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Financial Aid Tips

 

SEHS Financial Aid Night 11/2/23 (link to recording)

Passcode: 73C?=QE^ (Feedback echo in recording ends after just over one minute.)

FINANCIAL AID TIPS for the class of 2024

  • MAIN SOURCES of FINANCIAL AID/SCHOLARSHIPS for COLLEGE
  1. Financial aid offered by college where student will enroll (i.e. PathwayOregon Grant at the UO)
  2. U.S. government and state government grants and loans (i.e. Pell Grant, Oregon Promise Grant)
  3. Private scholarships. These are often, but not always, one-time payouts of less than $5,000. (i.e. Eugene Elks Lodge Scholarship)
  • FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid)
  1. All high-school seniors (U.S. citizens and eligible noncitizens) hoping for any type of financial aid should apply. Even if you’re not eligible for federal or state government aid, colleges and private scholarship donors often use the FAFSA to determine how much aid they will give a student. (This includes merit aid.)
  2. Once the 2024-2025 FAFSA is made available, some time in December, submit it ASAP.  Often funds are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
  3. The student and parent(s) start the FAFSA application process by each creating an FSA ID (Federal Student Aid Identification). (New for the 2024-25 FAFSA, every contributor to a student’s FAFSA must complete an FSA ID, not just a single parent, as in previous years.) To determine which parent(s) should create FSA IDs, check out the video, Financial Aid Parents by Oregon OASFAA.
  4. File the FAFSA again for each year you attend college.
  • ORSAA (Oregon State Application for Aid)
  1. Seniors who have undocumented status, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, and/or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) should fill out the ORSAA instead of the FAFSA.
  2. Once the 2024-2025 ORSAA is made available, some time in December, submit it ASAP.  Often funds are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis
  3. File again for each year you attend college.
  • TO QUICKLY ESTIMATE YOUR FAFSA RESULTS
  1. Students can use the Federal Student Aid Estimator to find out how much federal student aid they may be eligible for starting with the 2024–25 award year.
  2. This site will also estimate your Student Aid Index (SAI), the amount the FAFSA determines your family should be able to contribute each year towards the cost of college.
  3. Cost of Attendance (COA) at a particular college can be found on the institution’s website. The COA is the total yearly cost of tuition, room, board, fees, and other expenses charged by a particular college.
  4. COA minus SAI = your financial need (according to the particular college).  Some schools offer to cover 100% of calculated financial need when they send out financial-aid offers to students.  Some don’t. Also, covering 100% of financial need sometimes includes loans. Sometimes it doesn’t.
  • CSS PROFILE
  1. Some selective schools require the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA to award institutional aid (money offered by the college).
  2. Click here to file online beginning October 1st.
  3. You should file no later than two weeks before the earliest priority filing date specified by your colleges or programs.
  • FINANCIAL-AID OFFERS consist of:
  1. Grants/scholarships (money which is not repaid)
  2. Loans (which must be repaid with interest)
  3. Work-study (part-time jobs on campus intended to be applied to college costs)
  4. Financial-aid offer tips:
  • Financial-aid offers are made after admittance to a school and usually before April 1 of the applicant’s senior year.  They are sometimes negotiable.
  • Contact the financial-aid office of your selected schools if you have any special conditions or unusual circumstances that might convince them to offer you more aid. Most schools have a specific process for appealing their original offer of aid.
  • If not clearly stated in your offers, ask the financial-aid office of your selected schools if outside scholarship amounts are “stackable” or will be subtracted from your aid package.

IMPORTANT DATES

Fall 2023

  • The Junior Project (Canvas course) is a graduation requirement for the class of 2024. Seniors who have not completed it are encouraged to do so while it is still relevant to their college search.
  • Seniors should sign up for their Senior Interviews. Click here to make an appointment. Interviews take place with students’ counselors in the counseling office and are an opportunity to review college plans, clarify the application process, and discuss goals for life after high school.
  • For senior updates, click here access the counseling newsletter.
  • Most schools have eliminated the SAT/ACT requirement. Check each school’s website for their freshman-admission requirements for more details. Don’t forget that test-optional schools don’t require admissions test scores but do review them if they receive them. Test-blind schools do not review the scores at all. And some test-optional schools require test scores for scholarship applications.
  • The Oregon Promise Grant application can now be submitted. Click here to apply. This grant covers most tuition costs at Oregon community colleges for recent high-school graduates with a GPA of 2.0 or higher. It is due on June 1.

October 2023

  • 1st: CSS Profile can now be submitted.
  • 8th: NACAC College Fair (nationwide and some international colleges) from 12-4:00 pm at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.
  • 9th: NACAC College Fair (nationwide and some international schools) from 9 am-12 pm at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.
  • 13th: PNACAC College Fair (Pacific Northwest area colleges) from 9-11:00 am at the UO’s Mac Court.

November 2023

  • 1st: OSAC Scholarships application can be submitted.
  • 2nd: SEHS Financial Aid Night Webinar @ 7 pm.  This is a live Zoom webinar review of the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and other financial-aid information followed by a Q&A session. It is pertinent to upperclass students.
  • 14th: Launch of  SEHS Junior/Senior Newsletter.  This is a digital newsletter that is emailed to families of juniors and seniors and includes prerecorded videos and reading materials pertinent to upperclass students.
  • 15th: Duck Express (UO Application Workshop) from 12:10-1:55 in the SEHS cafeteria

December 2023

  • FAFSA can now be submitted (exact date TBD).

January 2024

  • Early: LCC Foundation Scholarships application can now be submitted
  • 17th: SEHS FAFSA/ORSAA Completion Workshop @ 6:30 pm in room 6

February 2024

  • 15th: OSAC Scholarship application early-bird deadline @ 5 pm.  Error-free applications will be entered into a drawing for a $1,000 scholarship.

March 2024

  • 1st: OSAC Scholarship application final deadline @ 5 pm.
  • Early: LCC Foundation Scholarships application final deadline.

Spring 2024

  • Many local scholarships due

HELPFUL WEBSITES

Current scholarships from local and regional businesses and organizations.

Current scholarships from local and national businesses and organizations.

Education tax credits

National scholarship database

College planning site

Office of Student Access and Completion (OSAC): Scholarships and grants for Oregon high-school students including undocumented students

Scholarship database for thousands of scholarships.

Guest username: careersehs, password: ax1s; click on Explore Resources – Education & Training – Scholarship Sort (under Tools for Scholarships)