Financial Aid 101 and Scholarships

  • The information below includes both definitions of terms and websites regarding the sources of financial aid that may be used at a college, university or technical college.

     

    Financial Aid & Scholarship Resources:

    • Glossary of Terms-  Includes the terminology needed to understand financial aid and college terms.

     

    FAFSA & GAFutures

    • FAFSA:

      • The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is an essential tool for qualifying for nearly all financial aid that is offered by both the government as well as educational institutions. Once the free document is completed, FAFSA utilizes the information provided by the student and his/her parent to generate the Student Aid Report (SAR) which determines the student’s Estimated Family Contribution (EFC).

    • GAfutures 
    • GAfutures Bookmark of Information
    • GAfutures FAFSA Checklist
    • GAfutures Paying for College

     

    HOPE & Zell Miller Scholarship:

     

    Local Scholarships

    • Paulding Education Foundation Scholarships
      • This is website houses dozens of local scholarships in one location and has one application that applies to all of them!  This is your starting point for all local scholarships. 

    College & Career Websites:

    There are many College and Career websites that will help a student find potential post-secondary information as well as scholarships. 

    • BigFuture (The College Board)-   
      • Big Futures is a website that is updated and maintained by The College Board. Scholarships plus other financial aid and internship information are found on this site.
    • Fastweb -
      • A free resource with thousands of scholarships listed. In addition to the database of scholarships are career planning services.
    • Peterson’s -
      • Helps a student identify potential schools by making a match with needs to the institution. Financial aid and scholarship information is also provided.
    • Scholarships.com -
      • A resource where both a good college fit for the potential student as well as scholarship information may be found. A scholarship that matches the student’s major, location and year in school saves valuable researching of scholarships time.
    • University HQ -
      • A independent organization that provides students with resources on career planning, scholarships, school selection and more.  
     

     

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