Financial Aid

You may be saying to yourself, "I can’t afford to attend school." You aren’t alone. The majority of people don’t have enough money saved to pay for all of the costs associated with post-secondary education. A more appropriate question may be: Can you afford not to attend school? As was stated earlier, the vast majority of future job openings require some form of education or training past high school whether it be a nine-month training program, two-year training program, four-year training program, or beyond. You must look at education as an investment in your own future.

At the same time, you don’t want to accumulate an insurmountable amount of debt from attending school. Post-secondary schools are expensive. Shop around and see which one is the best fit for you. Remember that you are responsible for paying back any loans you receive during your schooling. Keep your loan amounts as small as possible. Take advantage of any "free money" you may be entitled to. The financial aid officer at your school should be your best source of information during this time.

Types of Financial Aid

Grants – Grants are free money. You are not required to pay back grants. Grants may be given for athletics, academics, special talents, or need.

Scholarships – Scholarships are free money. Repayment is not required. Students may be eligible for scholarships for a variety of reasons. Scholarships may be given for academics, special talents, etc. Do not pay scholarship search services to find scholarships for you. This information is free of charge. Many free web-sites are designed specifically for scholarship searches:

www.collegenet.com/mach25

www.wiredscholar.com

In addition, post-secondary schools often have their own scholarships. Some schools automatically consider all freshman applicants for scholarships, but others don’t. Be sure to ask the admissions representatives about scholarship opportunities at that school. You may also need to check with the chairperson in the department you are interested in being accepted. For example if you are interested in engineering, speak to someone in the engineering department about potential scholarship opportunities. Departments often have their own scholarships and you must apply for them to be considered.

Check for local scholarship opportunities in the guidance office. New scholarships are announced in the mornings and posted on channel 14. Get into the habit of checking in the guidance office once a week for new scholarships. If you can’t make it down during the day, stop by on your way home or early in the morning before classes.

Be sure to meet scholarship deadlines.

Finally if you are interested in exchanging military service for scholarship money, you may want to check into ROTC or the Reserve Officer Training Corps. In exchange for either full-time active duty or part-time duty in the Reserve or National Guard, a college student may receive a ROTC scholarship. For more information speak to a recruiter or check out the following web-sites:

Army ROTC: www.armyrotc.com

Air Force ROTC: www.afoats.af.mil

Naval ROTC: www.cnet.navy.mil/nrotc/nrotc.htm

Work-Study – Post-secondary schools will often hire eligible students to work a limited number of hours for a paycheck. The types of jobs available vary greatly.

Loans – Loans must be repaid. A variety of loans are available to students and parents in order to cover the remaining costs of post-secondary education.

How to Apply for Financial Aid

The first step in applying for financial aid is to complete the FAFSA, Free Application for Student Aid. The deadline for completing the FAFSA is sometime after January 1^st of the year you will be attending post-secondary school. Check your choice of schools for their filing deadline. The FAFSA is automatically mailed to every student in the fall of their senior year if they took the SAT test. The FAFSA is generally mailed in late November. If for some reason you do not receive a copy of the FAFSA, copies are available in the guidance office.

Dan Johnston, Regional Director of PHEAA, visits St. Marys Area High School each November. He discusses many areas of financial aid and instructs students and parents how to accurately complete the FAFSA. Parents and students are strongly encouraged to attend this informative presentation. You will have the opportunity to ask Mr. Johnston any questions you have pertaining to financial aid. This year’s presentation is scheduled for November 15, 2001, at 6:30 P.M. in the high school auditorium.

Assistance in completing the FAFSA is also available on-line at www.ed.gov/prog_info/sfa/fafsa.

General Eligibility Requirements for Financial Aid

In order to be eligible for federal student aid, a student must:

Have a high school diploma or its equivalent.
Enroll in an eligible degree or certificate program.
Be an U.S. citizen.
Have a valid social security number.

In addition, most male students must be registered with selective service in order to be eligible. Male students can register for selective service at the post office, guidance office, or on-line at www.sss.gov.

Recently a law was passed that suspends aid eligibility to students convicted of the sale or possession of drugs. A student can regain eligibility by successfully completing an approved drug rehabilitation program.