Time to Apply for College Aid

For many students, choosing and applying to colleges often comes down to dollars and cents. How to pay for college often is one of the first things students begin to contemplate when the college application process begins. One of the main components in seeking aid is completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The application for 2012-13 funding became available Sunday and can be found at www.fafsa.ed.gov. That’s the best way to determine a family’s financial situation when it comes to paying for college, and what other means they need to find, said Michael Barlow, the financial aid director at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College. Barlow encourages students to complete the document by the end of January, because one fund, the College Access Program, typically is depleted by mid-February.