Every year, more than 8 million college students receive financial aid. You, too, may be able to receive aid, and you don’t need to be a straight-A student or star athlete to qualify. Resources under this topic will help you understand the student financial aid process.

Financial Aid Planning Process

• Federal Student Aid / studentaid.gov
  Federal Student Aid, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, is the largest provider of student financial aid in the nation.
  – Federal Student Aid Online (PDF)
  – Federal Student Aid at a Glance (PDF)
  – Federal Student Aid Do you Need Money For College Fact Sheet (PDF)
• U.S. Department of Labor FREE Scholarship Search Tool / careeronestop.org
  Search more than 7,500 scholarships, fellowships, grants, and other financial aid award opportunities.
• FastWEB / fastweb.com
  There are thousands of private scholarships available. This website has over 400,000 listings.
• Financial Aid for Students / studentaid.gov
  U.S. Department of Education: Starting point for information on federal student financial aid. Includes links to publications, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Download information on the Free Application for Financial Student Aid (FAFSA) at studentaid.gov.
• The Financial Aid Information Page / finaid.org
  One-stop shopping for all types of financial aid information. Provides links to other sites.

Specific Resources for African American Financial Aid

• United Negro College Fund (UNCF)/The College Fund / uncf.org
  Lists scholarships available to students attending historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that are members of UNCF/The College Fund.
• The Thurgood Marshall Fund / thurgoodmarshallfund.org
  The Fund is the only national organization that awards merit-based scholarships to students attending Public HBCUs.
• HBUC Connect / HBCUconnect.com
  A web based resource for all things HBCU, including scholarship activities and an on-line chat community.