The most common types of financial aid include grants and scholarships, work-study programs, and student loans.

Grants and scholarships
Gift aid includes grants and scholarships-funds that don't have to be repaid. This aid is available from private, state, and federal sources, and from educational institutions themselves.

Private sources of scholarships or grants
There's a great deal of scholarship and grant money available. However, the key is to pursue private gift aid persistently and aggressively. Funds may be available based on achievement, religious affiliation, ethnicity, memberships, hobbies, or special talents.

Contact your employer, your parents' employers, and other relatives to see if they, their unions, or professional associations sponsor any aid programs. Also contact churches, local foundations, civic groups, the local Department of Veterans Affairs office, and other community organizations.

Speak with your high school guidance counselor. They are excellent sources of information on gift aid. Start looking for possible grant and scholarship money during your junior year of high school. (Some high school counselors even suggest that students start looking during ninth grade.)

Federal and state sources
The federal government funds two large higher education grant programs-the Federal Pell Grant and the Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant (SEOG) programs. These grants are generally reserved for the students with need, and are included by colleges in their financial aid packages.

Consider merit-based government programs:

• Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP), formerly known as State Student Incentive Grants (SSIG), is funded by individual states and the federal government. College financial aid advisors and high school counselors can tell students whether they qualify.
• The Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program is an award for academic achievement.
• The National Science Scholars Program (NSSP) aids college-bound high school seniors who have achieved distinction in the sciences.
• The Paul Douglas Teacher Scholarship Program, available in some states, helps outstanding academic achievers pursue teaching careers. High school counselors have further information.

Work-study
Through work-study, you earn money working part-time on campus or in the community. Most work-study programs are federally funded, however some are college-funded. College financial aid offices can provide more information.

Student loans
The Federal Stafford Loan is the largest federal loan program available to students. Students attending college at least half-time and meeting certain criteria could obtain a Stafford loan. Both subsidized (need based) and unsubsidized (non-need based) loans are offered.

The Federal Perkins Loan helps needy students, based on their Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and the availability of funds at their college.