I have a question about financial aid and applying to colleges. - Comments

From what I know, financial aid is like a loan. You pay the money back after college. Also, you can continue to apply for scholarships while in school. It's not just an "all before college" thing.

Schools are beginning to look beyond your scores and things like that. Many of them are beginning to look at actual skills that you have regarding the course of study you choose to take. There are also many merit based scholarships. For me, when I applied, I was going to the school for a BFA degree. I've only taken the SAT and no other test once without being in math class for a whole semester and I scored a 1400. That was horrible. My GPA when applying was a 2.6 unweighted and a 3.0 weighted. . I was lazy my ninth grade year (and partially my tenth). But because I had such a good portfolio, I got into the school, no problem. I also put together a good essay. (however, I won't be attending any school anytime soon if I can help it for a bigger reason they many know)

There are so many things I learned through this dreadful college processes that I wish I knew before that it's mind bobbling. However, the best advice I could give is to keep applying to as many things you can. If you qualify, apply. You know, the colleges, scholarships, grants, loans, everything. Hopefully you're eighteen so it'll make your life easier. My college applying processes what a bad one.

Oh, I just read that you got a 25 your second time. That's a pretty good score but since you went up so many points your second time, if you did take it again, you could probably go up a few more. I got a 29, 31, and 32, and sometimes going up that one point can make all the difference.

First off, it sounds like almost everything you've read about financial aid is a misconception. Just take a deep breath- you do not have to have a genius ACT score to get financial aid, and you do not have to go to a community college to get a full ride (even if you go to a community college, you may not get a full ride)

When you sign up to take the ACT, you have the option to include school codes. Include the codes of the universities you're interested in, and the ACT automatically sends your score. Everything will end up being mailed separately because its coming from different places.

Not all colleges require essays, but the ones that do put a lot of value on them.

I do think it's weird that IU doesn't ask for extracurriculurs, but after looking at their website, it seems they have an easy application as a selling point, so that's probably why, but I'm sure you'll need that information for scholarship applications. At State universities like that, usually they look at your ACT and GPA, and if you meet their standards, it's an automatic admission, not selective.

I was the first person to go to college in my family too, and I had zero financial help from my family. Fill out your fafsa early, and make sure to include all the school codes where you apply. That way, by January-February, you should have all your acceptance letters and financial aid offers, and you can compare and see which university is going to offer you the most money financial aid.

I think you may want to consider buying an ACT prep book or seeing if your library can loan you one. A 21 is not a bad score, it's average, and that's the problem. You have to be above average for many merit based scholarships. You don't need a 31, but getting 25 or up would help you out a lot.

Also, since I see you're looking at universities in the Midwest, I have to recommend Missouri State =] It's a great university that's incredibly affordable and I loved going there. (But, you also need to consider that instate tuition is always lower than out of state tuition, but MSU has some pretty good scholarships for out of staters)

And, if you don't end up with a 100% full ride, you have student loans. I'd advise you to take out as little as possible, but of all the debt you can have, debt for getting an education isn't so bad.

Just try not to stress out and I wish you luck. I know it's a crazy time for you.

I'm in the same boat with you, being the first one in the family to go to college.

Have you checked into FAFSA?