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STUDENT FINANCIAL
ASSISTANCE
Types of Financial Aid
- Grants and Scholarships are
gifts of money that do not have to be repaid.
- Grants are usually from
government sources or from universities and
colleges.
- Scholarships may be from any
source – federal and state government sources,
civic groups, businesses, banks, church
groups, employers, unions, colleges, or
universities.
- Loans for education are
borrowed and must be repaid, even if the
student does not finish college.
- Part-time jobs also provide
money for a student’s educational expenses.
- Stafford Loans and Perkins
Loans require no interest or repayment while
the student is in school; these loans are
targeted to financially needy students.
- Students who do not qualify for
need based aid may borrow from the federal
Unsubsidized Stafford Loan Program.
- Most federal and state aid is
awarded based on financial need rather than
academic merit.
- When a college receives a
student’s financial aid application, the
college puts together a package of grants,
loans, and/or jobs to help meet the student’s
financial need.
- Outside scholarships received
by a college for a student can be handled in
different ways – the college can reduce their
own grants to the student or they can reduce
the loans or the jobs portion of the financial
aid package.
Free Application for Federal
Student Aid – FAFSA
- Every student who wants to
receive financial aid must complete a federal
application form, the FAFSA. Most colleges and
universities require their financial
applicants to complete the FAFSA.
- Financial need is determined by
the information contained in a student’s
FAFSA.
- Based on information in the
FAFSA, a student is assigned an Expected
Family Contribution (EFC), which is the amount
the student and his or her family is expected
to pay for college expenses.
- The EFC is used by colleges to
determine the student’s need for financial
aid.
- After a student has been
accepted at a college, and the college has
received a copy of the student’s FAFSA, the
college will offer the student a financial aid
package that is based on the student’s EFC.
- Although the EFC usually
remains the same from college to college, a
student’s financial need will increase or
decrease depending upon the costs of the
college.
- A student’s need for financial
aid is more at a higher cost college than a
lower cost college.
- Regardless of whether or not a
chosen school is high cost or low cost, the
school may not be able to provide enough
financial aid to meet the student’s financial
need or the financial aid may be in the form
of loans and jobs rather than grants or
scholarships.
Connecticut Information Sources
Connecticut Department of Higher
Education
61 Woodland Street
West Hartford, CT 06105
(860) 947-1855
http://www.ctohe.org/sfa/
Connecticut Higher Education
Supplemental Loan Authority
21 Talcott Notch Road
Suite One
Farmington, CT 06032
(800) 252-FELP (in CT)
(860) 678-7788
www.chesla.org
Connecticut Talent Assistance
Cooperative
Educational Opportunity Center
(Central Office)
35 Pleasant Street
Unit 1-C
Meriden, CT 06450
(203) 634-7669
www.conntacinc.org
Connecticut Higher Education Trust
(college savings &
investment program)
P.O. Box 150499
Hartford, CT 06115-0499
(888) 799-CHET
www.aboutchet.com
Other Information Sources
The following websites also
provide information about student financial aid.
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SOURCE: Connecticut Department of
Higher Education, “Student Financial Aid in
Connecticut” http://www.schoolsoup.com/financial-aid/?state=7,
PREPARED BY: 211/rj
CONTENT LAST REVIEWED: January2012
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