Applying for financial aid is a separate and vital part of the college application process.
Your family may need assistance meeting the annual cost of tuition, books, fees, room,
and board. The following steps will help you organize the financial aid application process:

• Begin researching scholarships in the spring of your junior year. Look for
  scholarship information in the career center and run a scholarship search on the
  Internet either in the career center or at home. Utilize the MCPS scholarship
  resource website.
   

• Continue to investigate scholarship opportunities throughout your senior year.
  Let your counselor and career center specialist know you are interested in
  locating scholarship money.
   

• Find out what forms your colleges require and what the deadlines are.
   

• Pick up the necessary financial aid forms from the guidance office or career
  center.
   

• Attend a financial aid workshop at your school for an explanation of the financial
  aid process and for directions on filling out the FAFSA.
   

• Complete and return CSS Profile application in the fall if applying to a college
  using this system. http://profileonline.collegeboard.com
   

• Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) as soon as
  possible after January 1. www.fafsa.ed.gov
   

• Review the Student Aid Report (SAR), which will arrive about six weeks after
  you file the FAFSA. Make corrections if necessary.
   

• Carefully compare financial award letters when they arrive in the spring. Once
  you have decided which college to attend, notify the financial aid office of your
  decision to accept all, part, or none of the financial award.

A trip to the college financial aid office should answer the following questions:

• What percentage of your demonstrated need will be met?
   

• What is the college’s loan default rate? This affects the amount of federal funds
  the colleges will have available.
   

• Whether the composition of the financial aid package changes from year to year,
  i.e. does the loan component increase significantly?
   

• What tuition payment plans are available?

A good resource for financial aid is www.finaid.org.