They say that no one should pay for college

[Tonezone]

And that there's enough money out there floating around that you should be able to get enough in grants and scholarships so you wouldn't have to pay a penny. Are there any other national or organizational scholarships/grants that people can try going for, other than filling out a form for FAFSA?

I've graduated from a community college and want to go to a real school, the only problem is that I don't want to be stuck paying off student loans for years in this unstable and uncertain economy. Money's the only issue stopping me from throwing my hat over the wall and committing myself to a real college.

[openeyes]

Originally Posted by Tonezone

Are there any other national or organizational scholarships/grants that people can try going for, other than filling out a form for FAFSA?

FAFSA and the CSS profile are just general forms virtually all schools in the US require you to fill out if you want financial aid. They determine your financial need and are not too difficult to fill out if you have your parent's help (it will want their financial info if you're still a dependent).

At my school all students are automatically considered for most of the university's scholarships when they apply for admission. At most schools you will need to seek out scholarships and apply for them separately though.

Were you in high school I'd say ask your guidance counselor about local and national scholarships in addition to checking out sites like FastWeb: Scholarships, Financial Aid and Colleges (even in your situation, still check Fastweb)

At this point, you may be best off deciding what schools you plan on applying to and talking to their scholarships & financial aid office. I don't know of any way you can get around filling out the FAFSA at a US school, but feel free to ask the financial aid people to make sure, if it's that important to you.

[schola]

I'm in your boat too. I went to community college for 2.5 years, then decided I wanted my bachelors, so I transferred to a university. I messed around in community college, so my GPA isn't too great, my parents don't make enough to pay for my college, but they make too much for me to receive a need-based grant, I'm not a minority and I'm not great at sports.

I don't want to take on a bunch of debt either, but I went ahead and enrolled anyway, and I'm glad I did. Don't let the fear of loans conquer you. I'm now proactively trying to find ways of paying my loans off before I graduate, and it's fun.

Fastweb sucks by the way. I don't advise you waste your time there. The best scholarships are school specific. So find a few schools you're interested in and see what scholarships and grants they have available. If you want anything though, you have to fill that FAFSA out, so get that out of the way now.

[sunj]

My friend told me that if you apply for FAFSA on the first day of the year, then you are more likely to get grants for the full amount that you need. I was too lazy and never did it, but that's how he got thru college without any loans. Jan 01 is coming fast so fill it out now and send it out on Dec 30th. He said to leave the tax information empty, and they will send you the tax portion to fill out later on. When you have your taxes done you can send it in.