Because of the massive amount of money required to attend college for four years (or more if the student plans to attend graduate school), many parents will encourage their children to apply for scholarships while they apply for need based financial aid. In the United States, parents will be required to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA form). This application will be similar to the tax forms filled out at the end of the year. The form will take into account the income of the student’s family, as well as the number of siblings the student has and their age (if they will be attending college soon). From the FAFSA form, colleges will be able to determine the “expected family contribution,” or in general terms, how much money the family will be required to pay themselves.

If you meet the eligibility requirements to receive Federal Student Aid for college there are a few things about the FAFSA process that you might find helpful.

Be sure to check the deadline date for submitting your FAFSA papers. Federal student financial aid has different deadlines than state and school student financial aid. This should be researched to make sure you will make the deadline. Also remember that you may have to fill out additional papers if requested to do so. These requests must make it to them by the deadline as well. Getting your FASFA filled out early will allow plenty of time for you to fill out any additional papers.

There are other benefits to getting your forms in quickly. The earlier you apply for financial aid, the more likely you are to get. Funds quickly become depleted from scholarships due to all of the qualified applicants who got their FASFA forms filled out as soon as they could. This gives the earlier applicant’s a greater chance of receiving funding for school. You can apply for financial aid in January to beat the rush.

Finding money for college can be a challenge for many students and their families. While saving in advance is the best choice, many times saving money for college is not easy for families. Even for those who do save, many find that the savings are not enough to cover the full cost of a college education.

So what should students and parents do to find money for college? There are many programs available to help students get money for college including scholarships, grants and several types of loans.

There is one form the student needs to fill out each year which will determine his or her eligibility for need based programs including loans, grants and work-study called the FAFSA, found online at fafsa.ed.gov.

After submitting the FAFSA students will be notified by mail which programs they qualify for. Priority deadlines for most colleges are late spring to early summer. However students can continue to apply until the end of the school year.

If you have gotten your FAFSA results and didn’t get as much money for college as you need, the first thing you should do is visit the financial aid office at your school. It is possible that there may be other sources of aid available. Some colleges participate in state funded financial aid programs and special need based programs that you may qualify for.