Our library is grouped by where the money comes from. Start with the federal overview if you're new; jump to state or private guides if you already have the basics.
Need-based aid for undergraduate students. We explain how the Student Aid Index affects the award and when Pell can be prorated.
The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant — how campus-based funding is allocated and why award sizes vary widely by school.
What service obligations mean in practice, how a grant can turn into a loan, and which teaching fields currently qualify.
Eligibility for children of service members who died as a result of military service, and how it interacts with Pell.
The current-year form, written as a walkthrough — not a policy manual — with screenshots of the trickier sections.
How work-study differs from a grant, how earnings affect your aid picture and how to find a good on-campus placement.
The Tuition Assistance Program plus the Excelsior Scholarship: income caps, residency requirements and the post-graduation service rule.
How the A, B and C awards differ, GPA verification and what happens if you transfer between segments of the CA system.
Eligibility milestones, priority deadlines and how the award interacts with community-college transfer pathways.
The Academic and Medallion scholar levels explained, plus recent legislative changes affecting award amounts.
GPA requirements, checkpoint reviews and how lottery-funded aid moves year over year.
The Ohio College Opportunity Grant income thresholds and how they interact with institutional aid at public universities.
Not seeing your state? Write to us — we publish new guides based on reader demand.
Curated summaries of long-running scholarships in engineering, computing, mathematics and the physical sciences.
Portfolio-based awards for visual arts, creative writing and performance, with tips on preparing submissions.
Loan-repayment programs, service-based awards and specialty-nursing scholarships worth reading in advance.
Rotary, Elks, Kiwanis and other civic-club awards — small in dollar terms, meaningful in application experience.
How to check whether an employer, parent's employer or union already provides tuition support you're leaving on the table.
Warning signs of "scholarship" pages that are really lead-generation traps — and how to spot them quickly.
The Post-9/11 GI Bill, Yellow Ribbon schools, VR&E (Chapter 31) and how state benefits stack on top.
Campus-based child-care grants (CCAMPIS), state-level parent scholarships and how dependency status is treated on the FAFSA.
Short-term Pell for approved workforce programs, apprenticeship funding and community-college retraining grants.
Fellowships, teaching assistantships and program-specific aid — plus a plain-English note on Grad PLUS loans.
In general, no — grants are gift aid. There are a few exceptions, notably the TEACH Grant, which can convert into a loan if you don't meet its teaching-service obligation. We flag those cases in the individual guides.
Almost always yes. Many state and institutional aid programs require a FAFSA on file regardless of federal eligibility, and estimates of "won't qualify" are often wrong once the actual formula runs.
Some are. The best returns tend to come from applying to a small number of well-matched local awards rather than mass-applying to national ones. Our private-scholarship guides explain how to pick.
No. We are an editorial site. We describe how programs work and how to apply — the awards themselves are issued by the federal government, states, colleges and private organizations.
No. Our library is free to read and always will be. We do not sell reader data and we do not run affiliate lender links inside the guides.
