The first step in securing money for college as a high school senior will be through the completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is an online form that asks a series of questions related to your personal financial status as well as your family's projected contribution to your college education costs. By filling out the FAFSA, the government will determine the amount of grant money and loan money available to you. The information will be sent to your preferred school, and you will then be able to accept or reject the grants and loans awarded to you.
Free Application for Federal Student Aid
fafsa.ed.gov
Each college will have a list of scholarships available every year. Sometimes colleges will tell you, based on your academic transcripts from high school, what scholarships you are eligible to receive, which is why it's so important to keep your grades up in high school. Sometimes, though, college scholarships won't just fall into your lap. Often colleges require that you go online to their websites to locate, print, fill out and mail a scholarship application. You may think that you won't be eligible to receive any scholarship money, but wouldn't it be a nice surprise if you were? Go ahead and fill out any scholarship applications provided by your school that you can find. There is no harm in trying.
Use an Internet search engine like Google or Bing to search for grants and scholarships for college. Check out sites like Scholarships.com or CollegeScholarships.org for free services in locating scholarships and grants. These sites offer specific scholarships by state, degree and grade level. As a high school senior, use these sites to determine what is available to you as a 12th grade student. Do not limit yourself to a high school senior search, though. Research all available scholarships and grants that you can find online. It will be a timely process as there are millions of dollars available, but your time spent will be well worth it when you are able to pay for college with money you don't have to give back.