Resources for High School Seniors

  • Application Worksheet - Use this checklist to plan what you need to do to apply for and receive financial aid. Due to limited resources, student aid is often awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Many of these checklist items have deadline dates, so you should indicate the date by which you will need to complete each item. Check off each Action Item as you complete it. You can get help for many of these Action Items from each college’s website, your guidance or college counselor, or your local reference librarian. Make copies and complete this checklist for each school to which you are planning to apply.
  •  Application Form Tracking Worksheet- Different schools may collect a variety of forms necessary to complete your aid application, 
    sometimes making it a challenge to keep track of them all. Make copies of this worksheet and use them to track forms and correspondence for each school to which you are applying.
  • Cost of Attendance Comparison Worksheet - The actual cost of attendance (COA) is unique for each student at each school. While some expenses are fixed (like tuition and fees), others are influenced and controlled by the student’s lifestyle (like housing and personal expenses). When considering the award package from a particular school, or in comparing packages from multiple schools, you can use this worksheet to compare your cost expectations to each school’s estimated total COA. The goal of this comparison is to better decide if the resulting difference is realistically manageable given the resources available to your family and the aid being offered by each school. Copy this worksheet as needed.
  • Award Letter Comparison Worksheet -
  • Sample Scholarship Inquiry Letter - This letter provides a sample format for inquiring about private student aid funds. Of course, you must first identify foundations and organizations which offer such assistance well in advance of any application deadlines. You can get help finding the names and addresses of private aid sources by conducting a scholarship search on the Internet or from a reference librarian in your public library or local school. You can also check the information on our web site;Once you have obtained contact information you will need to customize this letter to reflect your own background and needs by replacing the bracketed bold text below. Check the section on our web site on "Outside" Scholarships for more information.
  • Student Aid Program Summary -This chart details the main federal student aid programs administered by the U.S. Department of Education. Not all schools participate in all of the programs listed.
  • Financial Aid Consultants and Scholarship Search Services Fact Sheet - As the financial aid process has become more complex, there has been a significant increase in the number of individuals offering professional financial aid services to students and their families. Most popular among these are financial aid consultants and scholarship search companies. Some families sing the praises of certain consultants and scholarship search companies. However, the industry also includes “bad apples” who charge very high fees and who do little more than provide information that is readily available for free. As a wise consumer, you should exercise caution to avoid being taken advantage of and to be sure you fully understand the services that are offered. 

Thanks to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators ("NASFAA") for these resources.  Check their resource page for students and parents for additional resources

 

Updated February 26, 2013