Daily Aid 61: Your financial aid might be running out

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Daily Aid 61: Your financial aid might be running out

7 January 2009 1 views No Comment

Daily Aid 61: Your financial aid might be running out

Student Financial Aid News

At yesterday’s Massachusetts College Goal Sunday meeting, an informal survey of my colleagues indicated that things are busier than ever. Financial aid officers were greeting the new year on Monday with lines out the door, facing heavy demand for their assistance. The event itself has nearly doubled registrations in just two weeks.

This all points to the need for financial aid reaching a critical point. The economy has continued to seriously challenge students, parents, and families.

What should you be doing right now?

Get your taxes in order if you can. The IRS just published the new tax year 2008 federal return, so it’s available for you to start doing your taxes. Get them done so that you can get your FAFSA filed as soon as possible.

Let me state this unequivocally: there is more demand for financial aid of every kind now than ever. Lines out the door on the first day of school – administrative day, not when students are back on campus for the spring semester – record registration growth for financial aid events. All of this points towards the heat being on.

For you to be successful in getting as much financial aid as possible, you need to be ahead of the crowds. Get your taxes done now. Get your FAFSA filed now, using estimates and filing a correction later. Get your scholarship applications out the door – crank those out now, crank those out fast, because competition is heating up. While I can’t disclose precise numbers (proprietary Student Loan Network stuff, etc.) I can show you the rough web site statistics for our scholarship search site, StudentScholarshipSearch.com for this month so far.

We’re talking tens of thousands of people looking for scholarships just on our web site alone and the numbers are racing up like crazy. If you aren’t ahead of the pack, cranking out the scholarship applications right now, get it in gear. There may be nothing left if you wait until mid-year. As soon as a scholarship begins accepting applications, get yours there.

Will there be student loans? Of course. Loans like the Stafford loan should be available no matter what the economy does. But scholarships, grants, and other limited pools of money are going to go fast this year.

The green flag has dropped, my friends. Get going on your financial aid today.

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