How does financial aid work? What sort of Criteria do you have to meet to be eligible to get money?

My fianc茅 will be starting school this Septemeber; we are not sure how financial aid works and how you become eligible to recieve a grant. What is the process and how long does it take? What information should we not put? He still lives at home with his parents but will be moving to go to school.(if that helps) Which parent should he use since they are not married? We already filled out the application online but we don鈥檛 know what exactly to put in there so he can be eligible for a grant. Any information would be greatly appreciated. This is very new to us and we have no clue how it works. Thanks!|||Most schools have you feel out a FAFSA which is a free application through the government that basically takes all tax info and basicially is mailed to the college saying how much you can afford and then from there, your school decides the financial aid package. it varies person to person too. so have your fiance go to fafsa.gov and fill it out if his schools requires it (look online in the financial aid section of the school's website and it should help you.) and feel free to email me if you have any questions, i've filled out so many of them...|||They look at you and your parent's income to determine if you qualify for a grant. If you do (or receive a scholarship), then you will be required to maintain a certain grade point average. He should probably use the parent with the least income so he may qualify.|||I filled out the FAFSA. Even if he moves out of his house, if his parents claim him as a dependent, he has to put them on the FAFSA. When I filled it out, I put my mom and her income down, not only because I lived with her, and she claimed me as a dependent at the time, but she also had a lower income. (my parents are divorced) From what I can remember, when he finishes and submits it, if he's eligible for a grant of some sort, it will be reflected on his tuition statement. It always took a while to process, so I usually found out when I got my tuition bill that the grants/loans were pending but would be deducted. What sucks the most is that they always say you can afford more than you can. I just filled one out for grad school, but now I'm married and my husband and I make more than my mom did, so I didn't qualify for any grants this time. Good luck!