Our last student installment from Barrington Bennett,managing College Costs and Financial Aid.

        Probably the most important thing in applying to school is MONEY. Unfortunately, many students are accepted to their #1 school but sadly cannot attend because of the school’s expensive tuition. However, there is a lot of free money out there to help lower these high, expensive college costs. The three types of free money are: scholarships, grants, and financial aid. Both scholarships and grants are merit based while financial aid is specifically need based. Most colleges actually have a financial aid calculator on their websites, which allows one to actually see how much financial aid the school would be willing to award them based on their financial situation. The hardest part about applying for grants and scholarships is actually finding them. The easiest tool to use is fastweb.com, which updates everyday and tells you the scholarships which you are eligible to apply for. The best tactic is to apply for as many scholarships as possible and recycle your essays, since most scholarships ask the same or similar essay topics.