What kind of financial aid programs are there?

Here are some of the programs for which you may qualify:

• Ohio College Opportunity Grant – available for tuition if you attend a
college in Ohio

• AmeriCorps Education Award – for students who do community service in exchange for an education award

• Ohio Regents Grant – an award for academic excellence

• Pell Grant – a federal grant that provides money to full-time and
part-time college students

• The Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant – called SEOG for short, is offered to first-time, full-time students who have exceptional financial need.

• Federal Work-Study – programs through which students earn money at a job while attending school

• Stafford Loan – a low-interest loan program that you pay back once you
leave college

• Perkins Loan – another low-interest loan program that you pay back once you leave college

As a current or former foster child/youth, you may be eligible for the federal Education and Training Voucher program that offers $5,000 to full-time students and $2,500 to part-time students. Talk to your caseworker about the ETV program or click here: https://www.statevoucher.org/state.shtml?state=OH

Additional information is available at: https://www.statevoucher.org/
• Many colleges have minority affairs offices that may offer scholarships for ethnic minorities, racial minorities and first-generation college students.

• A variety of private scholarships. Talk to your high school guidance counselor or your caseworker to find out what those might be in your community.

Visit http://www.finaid.org/ if you want to know more about financial aid.

A word of warning: Every year hundreds of thousands of students and parents are defrauded of millions of dollars by scholarship scams. Here’s a rule of thumb: Be wary of scholarships with application fees, services that guarantee they’ll find you a scholarship for a fee, loans that require an advanced fee or financial aid seminars that are nothing more than sales pitches. Applying for financial aid should NOT cost you money.

Visit http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/scams.phtml for more information.