Counseling Center: Financial Aid/Scholarships

When it comes to the matter of how to finance our child's education, the questions and answers are limitless. . . and Belton High School offers a variety of Financial Aid and Scholarship resources and opportunities. The best source of information; however, is a college financial aid officer, but scholarship files are maintained in the counseling office. Scholarship Applications can be located in the BHS Scholarship drawer. Belton High School also sponsors Financial Aid/Scholarship information sessions.

2007-2008 Scholarships

2007-2008 Beef Scholarships

Types of Financial Aid

Financial Aid is awarded from four primary sources: The Federal Government, the state government, the college or university itself, and private agencies. If you do qualify for financial aid, you will receive what is called a financial aid "package" from the college or university you have been accepted to. It may contain a combination of:

Grants or scholarships: These awards do not have to be repaid.
Loans: These awards do have to be repaid, but unusually not until you have graduated or left college.
Work/Study: This award involves earning money through a job, usually arranged for you by the college.

Applying for Aid

To get you started on the application process, there are two important financial aid forms available in the Counseling Center. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA) is used for ALL colleges and universities, including junior colleges and the College Scholarship Service (CSS) is used for private college and universities. Almost every student wishing to apply for financial aid, whether in the form of scholarship, loan, or grant must fill out the FAFSA. This form can not be filled out before January 1 of the students senior year because it is based on the previous year tax information. Students planning to attend private school may need to fill out the CSS in addition to the FAFSA. There may be additional forms your college may want you to fill out. Check with the Financial Aid office of your college or university for this information. Both the FASFA and CSS Profile are available online. FASFA is at www.fafsa.ed.gov and CSS is at www.collegeboard.com.

On these applications there is a question about the four digit code of your chosen college(s). You can look these codes up at www.collegeboard.com in the Go Center

Another resource for financial aid is the ACT Discover program, which is available in the Go Center. They have a large data base of available scholarships for all students. It is advisable to start this search early in your senior year as some of the scholarships have early deadlines. Passwords are needed to access the ACT Discover Program. You may obtain these from Mr. Shuttlesworth.

Scholarships begin to trickle into the Counseling Center early in September and keep coming through the end of the year. Scholarships can be for specific majors, to a specific university or a generic aid for any student meeting set qualifications.