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If you plan to attend college for the first time in 2011 or a member of the family goes, you're about to launch the season of student financial aid.


If you are looking for money for college and wish to apply for financial assistance, your first stop should be the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the FAFSA. All federal student loans, federal grants and other forms of student financial aid from the federal government is bound to this form.


Federal Student Aid


The FAFSA can be completed and submitted online .. The FAFSA is free, and enslavement is also free. The deadline to submit the federal FAFSA is June 30


It is not necessary to know which college or university that you intend to participate in order to complete and submit the form, but will need to refer to the 2010 tax return. If you are a dependent of your parents, you must have your 2010 tax return to be the guardian (s), or a parent who declares himself a deduction, even if this parent is not going to help pay for college.


When you submit your FAFSA to the Department of Education to generate a Student Aid Report (SAR) that summarizes your financial information and your parents. You can choose to receive your SAR schools, and you can add to this list the schools at any time.


Schools that receive your SAR will analyze your financial information and create a financial aid package based largely on the costs of school participation and determining your ability to pay. (Some schools also offer non-need-based financial aid awarded on the basis of merit rather than financial need.)


Federal assistance grant is for low-income students and financial need. Most students, however, will be eligible for federal loans for college.


Federal Stafford student loans are available as well as need-based and need-based versions. Need-based Stafford loans are reserved for students who demonstrate financial need. Not need-based Stafford loans are not available regardless of financial need. There is no credit check or co-signer is required Stafford student loans, take these loans in your name.


State financial support


Some states also use the FAFSA to determine your eligibility for student loan programs, state aid and subsidies. Although the deadline for submission of federal FAFSA is June 30, many states have earlier deadlines for implementation, with some falling from 15 February 2011.


Other countries have no specific deadlines, but state-funded student financial aid is a first-come, first served, the processing of aid applications to college only when there is still the state to share resources.


Parent Loans


The federal government also offers loans for parents, known as PLUS loans for parents who want to help undergraduates pay for college.


While the Department of Education is not necessary to have completed a FAFSA form by their parents to apply for a PLUS loan, many schools that need it. This school does not approve or certify a PLUS loan application to a FAFSA on file with the student.


As with federal student loans, the Federal PLUS loan repayment can be deferred until the student, graduate or leave school.


1-2-3 for the College Student


1) Complete the FAFSA - carefully


Fill out the FAFSA can be time consuming and it requires you to have good documentation on hand.


Since you will submit your FAFSA to the federal government as a tax, it is advisable to damage or distort your financial information on the FAFSA anyway. Irregularities reported FAFSA and must be corrected before the form can be treated, the delay of your application for financial assistance.


If you are given grants, student loans or other financial aid is based on false or inaccurate information submitted on the FAFSA, you may need to return the excess of financial services to help immediately. If the errors were caused by intentional or flagrant, it may impose fines and other sanctions.


2) Search for scholarships


While the FAFSA is being processed, start looking for scholarships. Scholarships are available for virtually all types of students in almost all fields of study. Some scholarships are based on need, others are based on merit, and some are a combination of both.


Since the scholarships provide a reward of money must be paid as student loans, you may think that the grants "free money" for college.


Use a search engine for scholarships online, which keeps an updated database of scholarships and allows you to search this database for free. The best place online scholarship search regular list millions of lists of scholarships with billions of dollars of grant money available.


3) Use only private student loans as a last


When you receive your financial aid package for college, so be sure to take advantage of all applicable federal and state your student aid options before moving to a higher cost of financial options.


Specifically, you need to maximize your federal student loans before turning to non-federal private student loans offered by banks and other lenders to private profit.


College federal loans offer fixed interest rate is generally lower than the variable rate offered by private student loans. Federal loans also offer flexible repayment options than typical program of private student loan. You need to turn to loan private school where all your other options state and federal student loans have been exhausted.