning of a never-ending cycle of preparing different documents that affect your future success.

As soon as the college admissions process is finished, you should immediately set your sights on funding college. Be sure to have an honest discussion with your parents and see if they’re willing to throw in anything to help you out. Look at your current job situation and your prospective job situation. If you’re keeping your current job, how many hours a week can you realistically work? If you’re going away to school, you need to begin applying in the town you’re moving to immediately before the late summer rush of applicants flood every possible job opportunity. Work won’t necessarily cover everything, though. You may also need to look for student financial aid to scrape together short-term cash to cover tuition and board. The last thing you want is to be de-registered from all your classes because you were late with your payment!

The college admissions process should be mostly finished in the winter of your senior, high school year. Then you must wait for their final decision if you’ve been accepted or not. Once you finish filing your taxes for the year (April), you will be able to fill out your FAFSA student financial aid forms. It may seem a bit premature, but the earlier you fill out these forms, the better. In this case, the early bird gets the worm and you can be awarded more money if you apply early. You can apply online at www.fafsa.edu.gov. If you get approved for a college loan, you will receive a check to cover your tuition, room and board and fees. Once these expenses have been deducted at the financial aid office, you will receive the remainder of the money in cash, which you may use on books or whatever you please. Just be aware that you will need to pay this money back upon graduation and interest will begin to accrue then too.

After the madness of filling out college admissions and financial aid forms has died down, you will need to start thinking about your summer internship prospects. Half of all internships are unpaid, offering school credit and training experience only. However, a number of student intern opportunities have turned into job offers upon completion. Your school guidance counselor should be able to direct you to the college’s career center where you will find binders or databases of internship opportunities available to students in your school. You might also want to check out Business Week’s list of “Top 50 internships” to find some promising paid internship options that may appeal to you.

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