Financial Aid Types Available For You
It's important to understand different types of financial aid that are available and also what they mean.
Let's say you complete the financial aid application in the spring of senior year and then you get the financial aid package or the financial aid offer from all the different schools to which you've applied. Some colleges will have used the term scholarship, and some may use grants or work-study. It's important for you to understand what each of those funds is because that will impact what you feel is the best financial fit for you.
Scholarships and grants are what we call 'free money'. Its money awarded to you on the basis of either your academic achievement, potential for success in higher education or it is based on need. Scholarships tend to be merit oriented or academic oriented while grants tend to be need-based, based on your financial situation at the time when you apply.
If you see an award that has work study, what that essentially means is that you are working part time to earn funding for the college education. Maybe you have a job on campus or a job off campus which the school has arranged for you, but the pay check goes to you and you only get paid for the hours that you work. It's not the money that reduces your bills immediately, it's going to be the money that you earn based on the number of hours that you work. And once you have that money you can decide whatever you want to do with it.
Student loans and parent educational loans are the money you have to pay back. You are borrowing to pay for your college education and you have to repay that money after you graduate from college. More so you have to pay this money back with interest; sometimes you pay this interest as you go along and sometimes you don't pay any interest until you graduate.
These are the four types of financial assistant which you may get to pursue your education. Scholarships and the grants are the free money, work study you have to earn and loans you have to pay back once the college finishes.
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