All Questions & Answers Articles

Most student loans, whether federal or private, come with origination fees. Processing a loan can be a long drawn out process with several hours spent gathering and organizing the necessary documentation, and verifying the accuracy of the information submitted. Lenders have to pay somebody to do all of this, and they recover the cost by …

When you are looking for a student loan, the first and best place to start is with the FAFSA. Filling the FAFSA opens the doors to a variety of financial aid, including federal student loans, at very attractive terms. However, sometimes this is not enough. If you require additional loans beyond your federal student loans, …

Scholarships are, without a doubt, the best way to pay for your college education. But they can be a lot of work and daunting, which puts some people off. So what are your chances of winning a scholarship? Is it worth all the effort? What Are the Chances of Winning a Scholarship? The chances entirely …

One of the many questions on any college application form is whether or not you will be applying for financial aid. Many students, afraid of hurting their college admission chances, don’t ask for financial aid. This is more so if their application can best be described as ‘borderline’. Will asking for financial aid hurt their college …

When you fill in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), you have to provide detailed information about your family finances and assets as on the day you submit the application. Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and financial aid eligibility are calculated based on the information you provide. But what if something changes? What …

There are a lot of terms when it comes to financial aid and one that you may have heard is “institutional aid.” Here’s what you need to know about this form of aid. What is Institutional Aid? Institutional aid, unlike federal aid, is money from your college or university. It’s often available to incoming students, …

“Outside scholarships” are any scholarships you earn from external sources, basically anyone besides the federal government or the school itself. So why do you have to report outside scholarships to your school? It’s All About Financial Need When you earn outside scholarships, your financial need goes down—you now have additional money that you didn’t before. …