Scholarships/Financial Aid
Click here to view the Scholarship Handbook for 2011-2012
Student financial aid can make a difference in the your college choice and life after college. Student financial aid may allow you to continue your education, or it may allow you to attend a school despite higher costs. Applying for federal student aid is FREE. It is also time sensitive. Submit your FAFSA as soon after January 1 of your senior year. Follow these steps to the financial aid process and then review these Helpful Hints.
There are many opportunities to receive scholarship funds for college. Like most valuable opportunities in life, the more a student puts into the search for gift aid funding, the more likely he or she is to receive gift aid. There are now so many ways to discover funds available to assist with educational expenses on the post-secondary level, it is usually unwise to pay a firm to do a scholarship search for you. Instead, take the time to explore the free resources available to students and their parents.
Usually students are eligible for more gift aid at higher cost schools than at lower cost schools. Until you apply for institutional need-based and merit aid programs and receive a financial aid award, you will not be able to determine the true cost of enrolling at one school over another. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you evaluate factors other than just gross charges when looking at potential colleges. Factors include academic offerings, academic support services, size, location, single sex or co-ed, diversity, housing opportunities, religious ties, and social atmosphere. With the tremendous amount of financial assistance available, both gift aid and self-help aid (jobs and loans), most students who have followed the correct application process on time will be able to attend his or her first choice school if offered admission. By receiving scholarships from outside sources a student has the opportunity to improve his or her financial aid by increasing the total award and/or converting self-help into gift aid.
The Crosby Scholars Program in coordination with the WS/FC School system will sponsor financial aid senior academies on January 5th and again on January 12, 2012.
Remember, each high school has designated a guidance counselor to serve as a scholarship coordinator. Do you know the scholarship coordinator at your school? Have you read your school’s scholarship newsletter?
Scholarship committees often reward the applicants who put forth the most effort! In addition to a Last Dollar Grant, see what scholarship opportunities are unique to Crosby Scholars. Visit the Students-Senior-Scholarships page to view application deadlines. View the Announcements on the homepage to access these applications.