I am a high school senior applying to colleges. But scholarships? Which do I apply for, what abt federal aid?

I know nothing abt federal financial aid....how do I know if I qualify? And what abt work-study jobs? Does that begin in my freshmen year? I am so confused...

Your family will need to file a FAFSA in April, after their taxes. Your financial aid package will be presented to you at the same time or soon after your acceptance. Call the college you are most interested in and speak to a recruiter. They will tranfer you to the Financial Aid office. That office will take you through the steps. You'll need that FASFA, though, it's the federal form.

i'm a HS senior to trying to do the same. and i personally have no idea. i got a pin though from federal financial aid, you do online. you have to have a pin for filling out schlorships. that's about all the information i can give you. if you have any new information just email me.

each college has a Fnancial aid office that will help you.

APPLY FOR EVERYTHING!!
Fill out your financial aid paperwork, in which you'll include your colleges of choice... once you are accepted to the college(s) you will receive notification if you have qualified for anything, including work study.
As for scholarships, as stated - apply for everything whether or not you think you qualify...you never know

Good Luck!!

Apply for as many scholarships as you can and be aware many of them have deadlines as early as Jan or Feb. Apply for federal aid at www.fafsa.ed.gov as soon after Jan 1st, 2008 as you can and after you and your parents have done your taxes. (Yes you are applying for aid 7 months early, but that is what it takes to have everything ready by the time school starts). When you apply with fafsa, this will include to see if you qualify for the Work Study program.

After your fin aid is processed, and after the schools fin aid office confirms with their admission office you have been accepted into their college, the fin aid office will issue you an "Award Letter", this details the kinds and amounts of financial aid you will receive. Compare it closely with your bill.

If Work Study is listed, YOU will be responsible for finding a job on campus. Likely you will have to interview and apply just like any regular job.. and at most schools there are tons more kids eligible for the jobs then there are actual jobs on campus. Freshman especially get left out because many of the work study jobs are "continued" from previous years for upperclassmen. My advice if you qualify for a campus job: Don't wait until the first day of class to start looking for a job... get there early and try to secure employment ahead of time... also, BE PERSISTENT: even if a place says they won't/wont have an opening because of returning upperclassmen, the chances of that person not coming back is sometimes pretty high. Hit the pavement again the first day of classes to see which job openings didn't have their people return... this is how I got in in the campus Library and worked there my entire time on campus. Knowing the library helped me IMMENSELY when doing my homework. I had an edge others didn't.

Here is an excellent publication about federal fin aid.
Good luck.

Everybody else has told you about federal financial aid. There are also many, many proivate scholarships out there. When I was in college in the 1990's, there was something called the CASHE system, a computer program that would tell you what scholarships you are eligibnle for. You would fill out a questionaire, and the computer would select what sholarships applied to you. This cold inbclude for things like being left-handed, haveing an ancestor in the civil war,or for writing an essay. There was also a book called "The Scholarship Book," which listed every scholarship available in America.