Financial Aid Toolkit

(https://financialaidtoolkit.ed.gov/tk/)

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Created By: U.S. Department of Education

Audience: Educators, parents, 7th-12th-grade students

Big Picture: Although this site is geared toward guidance counselors and teachers, the bottom line is that it’s a huge resource for financial aid—so you might as well take advantage of it. It’s likely you’ll be filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and this site will give you lots of help, as well as steer you in the direction of other valuable ways to get money for college.

How It Helps You: If you already know where you want to go to college—and how much it costs—then this is a good place to spend some time, and quite literally the best place to find out how the federal government can help you pay for college.

Must-Use: Zip over to the Search (http://financialaidtoolkit.ed.gov/tk/resources.jsp) section (the farthest right tab) to find a handy set of dropdown menus that help you filter exactly which resources you want more info on—start by selecting Audience Type (i.e. who are you?) and go from there.

Parent-Friendliness: Not only can your parents get schooled on what’s the latest with finding resources to help pay for college, but the site can help them get trained to be financial-aid experts.

Protip: Yep, even the Department of Education uses social media, so you may want to check out their Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/FederalStudentAid), Twitter (http://twitter.com/FAFSA), and YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/federalstudentaid) feeds before wading through the site itself—the info you’ll find there may be more timely and lively.