Financial Aid

Looking for information on financial aid? MeritAid.com makes it easy to search for financial aid available from colleges and universities in the form of merit scholarships. It's very simple. Just create a free profile to see financial aid in the form of merit scholarships that match.

MeritAid.com offers free information and tools on financial aid to help you succeed. Do you want to know what kinds of financial aid and merit-based scholarships are available before you apply to college? Search the comprehensive directory of merit scholarships and get financial aid info from colleges across the country. Also check out the One-Click Scholarships feature. Once you create your profile, applying for financial aid and scholarships is as easy as one click!

In addition, you can find your financial aid match. Learn about financial aid at colleges and universities based on your interests and academic accomplishments. Find financial aid in the form of merit scholarships from thousands of colleges! Let admissions and financial aid departments at colleges and universities find you. They can provide information on financial aid and answer your questions about financial aid. Learn about topics related to financial aid. MeritAid.com is FREE & EASY TO USE! So go ahead, CREATE YOUR FREE PROFILE to get started.

Financial aid tools

With all the information about financial aid on the Internet, it's hard to know where to start. Well, MeritAid.com has taken care of that for you by offering tons of useful financial aid tools. These financial aid tools will not only help you collect all financial related info, but they'll also make it much easier to apply for various scholarships in just a click. Some of the most popular financial aid related tools MeritAid.com offers are the Merit Aid Scholarship Database, College Cost Comparison, Financial Aid Comparison, and One-Click Scholarships. These tools help students learn about costs, financial aid, scholarships and other ways to pay for college. Here's some more information about each:

Merit-Based Financial Aid Database: Before MeritAid.com, it was extremely difficult to learn about all the merit-based financial aid offered at colleges across the country. You would have to visit each college's financial aid site to learn about all the available financial aid scholarships. But with MeritAid.com, searching for the right scholarship is a breeze as the site contains more than 78,000 individual merit-based financial aid scholarships from 1,800 colleges across the country. You just need to fill out a free profile to get started exploring more than $11 billion in available financial aid from colleges. Find your financial aid match now!
College Cost Comparison: After you've done everything possible to maximize your financial aid, eventually you're going to have to make a decision where to go to college. The cost of colleges you're considering will therefore become very important. With the MeritAid.com College Cost Comparison, you'll be able to enter in the details of the financial aid and compare the true bottom-line price of the colleges you're considering. We've done most of the work for you - all you need to do is have your financial aid details ready and we'll show you how much you'll spend out of pocket to go there. To compare costs of colleges, fill out a free profile and click on "College Cash."
Financial Aid Comparison: If you've done everything right, you'll end up with several different financial aid packages from your top schools. Congratulations! But it may seem like apples and oranges as you compare your financial aid awards. MeritAid.com has made it easier to objectively compare your financial aid awards so that you can see which one is truly best for you. One of the common mistakes many people make is to focus on the total amount of financial aid awarded, and not pay attention to the bottom-line cost of the colleges. That is, one school may have offered you $5,000 more in financial aid, but if the cost of the college is $10,000 more, you'll actually still pay more to go to that college! Don't fall into that common trap. Use the free Financial Aid Comparison tool on MeritAid.com to compare your financial aid awards objectively and completely so that you can make an informed decision where to go to college. Fill out a free profile to get started!
One-Click Scholarships: When applying for financial aid, it'll seem like you'll be filling out countless time-consuming forms. For financial aid in the form of scholarships or grants, you may even be asked to write an essay or personal statement. That can get tiring after doing the same thing over and over again for multiple financial aid applications! MeritAid.com understands and has significantly streamlined the process of applying for multiple financial aid scholarships with one simple application. All you need to do is fill out a free profile, click to the Scholarships tab and apply for as many scholarships as you wish. Each one is just a simple click! Apply for multiple financial aid opportunities using the same profile. It's one of our most popular features, so try it out today! And don't forget to pay attention to your profile - it'll be used to judge your qualifications for the financial aid awards you apply for.

CREATE YOUR FREE MERITAID.COM PROFILE NOW and get instant access to all the tools to assist you in figuring out financial aid!

Financial aid basics

To begin learning about financial aid, you need to know the basics. Think of this intro as "Financial Aid 101." Indeed, there's a lot of information available about financial aid to learn. For instance, financial aid is available in various forms. Do you know what types of financial aid are available? Financial aid is available based on need and merit. There are other forms of financial aid as well, such as scholarships and grants. Federal aid is also provided in the form of financial aid to enable students to attend a good college and can either be in the form of loans that need to be paid back or grants that don't require repayment. Figuring out financial aid can get pretty detailed. That's why knowing all the basic information on types of financial aid is important. Ready to get started? Learn more about financial aid here.

Financial aid FAFSA

If you've spent any time learning about financial aid, you must have heard the term FAFSA by now. Need-based financial aid mostly starts with the FAFSA. FAFSA simply stands for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. You file the free FAFSA online before applying to college, and you may be required to file it each year you are requesting financial aid. Getting familiar with what's asked on the FAFSA will help you prepare the best application to maximize your chances of getting financial aid.

You may be surprised to learn that all federal financial aid, including financial aid in the form of grants and loans, is based on the FAFSA. In addition to federal financial aid, many states and colleges use the FAFSA as the basis for awarding need-based financial aid. Knowing the related lingo during the financial aid application process helps in preparing a good application for financial aid. There are billions of dollars allocated for financial aid by the federal government, but you have to apply in order to get this financial aid. Simply put, if you are serious about financial aid, you can't afford to ignore this form. Read more about the FAFSA here.

Financial aid office

The financial aid office is usually associated with the admissions office at colleges. Whereas the admissions office is responsible for processing applicants and admitting students, the financial aid office is responsible for giving all the information on financial aid to newly admitted and continuing students.

The financial aid office may run a little differently at every college. The financial aid office can guide students toward the different types of financial aid available. The financial aid office has all the forms available, and they can answer your questions about any aspect of financial aid. Basically, the mission of the financial aid office is to provide prospective and enrolled students with information and resources on financial aid. Financial aid office workers are extremely helpful and knowledgeable about all aspects of financial aid. Financial aid policies are carried out by the financial aid office. For instance, if a university makes changes to financial aid programs to make it more affordable based on certain income level, the financial aid office will be able to provide all related details.

Financial aid in the form of Merit Aid

What is merit-based financial aid? Financial aid awarded to students by a college based on individual achievements and talents is merit-based financial aid. Unlike need-based financial aid, which is determined by your financial circumstances, merit-based financial aid is given in recognition of your achievements. The accomplishments of students to be considered for merit-based financial aid could be academic, athletic, artistic or other. Think of merit-based financial aid as the payoff for those good grades and high SAT or ACT scores you worked so hard to achieve. Also, all the hours you spent pursuing extracurricular activities, personal interests and hobbies may help you to qualify for merit-based financial aid. MeritAid.com has more than 78,000 individual merit-based financial aid programs available at more than 1,800 colleges across the country. Sign up for a free profile to search the comprehensive database of programs. Or, you can read more about merit-based financial aid here.

Student financial aid

There are tons of student financial aid topics out there. But unfortunately, most students don't know how to take full advantage of all the money-saving financial aid tools available. Using information on student financial aid doesn't mean getting better grades or scoring higher on standardized tests. It means being smart and knowing your financial aid options. Smart financial aid decisions can help save thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars on college. MeritAid.com touches on all types of financial aid topics with a focus on merit aid scholarships. Merit aid scholarships can be incredibly lucrative for students looking for financial aid.

State financial aid

Many states provide financial aid in the form of sponsored merit aid programs. By offering state financial aid, they want to encourage enrollment in public universities and make college more affordable for students at all income levels. Some states will even pay all your tuition to certain colleges if you meet the program's requirements. There are eligibility criteria to qualify for state financial aid. You typically must be a state resident and meet requirements for GPA, class rank or ACT/SAT scores for state financial aid. For example, graduating high school students in the state of Georgia may receive a HOPE scholarship worth from $3,500 to full tuition for most public and private colleges in Georgia if they earn at least a "B" average in high school.

To apply for state financial aid, ask your high school guidance counselor if your state has a merit-based financial aid program, or simply do some research on your state government's web site regarding state financial aid. Some states automatically consider all students for state financial aid who meet the eligibility requirements. While others require you or your high school counselor to submit an application to qualify for state financial aid. Seeking out both college and state merit aid scholarships will give you a view of what merit scholarships you qualify for and allow you to do some rough cutting of your potential college list.

It's easy to get started with Meritaid.com to help you collect info on financial aid. Just create a profile today and you'll be on your way. From all of us at Cappex, good luck with your financial aid search!