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	College Loan College Education Planing Start College: Ask your college first College Education Planing How to choose the right college   Student Loan Consolidation: Get rid of student loans Repayment Plans Student loan consolidation College tuition is going to cost you?   College Cost: Dealing with the cost of college as a family The College Student’s Guide To Saving Money College costs depend on where you go to school   College Financing: College financing Where to look for college funding A simple comparison of education plans Financial aid for college 529 savings plans Coverdell accounts Education bond programs and custodial accounts Get all of the federal loans and grants that you can Free Application for Federal Student Aid Getting state financial aid for college Paid tuition plans Private grant or a private scholarship Paying for college Higher Education Student Loans Federal Student Loans Parent Loans for Undergraduate Students Private student loans There are not many things more expensive than a college education and for most families this is a very trying time. You should have started planning for your child’s college education while he or she was still small but if you didn’t, don’t worry there is still time. Hopefully at least a year until your son or daughter is off to college. The following timeline is assuming that you have a year let to get gong on the saving money for college thing. Here is it: September is the time to start looking into all of the scholarships that your child may be eligible for. There are many different places to find these scholarships. For example does your boss offer scholarships to the employees kids? Some do, so find out. Then you can start looking at local organizations, stat by talking to your child’s guidance counselor. He or she will, or at least they should, know about most of the scholarships available and be able to help you get your child on track with applying for them. Once you have had that discussion and taken all of that information, go online. There you can find out about any other scholarships that the counselor may have missed, even the local library can help you out in this regard. Get all of the applications and the information that you can and then sit down with your son or daughter to go over it all carefully. During September you will also want to get all of the financial aid things in order. This means getting the applications for any college that your child is interested in. Get your kid registered for the SA or ACT right away and then also enroll him or her is a preparation course for it to help them learn everything that they need to know. The grade on this test is important to any acceptance in any school so your child needs to have it all down pat. It is also a pretty good idea to visit the estimated family contribution calculator in order to see just how much you will have to pay for your child’s college education. This is not a for sure number yet, but it will give you a rough idea. October is the time for visiting college fairs and even some financial aid workshops if you can find some. These places are perfect for finding out all about some of the scholarships and grants that are floating around out there. The trick is not to miss an opportunity to learn more about these things if you can help it. And if your child is getting in on the early action early decision applications then now is when this needs to be done. The aid applications need to be taken care of now and you will have to estimate your yearly income for them. Start touring the different college campuses with your child and start working out hard figures as far s cost of the different colleges. Then compare them to see which might suit you and your families budget the best. There are college planning calendars and they can come in handy like you would not believe. If you are in the midst of college planning pick one up and each time you hear about a deadline put it on there so that you do not miss it when it rolls around. And start looking into all of the different deadlines that will be coming up. Each school will have their own for financial aid documents, and any other applications and forms. November is the time you need to get in touch with the Department of Education and get your PIN. This PIN is important because it s what will make the processing of your FAFSA go much faster. You will also need to be putting in some hard time getting the applications for scholarships, grants and any other financial aid ready for sending as well as the actual admission papers. Just make sure that you do the early decision ones first, since they need to be sent in first. Get all of the letters that you need, the letters of recommendations as well as any needed transcripts. And never stop looking for new places to find some college money. December is the time for finances. You need to make sure that you are getting all of your financial papers together now in order to apply for financial aid. You are going to need your bank statements, as well as records of your government benefits. These benefits will certainly include your Social Security checks, if you are getting them. You also need to get the FAFSA application from the school, don’t let winter break come without getting this form first. You can fill it out online and if you are going to do this then take a look at it and make sure you have everything that you will need when the time comes to actually fill it out. Now comes January and this is the month where you have to really get your butt in gar to get your taxes in as soon as possible. This matters because you need your tax return when you file the FAFSA and this is the form that will affect just how much financial aid your child will be able to get. As well as the form that will tell you how much you will have to pay towards the college education. File the FAFSA as soon as you get your tax return, do not waste any time at all. Make sure that you have everything ready to go for when it comes. During the month of February you should still be filling out financial aid forms to send off to the schools your child might want to attend. Keep an eye on your deadline calendar to make sure that you don’t miss any. Some schools have their own paperwork that is needed before any financial aid is granted to the student. Are you still looking for scholarships to apply for? You should be, you might want to meet with the school guidance counselor again to see if there are now more scholarships for you to have your child apply for. In March you need to do some serious leg work. If you have not heard back from any scholarships that you have applies for then get in tough with them right away.  Check over the Student Aid Report that you should have gotten by now if you have not already looked it over. If you see any mistakes on it then refill right way, don’t waste any time as time is crucial. In April add up the financial aid received and follow up just like you did in March. And don’t forget that some scholarships and other things have acceptance deadlines so make sure you have not missed any of those and that none are coming right up. May is time to fill out the financial aid packages. If more scholarships are still coming in, let the financial aid office know so that they can adjust the financial aid package to reflect it. In June you can still be looking for scholarship opportunities and your child should get a job to help save some cash for college. July is pretty much like June and August is the time to start packing for a new life at college and the time to start shopping for school supplies. Don’t forget to hit the sales!