Federal Financial Aid: A Brief Overview

2006-07-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Most of this probably won't be of much interest to a student looking to find money for college, but a bit of background helps one understand where these programs come from and what the original notions behind them were. Still, you might want to skim the history a bit to get to the real meat of this section: where the money comes from, and whether you have to pay it back.

The United States has a long history of offering assistance to students. The first true financial aid came from the 1944 G.I. Bill, which provided veterans with funds for tuition and expenses for postsecondary education. In 1958, the first student aid program for non-veterans, the "National Defense Student Loan" Program was created to help the U.S. compete with the burgeoning U.S.S.R. The "College Work Study" Program was created in 1964 under the Economic Opportunity Act during Lyndon Johnson's presidency. Then, in 1965, the Higher Education Act (HEA) created most of the programs still in existence today.

The HEA first introduced the Educational Opportunity Grant Program, the first federal program to offer "free money" to students. As subsequent revisions to the HEA continually revamped federal aid programs, the Educational Opportunity Grant Program became the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), and the National Defense Student Loan Program became simply the National Direct Student Loan program. Afterwards, what would later become the Federal Pell Grant and Federal Stafford Loan programs were instated, and the rest is bureaucratic history.

Today, the places you'll find most federal money are the Pell Grant and Stafford Loan programs. The Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS) also allows parents to take out lower-interest loans for their children to attend school. The above-mentioned SEOG program also contributes grant money to the neediest students, and most recently the government has created the Academic Competitiveness Grant and the "SMART" grant (I won't go into the acronym for that one: suffice to say it's for students of Science and Mathematics).

All of these programs offer a wide breadth of programs designed to make it easier for Americna students to attend college. While not as comprehensive as many European system (and not as costly), it would not be an exaggeration to say that any United States citizen has the means available to them to attend an institution of higher learning. That's certainly not to say there aren't risks involved, particularly concerning the loans - with careful financial planning, however, an education can not only improve one's career and circumstances, but also the quality of their lives. After all, you'll be spending forty hours a week somewhere - it might as well be a place that interests and engages you.

Next week's post will be more about which programs affect which students, and how much money each contributes. The really good part, basically - after that, we'll go into the best ways to get as much money as you possibly can, whether through scholarships, fellowships, grants, or even loans. Check back in for more information, and please feel free to ask any questions you might have!

Welcome!

2006-07-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Financial Aid Advisor! This place is a hub for all things educational finance - if you're searching for information, links, or just have a few basic questions that a financial aid professional might be able to help you with, stop by to see a few suggestions as to what's out there.

The Financial Aid Advisor

Federal Financial Aid: A Brief Overview

Welcome!