The U.S. Department of Education’s FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is considered a must for obtaining many forms of financial aid, and it’s available in digital format online. Deadlines for the 2009-2010 academic year depending upon locale occur regularly into September.
Through FAFSA, applicants can obtain loans and grants and work study program participation. Work study programs allow students to work part-time for some of their distance degree costs. Grants, like scholarships, are near-outright gifts. The Pell grant, one of the federal government’s best known, provides eligible undergraduate students as much as $5,000-plus.
Students who receive grants or scholarships or who participate in work study programs can pay for the rest of their education with loans. Although loans have to be repaid, the federal government makes some available at low interest rates. Low- and no-interest loans are referred to as “subsidized.”
The U.S. Congress each year sets aside billions of dollars to help students attend college. Federal assistance has been a tradition since at least 1965, when then-U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Higher Education Act into law to improve colleges and universities and make them more accessible. The Pell grant, born the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant in 1972, was later named for Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI), for his help in initiating it. In 2007, a law known as the College Cost Reduction and Access Act increased Pell grant money and reduced subsidized loan interest rates.
Those who complete the online FAFSA form must be American citizens and eligible non-citizens with high school diplomas or General Educational Development (GED) certificates working toward specific college degree and certificate programs at colleges, universities and trade and technical schools. After the forms are submitted, applicants are provided Student Aid Reports that typically detail how much money they’ll have to pitch in themselves for their education. Applicants may then get in touch with the financial aid offices of schools they’re interested in attending.
Colleges often offer financial aid of their own, and college financial aid offices advise students in writing of the assistance different sources plan to provide. Students should consider financial aid and affordability along with how well suited a college is to their needs, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Students interested in getting financial assistance through FAFSA for the 2009-2010 academic year must complete their forms by midnight Central Daylight time on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010, but state deadlines vary and could be earlier. In exchange for government grants, or online FAFSA grant money as some say, beneficiaries are expected to meet specific academic goals.
Participants can figure out their assistance eligibility by completing an online FAFSA worksheet, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and the Corporation for National and Community Services’ Americorps, where students involved in community service can garner bachelor degree and online degree cost credits.
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