The information you need to know to apply for financial aid

When we create degree plans for our students, the Degree Quest system automatically inserts paragraphs that describe to students the website to go to for them to apply for federal financial aid, as well as describing opportunities to apply for consideration for scholarships and grants from corporations, foundations, and charitable organizations. In order to apply for federal financial aid, students need to know the six-digit federal identification code for the college or university. That number is included in the first financial aid paragraph on the degree plan. The federal government offers between $5,350 and $9,350 per year in grants to students who are considered to have a low income - that's free money that does not have to be paid back. For those who have a larger income, the federal government offers subsidized student loans where the government pays the interest on the loans until 6 months after the student graduates. As such, it is in every student's best interest to apply for federal financial aid. The second financial aid paragraph on each degree plan informs students about scholarships and grants from the private sector and presents a few sample sites they can visit to explore these opportunities. As you will see below, these are just the tip of the iceberg:

Profile-matching sites that search for scholarships and grants for you

We link students to more than 70 sites that match student profiles to potential sources of scholarships and grants. Millions of students receive tens of billions of dollars in awards from the sources these sites link to each year. Each of these sites offer the service at no cost to students, (as they use banner advertisements on the sites to their benefit). These sites ask students a series of demographic questions, such as about their gender, race, religious affiliation, marital status, dependents, and background. They also ask about participation in civic activities, memberships in organizations, past academic accomplishments, future academic goals, and much more. It is in the students' best interest to apply to every potential source of scholarships or grants in which they are matched, in hopes of being selected for one or more that can help pay for their expenses while pursuing the degree that they desire. Some students even receive awards from several sources to which they had applied for consideration, providing them the financial resources they needed to achieve their educational goals.

Keep in mind, being eligible for employee tuition benefits does not prevent you from applying for scholarships and grants. Perhaps, if you receive enough in scholarships and grants, you will not need to use your employee educational benefits. That would be a win-win for both you and the organization in which you are employed.

Indirect Financial Aid - Other Ways We Save $$

We look for ways that we can help our students save money

Direct financial aid, as described in the paragraphs above, are important to the students that we serve. However, there are a number of ways that we provide indirect aid to student to help them reduce their financial outlay in pursuit of their degrees. Some of these you may not even think about, but actually do save students a significant amount of money. For example, we help students get the credit they deserve for their professional training from corporations, government agencies, and the military. This credit, when applied to degrees, reduces the number of courses needed to finish the degree, thereby saving the students time and money. Here are other ways that we save students money:

Affordable degree programs to fit any budget

You would be amazed at the huge number of students who are pursuing degrees at very expensive private for-profit colleges and universities, paying a huge sum of money in tuition each semester, simply because they did not know there were affordable degrees available to them to consider. In our degree exploration system, Degree Quest, we have thousands of degrees from hundreds of accredited colleges and universities with programs of study available to fit practically any budget. More than 90% of our participating colleges and universities are either state and community colleges or are private non-profit or not-for-profit colleges and universities. As such, the tuition rates are quite affordable for most students.

Tuition discounts and institutional scholarships

Many of our participating colleges and universities offer discounts in their tuition rates or partial scholarships to students that we send to them. This can make already reasonably priced programs of study even more affordable to our students.

Tuition-free courses can save you thousands of dollars

Perhaps you've already read that we have links to nearly 400 semester hours of tuition-free college video courses that are linked to our student support website, HERC. These resources, including Hollywood-style college video courses that are digitally streamed on the web, can help students prepare for nationally-recognized college level examinations. How,can you know you gained the knowledge you need to pass the national test in the subject after having worked through the courses? Links to more than 220 practice tests are also provided. The more tests you pass, the fewer courses you will need to take in college.

Avoid having to retake difficult courses

Struggling with difficult courses that you are taking in college? We have links to numerous sites that post more than 36,000 college courses on the web. Check out the way other professors teach the subject in which you need help. It may be the key to helping raise your score. If you pass the course that you are struggling in, you will save yourself the time and money that would be required to retake the course.

Discount and used textbook providers

Textbooks can also be an expensive aspect of educational costs that students must bear. That's why we provide links to more than a dozen and a half sources who offer discount and used college textbooks; For those who want to rent textbooks for 1/10th the cost of purchasing them, we have links to providers. We even have links to e-books that can be downloaded free of charge.

Microsoft Office 2010 Professional at a fraction of the retail price

Students can use the link on our website, HERC, to purchase MS Office 2010 Professional Academic Edition (all 7 programs) at a cost of only $99.95 - that's a savings of $400 off the retail price of $499.99 that the general public pays for this suite of software. If your local college offers MS Office Student Edition, take a look - the standard Student Edition only has 4 of the 7 programs that are included in the 2010 Professional Academic Edition.

These are some of the ways that we save our students time and money as they pursue degrees from colleges and universities across the nation. Our support had already been instrumental in saving students as much as $330 million. How much can we help you save in your educational endeavors?