When do i get financial aid

College Ave respects your inbox and will only send periodic emails. Department of Education. The timeline varies among schools, but here is what you can expect during that process. Depending on the schools you applied to, they may come back to you asking for additional scholarship, grant, or financial aid information.

Some students applying to select colleges and universities are also required to fill out a standardized form called the CSS Profile , which assesses the financial history of students and their families to determine their eligibility for institutional financial aid. Only borrow what you need. That way, you will have less in loans and interest to pay off after college.

The rules for accepting aid are:. Start with the free money. These are grants and scholarships. If you need more financial support, accept the earned money. This is your work-study. As a last resort, accept the borrowed money. These are your loans that you will have to pay back with interest. In this category, first accept your subsidized federal loans, then unsubsidized, then loans from your state or college, and finally private loans.

Instructions for accepting and rejecting aid will be included within your financial aid package. Once you have reviewed your aid options and are ready to make an educated selection, follow the provided instructions for completion.

If you have questions, you can contact your financial aid office directly. Your school is required to make grant and loan payments at least twice a year, and often will do so once a term semester, quarter, trimester. If you are a first-time borrower, you might have to wait 30 days after your enrollment period to receive your money.

Any money left over will be provided to you for other school expenses. You will likely get to choose how you receive that money. In the case of federal loans, if a loan payment is automatically disbursed and you no longer need that money, you have days to cancel it for no fee and with no interest charged. For work-study , you will be paid like any other job: by check, direct deposit or cash for the hours worked.

You are expected but not required to use these earnings towards school-related needs. Some schools will allow you to put all or some of your earnings directly back into the school to cover your tuition, etc. A covered educational institution's name or logo on the Edmit platform is not an endorsement by the covered educational institution of SoFi's student loan products. Grant, scholarship, and loan money will first be applied to cover the cost of tuition and school fees, and any excess will be returned to you to cover your living expenses.

Schools generally give you your grant or loan money in at least two payments. These are called disbursements and they usually happen once per term, such as at the start of the semester or the start of the quarter. First-year undergraduates and first-year borrowers may be subject to an additional delay, as they may be required to wait 30 days after the first day of enrollment in order to receive student loan money.

However, not all schools apply this rule. All first-time borrowers do have to complete Entrance Counseling before their school is allowed to distribute their loan funds. Graduate and professional students who are taking out PLUS loans for the first time must also complete Entrance Counseling.

Students who have been awarded work study funds, payments will be made as work is performed, but must be made at least once per month.

The length of time it takes to receive your financial aid money depends on when and how soon you apply; how you submit your FAFSA; how quickly your school acts; and the type of aid you've accepted. In general, though, you should have the funds you need right around the time each semester, trimester, or quarter begins. In some cases, the FAFSA will not provide enough money for you to live on and to cover all of your educational costs. If that's the case, you can consider additional options such as private student loans.

Often, you can be approved quickly for private loans and can get funds above-and-beyond what your school or the Department of Education is willing to provide. Unlike federal loans, though, private loans don't just come at one standard rate. Rates and terms can vary dramatically from one lender to another and based on your financial credentials.

If you are interested in private student loans, Juno can help you get the best possible rates by grouping you with other students and negotiating with lenders on your behalf. Join Juno today to find out more about your options for affordable private student loans to help fund your degree. Christy Rakoczy Bieber is a full-time personal finance and legal writer. Colleges that you list on your FAFSA will receive this form and send you information without you needing to meet their specific deadlines.

You can list colleges that you are interested in attending on your FAFSA, and you do not need to submit an application to them that school year. Each state also has specific deadlines. Consider that free financial aid, like the Pell Grant or need-based scholarships, have finite amounts of award money available. Filling out the FAFSA as soon as possible means you have information on all these types of financial aid, so you can apply immediately.

When money is awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, you should apply well before the final deadline. While you may be concerned about how fast your financial information will be processed, rest assured that the DOE will process your FAFSA as soon as possible. When you submit this document online, your information will be processed within three to five days.

You can log on to your FAFSA account to see what federal money you are eligible for after a week, so you can begin making financial plans for school. This will include calculations about your expected family contribution EFC , which is how much you and your family can directly contribute to the annual cost of your education. This results in a specific numerical value that is used to determine what need-based and non-need-based financial aid you qualify for.

The numerical value on your SAR that determines your financial need can fluctuate, depending on the cost of the school you want to attend.