High school counselors and college financial aid officers alike offer a big push for students to find financial aid for their freshman year of college, but that should only be the beginning of your hunt for aid in paying for college.

Sophomore Year, and Beyond?

The outpouring of assistance students get as high school seniors can be a little misleading. For most students, finding private aid for this year may seem like a no-brainer–after all, a wealth of private scholarships are offered to high school grads every year–and students are encouraged by counselors, financial aid officers, parents and the media to pursue these funds. But once in college, too many students give up on finding any more private scholarships simply because they don’t know how to look for them, and frankly, get too involved in the everyday thrill and work of college life to notice.

As parents, however, I think we are quite aware of the jaw-dropping price tags of yearly tuition, room and board, supplies, and all the extra costs that make up our children’s college experience. That should be more than enough reason to encourage your child to search out free money awards during their college and graduate school years.

Aid in Finding Aid!

To get you started on the right path, I want to share some helpful hints about how to assist your student with the hunt for financial aid even after he or she has donned a college sweatshirt and earned his or her first round of grades.

• Go to the Source. Every college or university has a financial aid office, and their only job (as their name implies) is to help attending students with financial aid. Your student should take the time to stop by and discuss your family’s situation with his or her aid officer. He or she may be able to offer your child help with applying for school-specific scholarships, or a list of other outside scholarships. Your aid officer can also make suggestions about finding other types of aid.
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  Remind your student that scanning the college’s website is not enough! If your child can build a good relationship with an aid officer, he or she will be more likely to put in an effort to helping your child succeed.
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• Up the Odds of Winning. Big scholarship search sites like www.FastWeb.com offer lots of national scholarships, but to have the best chances of winning, your student needs to narrow down the playing field. He or she should look for local scholarships offered only to students in his or her city, region, or state.
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  Your child should also search out scholarships that are specific to their traits, characteristics, hobbies, and skills, because this also means a smaller applicant pool (and a better likelihood of winning). Think about what makes your child unique–it can be anything from club involvement to overcoming an illness, a special hobby to a familial association with military or civic clubs. You can help your student search out scholarships and compile a list together.

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• Don’t Forget to Fill Out the FAFSA. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that every family, regardless of whether or not you will qualify for “need-based” aid, should fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Aside from serving as an application for some school, state and federal grants and scholarships, it also gives your family access to the some of the lowest cost student and parent loans–the federal Perkins, Stafford and PLUS loans that you can use to fill in any funding gaps.

All the best,
Deborah Fox

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