<p>Ive dropped out of highschool and gotten my GED. I am completely absolutely certain I can get into some of the colleges i will apply for despite being a dropout, but financial aid may not be so easy. Are most scholarships/aid just for high school seniors? Does FAFSA assume that one is a highschool senior?</p>
<p>FAFSA doesn’t care whether you are a high school graduate or GED receipient for Pell Grant and Stafford Loans. ACG, though, is for HS grads only. There are some scholarships that are strictly for HS grads but there may be some institutional grants/scholarships that are available to those with GED’s. You will have to do some research for the schools you are interested in to see if they have anything available outside of loans and (if qualified) pell grant.</p>
<p>What’s ACG? and are those small deal scholarships that appear on scholarship search engines (like fastweb) worth the time?</p>
<p>ACG is one of the newer Federal grants and is available for students who have completed a “rigerous” high school program.</p>
<p>Smaller scholarships, as an individual, don’t amount to much, depending on the school you will be attending. HOWEVER…if you win 10 $1000.00 scholarships, that is a BIG deal. Heck, for many just winning 10 $500.00 scholarships can mean the difference between going to a four-year and being “stuck” at a CC. The more scholarships you apply to, the better your odds are. And, from from my students have said…the smaller scholarships are easier to obtain especially since more applicants apply for the large scholarships, leaving the applicant pool much much smaller for the small scholarships.</p>
<p>Go to finaid.com and enter your financial info into the aid calculator. That will give you an idea of your Expected Family Contribution, which then will give you an idea of the types of aid you might qualify for. That’s the best place to start. If you have questions after getting an EFC estimate, post again. We’ll try to answer as best we can.</p>