Should I start getting financial aid for my daughter started now ?

We have talked to a admissions counselor she is in agreement with me that i can use my Veterans benefits for tuition for my daughter. We are still not to clear on that. My daughter is a junior in high school. She has done well and only has to go for one half of her senior year to graduate so she will be graduating about Dec/Jan-2012. Should I start getting financial aid started now ?|||FAFSA. Free application for federal student aid.http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/





What is federal student aid: It includes grants, work study and loans. Filling out the FAFSA you are applying for all the federal aid listed on this page, plus others certain states and colleges have individually: click the different federal aid programs on the left http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/s鈥?/a>





Great site all about financial and its funding: http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attach鈥?/a>





When apply for FAFSA? Jan 1 of the year you will attend to maxime your award.You want to do an estimate FAFSA using the previous years taxes and send it through. Just choose will file. Then ASAP when you can you do the taxes for that year and go on the FAFSA where it says make corrections (has to be processed first) and put in the actual tax information. . Why file an estimate: Because colleges are all given so much grant/work study money and its given to students first come, first serve, even if you qualify if you file later, it may be gone. So file early!





How much do you get: Federal aid is offered given to students based on their financial need. Your financial need is determined based on the questions you are asked on the FAFSA which will be about income, amount in banks, property owned, stocks and the like, as well as questions about your current home situation, how many, how many in college at the same time etc. These questions will determine your financial need. They use all the info to determine your EFC, estimated family contribution, this EFC is the result of a formula the use of all your answers to determine your financial need, the lower the EFC the more financial aid help you need. If you have a 0 that does mean you dont pay anything but it does mean you have great need for financial aid help. This EFC amount is subtracted from the cost of the attendance (also called school budget) and the result of this is your financial need. COA/student budget is tuition, books, travel personal expenses, housing, fees. Even if you do not qualify for federal grants or work study you may qualify for federal loans which most all students have. This EFC and recap of your FAFSA will be put in a report called SAR, student aid report. You get an email this is ready in a week or two if you did it online and a link in that email to view your SAR..





The only way you will know what federal aid you qualify for is the colleges you listed on the FAFSA will be sent your SAR and a financial aid award created for you based on your financial need. Each college award will be different, as the cost of attendance is different, colleges have their own aid to offer, and what funding they have left (again why I said to file earily) and when you apply makes a difference in what aid they have available to offer. You need to look at all the offers, obviously cheaper colleges will require you to need less loans and if you are very low income there are no loan colleges. If your federal aid grants, work study and federal loans do not cover your cost of attendance you will need to pay with money or get a private loan to cover the rest like from a bank or lender, so it may be smarter to pick a cheaper college where you need the least loans. Rule of thumb, your total college loans for your education should not exceed your first year salary in the degree you are pursuing.





How do you get your aid once you accept it: It gets deposited into your college account, usually by semester not all at once on certain disbursement dates your school has where everyone will get their money disbursed on a certain day. We applied Jan 1 2010, school started 9-1, our semester federal aid was disbursed 8-25. The colleges takes out their charges for housing, meals, tuition, and fees. We did have money left over and if you do you get a refund either a check or card system depending on the school, and we got that a week after school started by card system. Use that refund if any for books, materials etc.





Helpful sites:


All questions FAFSA, financial aid: http://www.finaid.org/


http://www.gocollege.com/financial-aid/s鈥?/a>


Click BEGIN THE PRESENTATION: http://www.nextstudent.com/financial-aid鈥?/a>


http://www.knowhow2go.org/





http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/s鈥?/a>


http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/public鈥?/a>|||She should be getting her admissions papers in order and the applications mailed.





You should talk with someone in the VA and find out what the story is from the people who know.





College financial aid has gotten tight in the past year or two, so your daughter will probably be offered a package that is heavier on loans than it would have been five years ago. Every dollar in loans you can prevent her from taking is a plus.





In any case, colleges have coordinated aid programs, so all the colleges will offer similar packages.|||YESSS!


If she plans to start college in Jan of 2012 you'll need this years tax return to fill out her FAFSA for that school year. (2011-2012)


The FAFSA is self-explanatory and you can say she'll start in Spring 2012 and they'll tell you how much she'll be offered as far as Grants/Loans.


The sooner you fill it out the better chance she'll have of getting more $ in the end.