FINANCIAL AID 101

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FINANCIAL AID 101

• Orange County Schools
• Closing the Gap Summit
• October 24, 2006

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What is Financial Aid?Where does it come from?

• Fin Aid refers to money given to a student to
  help him and his family pay for education after
  high school.
• Magic? Money tree?
• Nope! I wish!

• There are four sources of aid
• The Federal Government
• The State Government
• The College
• Private Companies and Organizations

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What are the 2 Categories of Financial Aid?

• Merit Based
• Depends on how good you are at something, like
  music, football, or science
• Does not depend on the financial situation of the
  family

• Need Based
• Student and family expected to pay somecalled
  the Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
• Student needs the remaining amount that family
  cannot pay.

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What are the 3 Types of Financial Aid?

• Grants and Scholarships
• Loans
• Work-Study

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Grants and ScholarshipsGift Aid

• Funds that do not have to be repaid
• Small to large amounts
• Some competitive others are not
• Federal, state, college, and private sources

• Some examples are
• Federal Pell grants, Federal SEOG
• NC Legislative Tuition Grant NC Teaching Fellows
• Morehead (at UNC-CH) or Park (at NC State)
• Gates Millenium Pepsi employees children your
  church

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LoansSelf Help

• Funds that must be repaid, with interest
• Most loans are in students name
• Repaid over 10 years after student leaves college
• Most from federal or private sources

• Some examples are
• Stafford (subsidized and unsubsidized)
• Perkins
• PLUS (loans to parents)
• Private sources (banks Pickett and Hatcher Ed.
  Found.)

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WorkStudy The On-Campus Job

• Studies suggest better organization and time
  management lead to better grades
• WS earnings are not taxable/reported
• Boss knows 1 priority academics

• Funded by federal or college sources
• Work 10-20 hrs/wk
• Most job sites on campus (ex library, gym,
  Deans office)

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Who is Eligible to Receive Aid?

• US citizen, or eligible non-citizen, w/ valid SSN
• Have high school diploma or equivalent be
  enrolled/accepted at eligible institution
• If male aged 18-24, be registered with SS
• Willing to sign ed. purpose and intent to repay
• Have financial need
• Maintain SAP (satisfactory academic progress)
• Not be in default on previous loans or over the
  lifetime limit

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How Much Does College Cost?

• The Cost of Attendance
• includes

• Tuition and Fees
• Room and Board
• Books and Supplies
• Transportation
• Personal Expenses

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College Costs Comparison(Chart A)
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What is Financial Need?How is it determined?

• NEED is the difference in what a college costs
  (COA) and what a family can pay (Expected Family
  Contribution or EFC)
• Family completes financial aid application
  (FAFSA) to learn their EFC and apply for aid

• COA
• - EFC
• ___________________
• NEED

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College Cost Comparison(Chart B)
Note EFC remains constant. If COA changes,
NEED changes
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How to ApplyThe FAFSA and PROFILE

• The FAFSA
• Free Application for Federal Student Aid
• All colleges using federal funds must use it
• Must NOT be sent in before Jan 1 NC deadline
  Mar 15, but sooner is better!
• Best done online get your PIN (one for student
  one for parent) at www.fafsa.ed.gov

• The PROFILE
• Only used by a few private colleges to supplement
  info from FAFSA
• Not free
• Do early (Oct or Nov) and estimate income
• Must be done online at www.collegeboard.com

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Do It Yourself!And Avoid the Scams!

• Local Scholarships
• Usually after Christmas or first of January
• Check OHS and CRHS websites, newsletters
• Take home a list of some local scholarships and
  also a list of our favorite websites for college
  and fin aid info.

• Scholarship Search companies charge for
  services you can get FREE on the internet
• If a scholarship charges a fee, just forget it!
• FAFSA Day get free help with the FAFSA at area
  colleges Feb 17, O7