Welcome to Education Grant Guide
Department Direct Education Loan Student Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Free Money – The College Education Grant
from:With today’s high costs of attending college, many students are finding it difficult to finance their own education. Even getting a part-time job often doesn’t cut it and many students can’t balance a full-time job and academic demands. For individuals who need monetary help to attend college, there is Federal aid that comes in two forms: self-help and gift. The first allows you to borrow money through loans or work for the money through the work-study program. The latter is just what the name implies: a gift. And gifts don’t have to be repaid.
Fortunately, the US Federal government is not the only organization that realizes the need for educated citizens and the difficulties some citizens have in getting educated. Many other organizations offer aid as well. This aid comes in the form of a college education grant.
The great thing about a college education grant, like the majority of grants and unlike student loans, is that you don’t have to return the money. A college education grant is based mainly on need (though there are some that are merit-based as well), and it is highly competitive. These grants won’t necessarily cover all costs of an education, but they can be a big help. Grants of this nature can be donated by the federal or state government, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, research institutions, funding institutions, corporations, or private individuals.
The college-bound should start researching college education grant opportunities early, say junior year of high school, and also start saving up money for the costs that the grant will not cover, such as textbooks. A FAFSA (Free Application for Student Aid) form should be filled out by anyone who wishes to attend post-secondary education because the information on this form is forwarded by the department of education to the state assistance agency in the state where a student applies. Often, a student can be eligible for more than one grant and some scholarships. Many grants are donated on a first-come first-served basis, so it’s best to get applications in early.
Two of the most popular and well-known need-based grants are the Federal Pell grant and the Federal Educational Supplemental Opportunity grant.
* The first is a college education grant often used as a starting point on top of which students add other grants or scholarships. This grant is for undergraduate students only, and is often further limited to students who do not already have a bachelor’s degree (though there are some exceptions), and money given ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. The donation of the grant is based on need, cost of attendance and whether a candidate is a full-time or part-time student.
* The second college education grant involves money given to students who are especially in need. Both the Federal Pell grant and this grant can be given to the same student, though the money donated through this grant is reduced if a student is receiving other types of aid.
There are a variety of other types of grants donated by a variety of organizations which come with more restrictions than the above mentioned grants. Conditional grants, for example, may entail a student undertaking a particular course of study or maintaining a particular grade point average to be eligible. Some grants given by universities or local organizations have residency requirements as well.
To find out specific information about specific college education grants, there are a number of sources to which an aspiring university student may turn. A local library or a high school counselor’s office is an excellent place to start. On the web, an internet search with the words “college” and “grants” could be useful, while there are some tried and true sites such as finaid.org, collegeanswer.com, and the Michigan State Library website that are excellent sources for college education grant information.
Department Direct Education Loan Student News
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators Supports Improved ... - San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators Supports Improved ... San Francisco Chronicle (press release) The report also urges the US Department of Education to develop a student loan database or aggregator to help students and colleges track federal and private student loan borrowing. "As Congress and the Obama administration explore ways to improve ... |
Romney, Dipping Into Education, Pushes School Choice - New York Times (blog)
 Christian Science Monitor | Romney, Dipping Into Education, Pushes School Choice New York Times (blog) The education issue figured in the Republican nominating contest only when candidates competed over how zealously they could call for abolishing the federal Education Department. Now, Mitt Romney has injected actual education issues prominently into ... Romney For Parent Choice on School Aid Romney on Education Reform Mitt Romney unveils education reform plan heavy on 'parental choice' (+video) |
Romney Proposes Return to Bush Education Policy - The Nation.
 The Nation. | Romney Proposes Return to Bush Education Policy The Nation. On higher education student loans Romney proposes to revive Bush's legacy of wasteful crony capitalism by replacing efficient federal loans with expensive, inefficient and burdensome private loans. Rhetorically Romney is framing education, as Bush did, ... Mitt Romney announces education policy team |
Ohio State will loan iPads to athletes - FOXSports.com
Ohio State will loan iPads to athletes FOXSports.com Find your team at Scout.com. Ohio State's department of athletics will begin providing its student-athletes with iPads this fall. Dr. David Graham, Ohio State's assistant provost for student-athlete success, announced the decision on Wednesday. |
The Delusion of Regulating Risk - Business Insider
The Delusion of Regulating Risk Business Insider Collection agencies can call day and night to collect student loan debts. Garnishment to pay student loan debt is common. Students are not getting enough well-paying jobs to pay back these enormous loans, yet The Department of Education through the ... |
For-profits lead SA in student loan defaults - San Antonio Express
 Syracuse.com (blog) | For-profits lead SA in student loan defaults San Antonio Express One of them had only two students on loans, but at some of the others, more than 20 percent of students and graduates who took out loans couldn't pay them back, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of data from the US Education Department. Educating Students on How to Handle Debt Student loan myths and facts Can your kids graduate from college without debt? |