It is that time of year where high school seniors are getting ready to walk across the stage and start a new journey towards college. I speak to tens of thousands of students a year and many students as well as their parents are so focused on getting into their dream school that they forget that college is not free. I want to share some tips with students that can help them not pay full price for college.

The FAFSA Is A Must:

Every student that is going to college needs to fill out the fafsa. Even if you think your parents or guardians make too much money you still need to fill it out. The fafsa determines how much free money you are eligible for and how much money you will need to borrow. You need to know these numbers so that you can fill in the gap.

Fill In The Gap:

If you fill out the fafsa and find out you have to borrow money it is time to start looking for scholarships. Scholarships are free money that you don’t have to pay back. Searching for scholarships is your new part time job and you should be applying for five scholarships a week. A site to start with is finaid.org.

Keep Going:

Just because you land scholarships for your freshman year that does not mean you are done. You need to apply to scholarships for as long as you are in college. Apply if you are going to a community college, 4 year college, and any advanced degrees. The goal is to leave college with the least amount of debt possible.

Having the least amount of student loan debt while leaving college will give you the best start to life after college.

Other ways to stay in the know when it comes to your finances!

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