Thursday, March 11, 2010

Applying for FAFSA Before Attending College

Through the years, I have advised students to start applying for scholarships in their junior year of high school but, the question of FAFSA has never come up.

In response to an email I received from the parent of a high school student, I contacted the experts at FAFSA and received a positive response.

You may be aware of the fact that most scholarship applications require that you apply for FAFSA and have a student aid report (SAR). Since students don't apply for FAFSA until January 1st of the year that they will be transferring to a college, they wouldn't have a SAR for the scholarship application.

Well, the official word is that you can apply for FAFSA at any time. You are allowed to enter a maximum of ten colleges that you are considering. So, the good news is that high school students can apply for scholarships now--the junior year is a good time to start.

With that said, I do want to note that there are many scholarships and contests for younger students and even little children. (My grandson received a $1000 scholarship when he was nine years old. He wrote an essay on Father Junipero Serra.)

Please do not wait until you are in college to start applying. Even though it is never too late to start, it is a good idea to start as early as possible.

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