College can be a scary thing especially the financial aid part of it.  One thing that can really help you out to pay for college is filling out the FAFSA or the Federal Application for Federal Student Aid. This can help you get free money for the school you’re going to and the best part about it is that you don’t have to pay for it. Things to do to help you fill out the FAFSA you first need your parents’ tax refunds from 2013, need to have a valid security number, be a U.S citizen, be enrolled or accepted for enrollment as a regular student. You also need to provide you bank statement if your currently working, have a high school diploma and it will not change based on if you change colleges. Now this is first come first serve because you may not get all the money you need to pay for college so there is other ways to pay for college. There are grants, scholarships, student loans and Work study. Grants are money you don’t have to pay back. Scholarships are awards to support a student’s education, student loans is borrowed money that must be paid back and may only be used for educational expenses. And Federal Work Study provides part time jobs for students with financial need, allowing money for school. The worst one to choice is Student loans because it’s not free money you have to pay it back even if you do not finish school. There are two types of student loans Subsidized and Unsubsidized. Subsidized loans are student loans that don’t charge interest. Unsubsidized loans are student loans that do charge interest. One thing that Ms. Aaron’s said is that “If you don’t pay back your student loans it goes onto your credit score and can affect your life. The best thing to do is either get Grants, or a Scholarship. If you want to know more about Scholarships we have a scholarship club here at the school that is ran by Mrs. Coelho-Tooley. Another great quote that we heard from one of the peer leaders from College Summit was that “The future belongs to those who prepare for it today”. Don’t be scared of college it can be a very fun and exciting experience even if you don’t know what you want to major in you could always go in undecided or you can wait a year until you know for sure so you don’t have to waste money changing your majors. And one last thing Mrs. Smith-Rhodes said was that “Enjoy yourself because you will find who you really are as a person and you will also meet new people from across the country but don’t lose sight of what you’re really there for”. College is what you make out of it either it can be the best time of your life or the worst time of your life so try to make the most of it while you have it. If your trying to apply for the FAFSA then you should go to www.fafsa.ed.gov/ make sure you go to the right website because there is a lot of other false websites out there so just be careful. You have until June 30^th to submit your FAFSA information but try to do it now because if you wait your chances of getting money will be short.