Walter Payton College Prep



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Financial Aid + Scholarships

BE SURE you discuss financial aid with the school counselors, but do some work on your own.

FAFSA

Go to www.fafsa.ed.gov (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).

The FAFSA form is required by two and four year colleges and universities in order to determine your financial need. Once completed, college financial aid officers will be able to work with you in making plans to pay the annual cost of attendance. Every student seeking need-based aid at any college or university must file a FAFSA form.

FAFSA forms can only be filed after January 1st of the year in which the student will be attending college, but before February 15th in order to receive full consideration for aid. Applying online eliminates errors by calling them to your attention before you submit the form, and will make results available to colleges within 48 hours, as compared to four weeks by mail. January 1st, 2004 is the beginning of the filing period, and filing in early February will meet the deadline requirement of the majority of institutions.

You can download a Pre-Application Worksheet from the FAFSA website which will give you an idea of what information you need including the following:

The types of questions you will need to answer.
Information that parents/guardians will be required to provide. (see FAFSA checklist page)
The documents you'll need to fill out.