The Best Tips on How To Get More Financial Aid as a Student

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Learn How To Get More Financial Aid for College

Do you have your heart set on a specific college that doesn’t offer enough financial support to make attendance affordable for you? Even though you may consider giving up on it and choosing another institution, you should check all the available ways to get a more generous offer.

This guide will explain how to get more financial aid by searching for alternatives and appealing the institution’s decision .

How To Get Financial Aid Money by Submitting FAFSA

Federal Student Aid (FSA) provides a specific application form known as FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for those who qualify.

It’s a document containing questions related to you, your parents, your family’s income and tax details, and the list of colleges you are considering. The form may also require personal information from some of your documents, such as your ID, Social Security card, or financial statements.

There are specific federal, college, and state deadlines by which you should file your application, and you should check them in time to avoid being late.

To apply for federal college financial aid, you must fill out FAFSA and submit it to the institution. There are three ways to do it:

  • Online—via your FSA account
  • By mailing a printed and completed form
  • Via myStudentAid app for Android or iOS

This type of application covers:

  • Federal grants
  • Federal scholarships
  • Work-study jobs
  • Student loans

After filing your FAFSA, you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR). It’s a paper or digital document that lists all the details you provided in your application. Its purpose is to help you revise the submitted information and fix mistakes or incorrect details, if there are any. This procedure must be repeated every year as long as you want to keep receiving financial aid.

Ways To Get More Financial Aid From Other Sources

Besides the federal student aid program, there are other ways to apply for additional financial support. These are listed in the table below:

MethodExplanation
State student aid programsAt times, applicants not eligible for federal college aid may apply for state financial aid. The best way to check this is to contact a grant agency in the state you live in and inquire about the qualifications and conditions
School aid programsSome colleges and schools provide financial support for their students from their own funds. Get in touch with your college financial aid department and ask what options you have
Aid offered by various private and non-profit organizationsMany of these institutions also have ways to finance the selected group of students. They usually require you to file specific applications, but they can sometimes use the info you provided in FAFSA. This is another great opportunity for students who don’t qualify for federal aid
Programs for veterans, military service members, and their familiesIf you or any of your family members are a past or present military service member, there may be certain education-related financial benefits for you

Another option is to consider some other colleges that may be offering a higher financial aid amount. You can pick another university from the table below and learn everything about its financial support programs:

University of California San Diego Financial AidRutgers University Financial AidStanford University Financial Aid
New York University Financial AidUniversity of California, Los Angeles Financial AidUniversity of California, Davis Financial Aid
Cornell University Financial AidPrinceton University Financial AidUniversity of California, Santa Cruz Financial Aid
MIT Financial AidUniversity of California, Berkeley Financial AidColumbia University Financial Aid
Harvard University Financial AidPurdue University Financial AidYale University Financial Aid

How To Request More Financial Aid From a College

If the college you want to attend offered an aid amount that can’t cover the costs of your education, you can appeal their decision and make them reconsider it. This process requires composing an appeal letter by:

  1. Explaining the financial difficulties you are experiencing
  2. Listing the offers of the colleges that can provide a more generous financial support
  3. Stating the exact amount that could cover all your college expenses

The problem arises when you want to appeal decisions of multiple institutions, which automatically means you must submit a personalized letter to each of them. This can be quite a burdensome and time-consuming task. You may also easily forget to include some significant details.

Send a Top-Level Appeal Letter Within Minutes Using DoNotPay

Why file multiple complaints and waste your time on manual appeal request drafts when DoNotPay can create a letter for this purpose in less than five minutes? Whether you are unhappy with the offered amount from a college or graduate school or you were rejected, rely on our app and get the matter solved effortlessly!

Here are the instructions you should follow:

  1. and sign in to it
  2. Search for the Appeal for More Financial Aid option
  3. Provide the name of the college you want to attend and a list of other colleges that made better financial aid offers to you if there are any
  4. Give us more details about your family’s financial situation and describe the difficulties you are facing

After receiving your personal, family, and income info, we will file an appeal with a specific college financial aid office in your name. This way, we will save you tons of time and help you avoid administrative hassle!

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