The word college usually conjures up images of learning and higher education. It also conjures up horrible sights of the immense cost of college. Between the cost of tuition, books, classes, lab fees and boarding a college education can get quite expensive. Naturally the question arises how to pay for this? The first step is to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) this application will allow the government to assess how much financial aid you need and allows access to federal grants that can lessen the shock of the cost of college. While the federal grants will never be able to cover the full cost of college there are other ways to pay for the remaining costs.
1. College Scholarships
One of the most convenient ways to pay for college is to apply for college scholarships. With millions of dollars available to students all you have to do is work for it! Most scholarships require you to write an essay on nearly anything or to do something that stands you out among the crowd and all of them require an application. But beware with anything involving money there are scams and scholarships are not immune. Most scams are obvious are obvious for example: if a scholarship application asks for your Social Security Number or for any unneeded information that they would have to clear with your school it is fake. You should always check the creditability of a scholarship especially if it asks for a school transcript. A good way to avoid the on-line scams is to use trusted websites like www.collegeboard.com and www.fastweb.com.
2. Loans
Loans are something that most people use to pay for college because it is a second convenient way to pay for college. There are four types of loans: a student loan, a parent loan, a private student loan and a consolidation loan. The federal government controls the maximum interest rates and fees for federally insured loans but lenders can charge lower rates to lure prospective buyers in. An example of a standard student loan is the Stafford loan or the Perkins loan. These loans do no require require credit checks and usually have a very low interest rates. The Stafford loan is either a subsidized loan in which the government pays the interest rate while you go to school or an unsubsidized loan in which you pay the interest rates. They have a fixed interest rate of 6.8% and a loan fee of 4% but will be continually lowered until it is phased out by 2010. You can apply for a Stafford loan through the FASFA all
