February is Financial Aid Awareness Month! To help you get the word out to your students about all their financial aid options, we've listed some resources that you can provide to your students to help them learn more about financial aid:
FAFSA
- Department of Education's FAFSA Site: The official FAFSA site where students can go to fill out the form online and learn more about how it works.
- Common Errors on the FAFSA: A list of common mistakes students make on the FAFSA.
- Five Reasons to File Your FAFSA: Our list of five great reasons why it pays for students to fill out the FAFSA.
- Five-Minute FAFSA Video: How did the FastWeb team turn the FAFSA into an entertaining five-minute short? Click to find out.
- FAFSA is Step One for Financial Aid: An introduction to the FAFSA for students who might not know that much about it.
- How to Read Your SAR: Everyone has information about the FAFSA, but no one explains the Student Aid Report (SAR). FastWeb has tried to fill that void.
- Department of Education's PIN Site: Students won't be able to electronically sign and submit their FAFSA if they don't have a PIN. They can get all of their PIN questions answered here.
- FinAid's FAFSA Page: FinAid has an entire section of its site devoted to FAFSA information and links, including common FAFSA errors and deadlines.
Scholarships
- 10 Tips for Winning Applications: If your students are looking for help on their scholarship applications, they might benefit from reading these 10 tips.
- Earn Your Scholarship Letter of Recommendation: Next time a student asks you, "Who should I ask for my recommendation letter?," have them read this article.
- Make Sense of Scholarships: For students new to the scholarship game, this is a great place for them to start.
- Maximize Your Scholarship Eligibility: Knowing how to "type" yourself is a great way to increase eligibility and expand the number of scholarships you can apply for.
- Where to Find Scholarships: Scholarships can be found in a lot of different places, which we list here.
- Paint Your Scholarship Portrait: Part of submitting a winning application is developing a theme that's all about you. The better you paint your portrait, the higher your chances can be of winning.
Loans
- Guide to Student Loans: Help your students understand the rules behind the different loans that are available.
- Student Loan Glossary: Understanding loan terminology is difficult. Our glossary helps you simplify things for your students.
- Basics of Borrowing: We explain how loans work in general.
- When Student Loans Aren't Enough: What if more funds are needed even after loans are factored in?
Calculators
Distribute some of FinAid's calculators to students who are looking to crunch their own numbers:
- Savings Plan Designer (Flat Contribution)
- College Cost Projector
- EFC Calculator
- Quick EFC Estimator
- Loan Payment Calculator
- Award Letter Comparison Tool
Check out additional calculators on FinAid.
General Financial Aid
- FinAid: The Web's most-trusted financial aid site.
- Financial Aid Resources by State: Not sure what your state offers in aid? Check here.
- Department of Education's Guide to Federal Student Aid: Handbooks describing federal government aid programs are available electronically.
- NASFAA's "Learn Student Aid" Page: Strengthen your knowledge of financial aid with the support materials on this site, a learning community "created by financial aid administrators for financial aid administrators."
- City Year: Volunteer during gap year (between high school and college) and get an education award of $4,725.
- College Goal Sunday: A program that spreads the word about financial aid, especially to those students from lower-income households with no history of going on to college. Check the site to find out if College Goal Sunday offers a program in your state.
What's your financial aid resource? Tell us at: comments@makingitcount.com.
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