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In the United States, financial aid refers to funding intended to help students pay tuition or other costs, such as room and board, for education at a college, university, or private school. General governmental funding for public education is not called financial aid, which refers to awards to specific individual students. A scholarship is sometimes used as a synonym for a financial aid award.

Contents 1 Types of financial aid 1.1 Merit-based 1.2 Need-based 2 See also 3 External links

Types of financial aid

Financial aid may be classified into two types based on the criteria through which the financial aid is awarded: merit-based or need-based.

Merit-based

Merit-based scholarships include both scholarships awarded by the individual college or university and merit scholarships awarded by outside organizations. Merit-scholarships are typically awarded for outstanding academic achievements, although some merit scholarships can also be awarded for special talents, leadership potential and other personal characteristics. Merit scholarships are sometimes awarded without regard for the financial need of the applicant. At many colleges, every admitted student is automatically considered for merit scholarships. At other schools, however, a separate application process is required.

Athletic scholarships are a form of merit scholarship that take athletic talent into account.

Need-based

Need-based financial aid is awarded on the basis of the financial need of the student.

To receive federal need-based financial aid, the student must file a FAFSA application. The FAFSA uses a calculation taking into account income and assets to determine a student's Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Colleges use the EFC to decide what types of financial aid a student is eligible to receive. Students must complete the FAFSA each year in order to be considered for financial aid.

The United States government provides need-based financial aid in the form of Federal Pell grants, Federal SEOG Grants, SSIG Grants, Federal Work-Study, Federal Stafford loans (in a subsidized and unsubsidized form), Federal Perkins Loans, and Federal Parent (PLUS) loans. Federal Perkins Loans are made by participating schools, whereas Federal Stafford Loans and Federal PLUS Loans are made by participating lenders or the US Department of Education. The availability of lenders will vary on the specific post-secondary institution and their participation level in either the traditional "guaranteed student loan" program or the William D. Ford Direct Loan program.

State governments also typically provide some types of need- and non-need based aid, consisting of grants, loans, work-study programs, tuition waivers and scholarships. Individual colleges and universities may provide grants and need- and merit-based scholarships. Students requiring financial aid beyond what is offered by their institution may consider a private (alternative) educational loan, available from most large lending institutions.

See also

• CSS Profile
• Student loan

External links

• http://studentaid.ed.gov -- The Student Portal web-site of the United States Department of Education

• http://www.nasfaa.org - The web-site for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators

• http://www.finaid.org -- information and advice about the financial aid process

• Nationally Coveted College Scholarships, Graduate Fellowships and Postdoctoral Awards

• http://www.collegeboard.com/pay - page about financial aid from the College Board

This article is based on the article "Financial Aid [2]" from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License. Here you find the list of authors of this article. The article can only edited within Wikipedia. Edit this article in Wikipedia.