College Counseling
Financial Aid and
Scholarships
It is not possible to
maintain a comprehensive
database for college
scholarships and
financial aid
opportunities. However,
students and their
families should plan
early and begin to
search for possible
scholarship matches as
soon as possible. Our
strong recommendation is
that families avoid
using any fee-based
“services” that offer to
find scholarships – in
most cases these are
unnecessary and in some
cases these are criminal
scams. There are
numerous free services
that provide the same
information. If your
family is planning to
apply for financial aid,
be sure to tell your
college counselor as we
may be able to direct
you to specific
opportunities for which
you qualify.
FAFSA – Free Application
for Federal Student Aid
This FREE application
form is the first step
to procuring financial
aid from the federal
government as well as
from colleges and
universities. This site
provides instructions on
how to complete the
FAFSA, as well as a
FAFSA4caster
that will allow you to
plan ahead for your
estimated college costs
during your junior year.
The new FAFSA becomes
available online on
January 1 of your senior
year.
REMEMBER: you must
complete the FAFSA to be
eligible for financial
aid and/or scholarships
at every college and
university in the U.S.
CSS Profile – College
Scholarship Service
Profile
Although not every
college requires the
Profile, many private
universities require a
completed application in
order to be eligible for
any institutional
financial aid. Many of
the member colleges use
the information
collected on the Profile
to help them award
nonfederal student aid
funds. It is very
important to determine
which colleges require
the Profile; a complete
list of member colleges
can be found on the
Profile website. The new
Profile usually becomes
available online in
October of your senior
year. There is a fee to
submit the CSS Profile;
the College Board
automatically awards fee
waivers based on the
information you provide
on the form.
California Student Aid
Commission
This site contains good,
basic financial aid
information. It is
offered by the State of
California and it
provides links to
financial aid sites,
lenders, job
opportunities and
application deadlines.
It also provides a link
to
CalGrant
information, a need and
merit-based grant
awarded to students who
attend participating
colleges in California.
The deadline to submit
your FAFSA to be
eligible for a CalGrant
is March 2 of your
senior year.
FinAid! – The Smart
Guide to Financial Aid
Sponsored by the
National Association of
Student Financial Aid
Administrators, this
page provides links to
hundreds of sources of
information about
student aid and
scholarships. This site
provides a terrific
glossary of financial
aid terms, a complete
overview of financial
aid methodology, as well
as useful FAQ’s.
FastWeb! – Free
Scholarship Search
This site is the
nation’s largest
scholarship database. If
you register with
FastWeb, you will have
access to free
scholarship searches,
personalized scholarship
matching, internship
searches, as well as
financial aid and
student loan help.
FastWeb will send you
regular emails with
scholarship updates and
application deadline
reminders.
CollegeNet Scholarship
Search
This site is another
scholarship database
that will allow you to
search for scholarships
based on your personal
profile. CollegeNet also
provides scholarship and
financial applications
for member colleges
which saves information
and prevents you having
to duplicate information
when filling out forms.
OCCF - Orange County
Community Foundation
This is a local,
non-profit, charitable
organization that
provides scholarships to
students in Orange
County. There are over
56 scholarships
available through the
site and most
scholarships are only
for Orange County high
school students.
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