How To Finance Your Education
Loans
Loans are sometimes the first type of financial aid you can encounter, which does not necessarily qualify them as the best. The preferred type of educational loans are those awarded by the federal government, such as Stafford Loans, Perkins Loans, and PLUS Loans; most of these feature low interest rates, and students can start paying them back a few months after having finished their degree.
The process of securing these loans centers around the completion of the FAFSA document. Private student loans, an increasingly popular option for many families, can provide more money up front, yet may wreck havoc later on with occasionally sky-high interest rates. When correctly paid back, student loans can improve your credit score, and help save money.
Grants
Grants, because they are not required to be paid back, are definitely superior to loans in terms of suitability for college students. The federal government is well known for one popular type of grant, the Pell Grant, the earning of which is only possible after having filled out and submitted the FAFSA application.
Students from low-income households should also explore the Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, a source of free money which both full-time and part-time students can apply for. In fact, preference for this grant type is actually given to those who have already secured a federal Pell Grant.
For those that do not qualify for these grants, there are others that are bestowed based on merit or talent as well, including the National Science Scholars Program and the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership.
Scholarships
Arguably the most bountiful type of financial aid, yet definitely the most elusive and least reliable, is the scholarship route. Also free money, scholarships are monetary awards you apply for in a competitive fashion. Tens of thousands of hopefuls send in apps for some of the most desirable and financially larger scholarship prizes out there.
Although the number of scholarships abounds, you do have to apply for them, and there's no guarantee that you will win anything. This can result in a student who is frustrated with spending all her time applying for scholarships that aren't interested in her.
Scholarship hopefuls should not lose heart. There are a range of awards available for the craziest of situations, from height, type of diet, weird interests, and other qualifiers. See College and Finance for some of the weirdest scholarships out there.
Fore more information on these types of financial aid, please head to College Loan Consultant, US News, and Reuters.