What Scholarships and Financial Aid Are Available in the US?

Finding ways to pay for college is one of the biggest concerns for families with college-bound students. U.S. financial aid includes need-based aid (determined by family finances and based on financial need), merit-based scholarships (awarded for academic achievement or special talents), federal and state grants, work-study programs, and various loan options. 

Whether you’re the parent of a college freshman or helping an undergraduate navigate scholarship opportunities, the key to maximizing aid is understanding the FAFSA and CSS Profile forms, filing early, using Net Price Calculators to estimate costs, and strategically building a college list that includes schools known for generous aid packages. Over 70% of families apply for financial aid, and many are surprised to qualify—so every family should explore their options regardless of income level.

What Is the CSS Profile, and How Does It Impact Need-Based Aid for Private Schools?

The CSS Profile is a private financial aid form administered by the College Board that many private institutions use to collect detailed information about a family’s financial circumstances. Unlike the FAFSA, which uses a standardized federal methodology, the CSS Profile collects different information and uses its own methodology to determine aid eligibility.

A key distinction: the CSS Profile asks about home equity, while the FAFSA does not. This means families with significant home value may see different aid calculations between the two forms. Private schools that require the CSS Profile use this additional data to make more nuanced determinations about how much institutional aid to offer students attending their institutions.

According to the Great College Advice Family Handbook, institutions may choose whether or not to require this form of their applicants, so families should check each school’s specific requirements early in the process. The CSS Profile becomes available on October 1—the same date as the FAFSA—and families applying to private colleges should plan to complete both forms if required. 

Completing the CSS thoroughly is essential for accessing institutional aid at many of the nation’s most generous private schools.

How Do You Interpret and Compare Financial Aid Award Letters from Different Colleges?

Financial aid award letters can be confusing because each college formats them differently. To compare effectively, break down each package into its core components:

Grants and Scholarships: This is “gift aid” or “free money” that doesn’t require repayment. It can come from federal sources (like Pell Grants), state programs, or the college’s own institutional funds. This is what truly reduces your cost and helps students attend college without excessive debt.

Work-Study: These are earnings from on-campus employment, but the funds aren’t guaranteed—your student must actually work to earn them. Work-study typically funds expenses beyond tuition and fees, and the experience can sometimes lead to valuable internship opportunities in related fields of study.

Loans: Money you must repay with interest. Note the type: subsidized loans are better because the government pays interest while the student is enrolled. Unsubsidized loans accrue interest immediately. The maximum federal student loan amounts are $5,500 for freshmen, $6,500 for sophomores, and $7,500 for juniors and seniors.

To calculate your true out-of-pocket cost, subtract only the grants and scholarships from the total Cost of Attendance (COA). One community member shared that “financial aid packages varied widely and made a difference” when comparing 20-30 schools, emphasizing the importance of casting a wide net before making final decisions.

What Are the Deadlines and Strategy for FAFSA and CSS Profile for Early Applicants?

Both the FAFSA and CSS Profile become available on October 1 each year, and families should file as close to that date as possible. For Early Decision and Early Action applicants, timing is critical because each application deadline may align with financial aid deadlines. 

The federal FAFSA deadline extends to June 30 of the year you’re applying for, but colleges and states have their own earlier deadlines that families must research carefully. According to the Great College Advice Family Handbook, families should begin educating themselves about financial aid early—ideally starting in the student’s senior year of high school or even before: “The sooner you understand what you are dealing with, the better you will be able to plan an approach to the process.”

Paul Wingle, a member of the Great College Advice community, offers a practical perspective: “The FAFSA is not that difficult now that it pulls data on file with the IRS. Useful if your family wants access to federal loan programs. Used by colleges to build institutional aid packages, which can be based on very generous definitions of need, depending on the policies of the college.”

For ED applicants especially, completing financial aid forms promptly ensures you receive your aid package alongside your admission decision—crucial since you may need to assess affordability before committing.

Should We Prioritize Merit Aid Schools or Need-Blind Schools Based on Our Financial Profile?

The answer depends on your family’s specific financial situation and your student’s academic profile, including their GPA and test scores.

Need-blind schools do not consider your ability to pay during admissions decisions. However, there are only just over 100 colleges and universities that guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. If your Student Aid Index (SAI, formerly EFC) exceeds what you can actually afford, you may face a “gap” at schools that don’t meet full need.

The Great College Advice Family Handbook explains: “Colleges that do not meet full need might offer you, for example, only $15,000 in aid, leaving you with a gap between what you can afford to contribute and the bill handed to you by the college. In order to attend that school, you would have to pay more than your SAI.”

Merit aid schools award scholarships based on academic achievement, test scores, or other talents regardless of financial need. Each scholarship program has its own eligibility criteria, so research thoroughly. Veteran college admissions expert Jamie Berger notes the potential return on investment: “Having us help you do everything just right for a year—the sticker price for us might seem large, but it might save you $20,000 a year by getting more merit aid at a college.”

For families with strong-stat students who cannot afford full pay, consider schools known for generous merit awards. The Great College Advice team also emphasizes: if financial aid is a high priority, think twice before applying Early Decision since ED commits you before you can compare packages.

What Are the Best External Scholarship Resources for High School Seniors?

Third-party scholarships—sometimes called a college scholarship from an outside sponsor—can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars and come from businesses, foundation scholarship programs, religious institutions, and service organizations. These scholarships are not offered by colleges but can generally be used at any accredited college or university.

However, local scholarships through your high school guidance office are often your best bet because they have less competition. The handbook emphasizes: “These local scholarships are often much better bets than the scholarships that are found at the broader scholarship search websites.” Many scholarships are available specifically for students in your community that national databases don’t capture.

Before investing significant time in finding and applying for scholarships, weigh the effort against realistic odds. Is writing a ten-page essay for a 5% chance at $500 worthwhile for your family? Also be aware of “stacking” policies: some colleges reduce their institutional merit awards by the amount of outside scholarships you receive—especially if the scholarship provider pays directly to the institution rather than to the recipient. Read the fine print on renewability too—a $1,500 total award differs significantly from $1,500 per year renewable for four years. Checking the scholarship terms carefully before applying for scholarships can save time and prevent surprises.

What Types of Financial Aid Make Up a Typical College Aid Package?

A typical financial aid package for college students consists of three main components:

Grants and Scholarships (Gift Aid): Free money that doesn’t require repayment. Sources include federal grants like Pell Grants (for lower income families), state grant programs, and institutional aid from the college itself. 

Work-Study: On-campus employment funded by colleges and the federal government. These programs help students cover college costs beyond tuition and fees, and require the student to seek out and perform the work.

Loans: There are several types of federally-funded loans available to help families pay for college:

Subsidized Loans are offered only to students who demonstrate need on the FAFSA. The federal government pays interest while the student is in school, and repayment doesn’t begin until six months after graduation.

Unsubsidized Loans are available to any student regardless of need. Interest accrues immediately, though students can defer payments until after graduation.

Parent PLUS Loans are taken in the parent’s name. Historically, these loans had no borrowing limit up to the full cost of attendance minus other aid. However, beginning in July 2026, these loans will have a $20,000 annual limit and a total limit of $65,000 per dependent student. These carry higher interest rates and repayment begins immediately unless deferred.

The formula colleges use: Cost of Attendance – Student Aid Index = Need. Remember that taking out loans is always optional—it’s entirely at the family’s discretion. Even scholarship winners often combine their awards with other forms of aid to cover full costs.

Federal Student Loan Limits (Annual):

Key Takeaways: When reviewing your aid package, focus on the “gift aid” (grants and scholarships) first—this is what truly reduces your cost. Work-study funds aren’t guaranteed income; your student must find and work the job to earn them.

The formula colleges use: Cost of Attendance – Student Aid Index = Need. Remember that taking out loans is always optional—it’s entirely at the family’s discretion. Even scholarship winners often combine their awards with other forms of aid to cover full costs.

How Can We Estimate Our Costs Before Applying Using Net Price Calculators?

Net Price Calculators (NPCs) are online tools that every accredited institution participating in federal student aid is required to provide. These calculators, typically found within a college’s admissions website, allow you to input basic financial information and receive an estimate of what attending that school would actually cost your family after grants and scholarships—your “net price.”

A community member in the Great College Advice group offers practical advice: “Every college participating in federal student aid is required to have it. The fastest way to find the Net Price Calculator is to Google the college’s name and ‘Net Price Calculator’ to determine what the student is likely to pay, after grants and scholarships are applied.”

However, the Great College Advice Family Handbook cautions: “Because the information captured is not as thorough as on an actual financial aid application, and because the NPCs do not usually take into account either special circumstances or sometimes your potential eligibility for merit aid, the output of the NPC should not be precisely what you expect to receive.”

You can also use the Federal Student Aid Estimator to get an early estimate of your SAI. Running NPCs for every college on your list—including schools across different regions of the U.S.—gives you a directional sense of relative costs and helps identify schools that may be financially out of reach before you invest time in applications.

Does Applying for Financial Aid Hurt My Child’s Chances of Admission?

At most colleges, no—the act of applying for scholarships or financial aid should have absolutely no bearing on whether your child gains admission. However, the answer becomes more nuanced at schools that are “need-aware” in their admissions process.

The Great College Advice Family Handbook explains: “If your student is applying to colleges that are not need-blind (schools that consider your ability to pay in the admissions decision), and you do show that you have demonstrated need after going through the financial aid evaluation process, then that need could impact your student’s ability to gain admission.”

Still, this shouldn’t stop you from applying. Consider it this way: if your family needs financial aid and a college won’t accept your student because of it, that’s not a school where your student can realistically attend anyway. You want your child to go somewhere they can get into and that you can afford.

For families who don’t expect to qualify but worry about optics, there’s actually a potential upside to filing for financial aid: demonstrating that you can fund the education in full might tip the scales favorably in getting your child accepted. Filing the FAFSA also establishes a financial benchmark should circumstances change, and it makes your student eligible for federal loans—which can provide valuable “skin in the game” for their own education. This applies to scholarships to students from outside sources as well; documenting your full financial picture is rarely a disadvantage.

What Should Families Know About the Recent FAFSA Changes?

The federal student aid process underwent significant changes that families need to understand:

The FAFSA form is now much shorter, reduced from over a hundred questions to just 36. The methodology no longer accounts for how many children a family currently has in college simultaneously—a significant change for families with multiple students. The term Expected Family Contribution (EFC) has been replaced with Student Aid Index (SAI), which in some cases may even be a negative number.

These changes were announced in 2021 and have been phased in through 2025. Families can learn more about the specifics on the Federal Student Aid website.

One important note: over 70% of college applicants—both undergraduate and graduate students—apply for financial aid, so families should never assume they make too much money to qualify. As the Great College Advice Family Handbook states: “Many people are surprised to discover that they do qualify for money even if it’s only at selected institutions. As with so many things in life, you won’t get what you don’t ask for!”

Should Students with Financial Need Apply Early Decision?

Generally, the Great College Advice team does not recommend that students with significant financial need apply Early Decision unless that school is one of the few institutions that promises to meet full demonstrated financial need.

The binding nature of ED means you commit before seeing your financial aid package and lose the ability to compare offers from multiple schools. The Family Handbook is direct: “By applying Early Decision, you have essentially given up the right to compare financial aid packages and factor the aid into your consideration of which school to attend.”

The ED system also tends to subtly favor full-pay students. As the handbook notes: “If a student with high financial need is qualified for admission, but not necessarily a clear stand-out, they may be deferred to the regular round to compete for an offer with everyone else. The reason? A high-need student costs the institution more money.”

However, if a standout student is truly sold on a particular college that meets full need, ED can still make sense. Veteran admissions expert Jamie Berger emphasizes the importance of having “happy likely colleges and targets” alongside reach schools. For families prioritizing affordability, applying Regular Decision to multiple schools and comparing packages is almost always the smarter financial strategy.

Next Steps: Get Personalized Financial Aid Guidance

Navigating the college admissions and financial aid process can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it alone. The team at Great College Advice includes veteran college admissions experts with over 100 combined years of experience helping families find the right fit—academically and financially.

As Jamie Berger explains the value of expert guidance: “In terms of increased merit aid and finding the perfect fit, I think it’s totally worth it. And if we help you find some hidden gems—some off-the-beaten-path schools more in your target and likely college area that you hadn’t thought of—then it’s well worth it.”

To learn more about building a strategic college application that maximizes your financial aid opportunities and conduct your own college scholarship search with expert support, schedule a free consultation with the Great College Advice team today.