Grants, work-study, loans, and scholarships help make college or career school affordable.
Most often, grant aid comes from federal and state governments and individual colleges. Available federal grants include: Pell Grant. These are federal grants awarded to undergraduate students.
Learn about the most common ways to get help paying for college and trade or career school. Options include grants, loans, scholarships, and work-study. Visit Types of Financial Aid on the Federal Student Aid website.
Foreign aid is used to support American national security and commercial interests and can also be distributed for humanitarian reasons. Aid is financed from US taxpayers and other revenue sources that Congress appropriates annually through the United States budget process.
Your eligibility depends on your Student Aid Index (SAI), your year in school, your enrollment status, and the cost of attendance at the school you will be attending.
Higher percentages of Black (88 percent) and American Indian/Alaska Native (87 percent) students received grants than students who were of Two or more races (79 percent), White (74 percent), and Asian (66 percent).
Generally, the lower your SAI (it can be as low as -1500), the more need-based aid you can expect to receive. At colleges that meet 100% of need, your financial aid package will cover the entirety of your demonstrated need.
All federal student aid programs – which include student loans, Pell Grants and work-study, for example – are funded by federal tax dollars paid by U.S. citizens. Each year, Congress appropriates money to fund these programs as part of the annual budget process.
Be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or eligible noncitizen. Have a valid Social Security Number. Have a high school diploma or General Education Development (GED) certificate OR demonstrate “ability to benefit” by passing an approved test. Meet satisfactory academic progress.
FSA, an office of the U.S. Department of Education (ED), is the largest provider of student financial aid in the nation. At FSA, our more than 1,400 employees help make postsecondary education possible for more than 9.9 million students each year.
"The rule is: free money first (scholarships and grants), then earned money (work-study), then borrowed money (federal student loans)," the US Department of Education writes on its website, adding that private loans should be the last resort.
The FAFSA is your application for federal financial aid. Some types of aid you receive through the FAFSA, like grants or scholarships, do not need to be repaid. However, federal student loans received through your FAFSA do have to be repaid with interest after you graduate or leave school.
Need-based aid includes Pell Grants, work-study programs and Direct Subsidized Loans. Your FAFSA will determine your EFC, or expected family contribution. The FAFSA must be completed by June 30, 2026 for the 2025-26 academic year.
Grades Slipped or Haven't Completed Enough Credits. You need to make satisfactory academic progress in college or career school in order to keep getting federal student aid. Talk to your school about whether you can appeal the decision that made you ineligible to continue receiving federal student aid.
But the watershed moment for federal aid came in 1965, when Congress passed The Higher Education Act, creating Basic Educational Opportunity Grants for low-income students. The grants were later renamed Pell Grants, in honor of Sen. Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, who helped create them.
As a U.S. Government agency, USAID receives its funding from Congress. We work with both Congress and the Executive Office of the President to determine budget priorities. The majority of our funds are awarded competitively through contracts, grants, or cooperative agreements.
A subspecies of chimpanzees native to west equatorial Africa had been identified as the original source of the virus. The researchers believe that HIV-1 was introduced into the human population when hunters became exposed to infected blood.
The financial aid office at the college or career school you will attend will determine how much financial aid you're eligible to receive. Your eligibility depends on your Student Aid Index (SAI), year in school, enrollment status, and the cost of attendance at the school you'll be attending.
Students may also receive aid from sources outside your financial aid department. Other sources of aid can include: External scholarships: Students may receive aid in the form of scholarships from private organizations like the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation or the Children's Scholarship Fund.