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What You Must Know About Financial Aid Award Letters


Financial aid award letters are an important part of the entire quest to get sufficient funding for college classes and university degree programs. In the midst of all the other paperwork and difficult decisions, you may have some confusion about what these letters are and how to get and use them effectively to maximize the amount of money you have access to.

What Are Financial Aid Award Letters?

When you start applying for colleges and looking into funding options, you will discuss financial aid with each institution during the application process or afterward. If you get an acceptance letter from a particular institution, they will also send you a financial aid award letter. It tells you what kind of monetary assistance you will get from them directly.

Remember that you have to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms every year you intend to go to college if you want any kind of financial aid at all. This comes from the US Department of Education and can be done on the Internet or through the mail. While it focuses mainly on federal and state funding, colleges use the same information to determine private assistance, too.

What Does a Financial Aid Award Letter Tell You?

Individual schools send these letters out to people they accept as students for the following year. You still have the opportunity to decide whether you are going to attend that institution or not. The contents of the financial aid award letter could help you make that important decision.

Each letter includes three main things: the estimated cost of attending that school for one year, an estimate of how much your family will contribute to the costs, and specific information about the college's offered funding types and amounts. The last point includes any possible grants, scholarships, loans, and work-study opportunities offered to you.

How to Determine the Best Financial Aid Deal

After you get multiple acceptances to colleges and universities of your choice and have their financial aid award letters in front of you, you must compare the options and choose the best one. First, look at the total cost of attendance at each school. If spending as little as possible is your primary concern, this number may be the most important one in the letter. However, most people consider what type of financial aid they will get and the value of the education at each school, too.

Add up all the free money offered to you. This includes grants and scholarships that you will never have to repay. These totals will help reduce your long-term debt, which is always an important consideration when deciding on a school to attend. If offered a work-study program, consider if you will have the time and energy to tackle a job while studying with your intended course load.

Once you understand what financial aid award letters are and how they can help you with your college funding quest, the process becomes easier to navigate. Before you know it, you will get to attend classes and start your new adventure toward knowledge, the career of your choice, and higher earning potential throughout your life.