Financial Aid
Financial aid is free money gifted to you based on your household income. Financial aid acknowledges how much your family can afford to pay for you to go to college. The United States government may provide financial aid, and your college may provide additional financial aid if it has the funds available.
FAFSA - Free Application for Federal Student Aid
October 1- Application opens
Colleges use the FAFSA report to determine your family's financial aid award.
The FAFSA must be completed every year that a student will be enrolled in school. Every US citizen who is applying to college should complete the FAFSA!
Apply as early as possible! Financial aid awards are technically "first-come first-serve," but there is no deadline for the FAFSA so complete it anyway if you forget to early on
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If you are on free or reduced lunch, FAFSA may qualify you for the Pell Grant. That's $6000 per year, for free, just by doing the FAFSA!
CSS Profile
cssprofile.collegeboard.org
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October 1- Application opens
Some private and/or selective colleges request that students complete the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA.
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CSS Profile is a privately run financial aid application that is more invasive than the FAFSA. It asks for the finances of both parents, regardless of marital and residence status.
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If a student attends a CSS Profile school, they must complete the profile each year.
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Schools will typically set a deadline by which the student should submit the CSS Profile.
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Schools in North Carolina requiring CSS Profile: UNC at Chapel Hill, Duke, Davidson, Elon, Wake Forest
A word on loans: The FAFSA qualifies everyone who completes it to receive up to $6,000 in government loans for college per year. Government loans are the lowest interest rate loans a student can receive, and most colleges will build these into a student's financial aid package. No student is required to take these loans. Instead, they must pay the amount up front. It is a good idea to not take loans unless there is no other source of money to pay with.