Posts Tagged ‘low income families and financial aid’

Colleges for Low Income Students: Free Tuition, No Loans, and Full Rides

Friday, April 16th, 2010

College, and the costs that go with it, can make higher education seem way out of reach – especially for low income students.  The good news?  There’s something better than hope – there’s loan-free financial aid packages and even tuition free colleges!  Who knew college could be so affordable?

Duncan Hall at Rice University -- Loan free tuition for low income students!

photine/Laurie

For high achieving low income students, many colleges and universities offer a no-packaged loans policy – which include grants, scholarships, and work-study programs in their financial aid packages not interest accruing loans!  Many offer free rides to college (and then some).   A few of these colleges, like the Webb Institute and Deep Springs College, don’t even have tuition!  You really can graduate debt free!

Check out our large list for a host of higher education institutions that offer free tuition or loan free tuition for students of low income families.  Click on the college or university name to be taken directly to the financial aid page that relates to that school – and get in touch with the financial aid office to see where you fit in.  College isn’t just for the wealthy – it’s for everyone.

Alice Lloyd College Rice University
Amherst College Sacred Heart University
Barclay College Saint Louis Christian College
Berea College Soka University
Bowdoin College Stanford University
Brown University Swarthmore College
Claremont McKenna College Texas A&M University
College of the Ozarks Texas Tech University
College of William and Mary University of California
Columbia University University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art University of Pennsylvania
Cornell University University of Texas
Curtis Institute of Music University of Virginia
Dartmouth College University of Washington
Davidson College Vanderbilt University
Deep Springs College Vassar College
Duke University Washington and Lee University
Franklin W Olin College of Engineering Washington State University
George Washington University Webb Institute
Harvard University Wellesley College
Haverford College Williams College
Lafayette College Yale University
Lehigh University The Armed Forces:
Macaulay Honors College at CUNY US Air Force Academy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology US Coast Guard Academy
Miami University of Ohio US Merchant Marine Academy
Michigan State University US Naval Academy
Princeton University West Point US Military Academy

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Posted in Choosing a College, College Campus, Financial Aid, Paying for College, Scholarships, Student Loans | No Comments »

The FAFSA Wins a Makeover

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

FAFSA on your list? Get 'er DONE!Procrastinating about completing your Free Application for Federal Student Aid?  Thanks to a bit of pruning by the Department of Education, the 2010 – 2011 FAFSA may not be as complicated as you think!  Yes, you read that right.

The shiny new version of the online 2010 – 2011 FAFSA is reportedly easier to use and navigate!  On web pages alone, the Department of Education boasts a 65% decrease in the number of webpages and omitted over 20 questions!  That’s big news for the millions of students that fill out the FAFSA each year.

A streamlined FAFSA means you can spend less time filling out the FAFSA and more time on other important things like choosing a college and applying for college scholarships.

Changes on the 2010 – 2011 FAFSA include:

Side Tabs. Clearly labeled sections on the left of each screen make it easy for parent (light blue) or student (dark blue) to quickly find and complete specifically labeled sections without a lot of guesswork.

Help Text. In previous versions of the FAFSA, the help text took up large sections, creating an online FAFSA as bulky as the paper version!  Now, the help pops up in the sidebar and changes as you move from section to section so you can easily find what you need without a lot of digging.

Assets? The new FAFSA no longer requires students with family incomes around $40,000 to claim assets, in the hopes that, in the future, families will tuck a little away for higher education for their children – without worrying about being potentially penalized for it later.

Data Sharing – Future data-sharing between the IRS and the Department of Education could make answering questions a snap – or at least a lot easier than it has been in the past.  Students filling out the 2009 – 2010 FAFSA for the Spring semester can take advantage of tax information right from the IRS.  It should make filling in the blanks a whole lot easier!

Non-Traditional?  Married? If you are at least 24 or married, the Department of Education has good news for you!  You no longer have to provide parental information – which means it might be easier for you to qualify for financial aid since your parent(s) information will no longer count against you.

What do you think?  Do the changes to the FAFSA make you feel more confident about tackling (and completing) the form?  Why or why not?

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Posted in Financial Aid, Paying for College | 2 Comments »