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Counseling Department » Financial Aid/Scholarship Opportunities | High School and Beyond

Financial Aid/Scholarship Opportunities | High School and Beyond

SCHOLARSHIPS
Saint Mary’s believes a strong scholarship program opens doors and changes lives. Students in grades 9-11 as well as current Seniors may apply for SM-sponsored scholarships. 
 
The scholarship application process opens soon (exact date TBD).  Application process and links will be provided through the weekly TeleRam. 
 
 
Seniors (Class of 2025): 
  • Apply for SM Senior Scholarships by clicking on the button below.
  • For a list of local and community-based scholarships, please click on the button below.
 
FINANCIAL AID
 
SENIOR COLLEGE FINANCIAL AID AND SCHOLARSHIPS

 

September 11, 2024

Senior Family College/Financial Aid Night, 6 PM - Cafeteria

 

October 9, 2024

Grades 9-11 Family College/Financial Aid Night, 6 PM - Cafeteria

 

December 1, 2024

FAFSA available online at studentaid.gov (tentative date)

         

May 14, 2025

SENIOR Awards Night, 6:30 PM


May 24, 2025

Graduation, 9 AM

*Information & graphics gathered in part by the

University of the Pacific (2024) and the CA Student Aid Commission (2024)

 
GENERAL ADVICE
  • Don’t pay for a college scholarship search engine.
  • Look for local (vs. national) scholarship opportunities; often there are less applicants.
  • Ask friends/family for scholarship opportunities through their employers.
  • Don't wait for admission to a school - many scholarship deadlines are early!
 
SCHOLARSHIP SCAMS
   Warning signs:
    • You have to pay a fee.
    • Money-back offers of guarantees.
    • Credit card or bank account information required.
    • Provides "exclusive" information.
 
Common Scholarship Scams:
  • "Phishing": Unsolicited emails that bear the logo of your bank or credit card may appear to be legitimate, but are traps to lure you into giving your personal or account information.
  • NEVER GIVE out your social security number, credit card, or bank account numbers to unsolicited emails or calls.
 
  • "Pharming": Unsolicited emails that encourage you to visit a website or click on suspicious links. Make sure your inbox spam filters are up to date.
  • BE CAREFUL about giving out your contact information or email address.


TYPES OF FINANCIAL AID

Scholarships
Merit/Academic/Performance scholarships
    • Offered directly by universities.
    • Often dependent on GPA/test scores.
    • Varying application dates for consideration.

Outside Scholarships
      • Online: fastweb.com, scholarships.com.
      • Foundations, religious, community, ethnicity-based organizations, local businesses, or civic groups.
      • Organizations/professional associations in your field of interest.
      • Your employer or parents’ employer.

Grants

Pell Grant (Federal)

Cal Grant (State0

Institutional Grants  

  • Amounts and eligibility vary from school to school.


Federal Parent & Student Loans

Federal student loan options

Federal parent loan options: 

  • Parent PLUS loan – up to the remaining cost of attendance
  • Approval based on credit 
  • Flexible repayment options and loan forgiveness opportunitiesTypes of Aid
Fed Fin Aid Programs

Cost of Attendance

  • Each school will have their own cost of attendance: even CSU/UC and CC will vary from school to school.
  • Direct costs vs. indirect costs: 
  • Direct costs: expenses that have to be paid such as tuition, fees, books, housing (if living on-campus).
  • Indirect costs: expenses you may come across to help you budget wisely for the year such as personal expenses, transportation, supplies, etc. 
 

Offer Letters

Each school sends out an offer letter with student’s aid eligibility.


  • Layouts may be very different – look for: 
    • Total direct costs 
    • Loans vs. free money
    • Total due after grants, scholarships, and student loans applied 
    • Renewal terms 
    • Verification requirements
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FAFSA(FREE APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL STUDENT AID): 

 

  • Free Application for Federal Student Aid – https://studentaid.gov
  • FREE – OPENS December 2024 (exact date TBD)
  • Used to help determine federal, state, and institutional aid eligibility 
  • List up to 20 schools (additional schools can be swapped in after FAFSA has been processed for the first time). 
  • Student and *1* parent need to create account (FSA ID)
  • Collects household financial information
  • Asks for tax information from 2 years prior.  Seniors should be submitting the  2025-2026 FAFSA, which will use 2023 tax data.
 
What is FAFSA
 

Creating a FAFSA ID

 

Which parent

 

 

COMMON FAFSA MISTAKES:

 

  • Not reading definitions or instructions carefully:
    • Legal guardianship
    • Parent
    • Head of household tax status
    • Number of family members (household)
    • Number of children in college
  • Inputting information 
    • Confusing student & parent information
    • Name and DOB
    • Listing only one college to receive FAFSA data
    • Not providing net worth of assets as of the date the FAFSA is completed
    • Including assets that should be excluded
    • 529 plans – where to report asset, where to report distributions
Common FAFSA mistakes

Which year

Helpful tips

FEDERAL STUDENT AID ASSISTANCE:

 

 

 

      • 800-433-3243 (1-800-4FED-AID)



 

CSS(COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIP SERVICE): 

 

  • Online application that collects informations used by nearly 400 colleges & scholarship programs to award institutional aid from the colleges/universities  (Not used for awarding federal or state financial aid)
  • Required at certain schools along with the FAFSA 
  • Some colleges may require the CSS Profile from both biological/adoptive parents in cases of divorce or separation
  • Initial application fee + 1 college: $25; additional schools $16 – Fee waivers available 
CSS profile
College Search & Applications
www2.calstateapply.edu/apply California State University (CSU) System
www.universityofcalifornia.edu University of California (UC) System
www.commonapp.org Common Application
www.deltacollege.edu San Joaquin Delta College
www.scoir.com College, career and scholarship search
www.wiche.edu/wue 160+ WUE schools- reduced tuition for CA students 
www.aiccu.edu Independent Colleges search tool
www.catholiccollegesonline.org Catholic College Admission Assoc.
www.californiacolleges.edu California Colleges-college/career planning
www.bigfuture.com College, career scholarship search

College Admission Testing
www.act.org   ACT registration, score reporting, practice tests
www.collegeboard.org  SAT registration, score reporting

Financial Aid
www.saintmaryshighschool.org St. Mary’s High School Scholarships
www.fafsa.gov FAFSA application
cssprofile.collegeboard.org CSS Profile (College Board)
www.icanaffordcollege.com CA Community Colleges 
www.csac.ca.gov California Student Aid Commission (CalGrant)
www.fastweb.com Scholarship search engine
www.scholarships.com Scholarship search engine
www.petersons.com/scholarship-search.aspx Scholarship search engine
www.cappex.com Scholarship search engine
www.unigo.com Scholarship search engine
https://www.nasfaa.org National Association of Student Fin Aid Administrators
Salliemae.com Student loan servicer & information
https://www.stocktonusd.net/Page/776 Stockton Unified (*scroll down to “SUSD Scholarship Catalog” for SUSD eligible community scholarships)

Athlete Resources
www.eligibilitycenter.org NCAA eligibility registration (DI/DII)
www.naia.org National Assoc. of Intercollegiate Athletics
Heisman High School Scholarship Heisman HS Scholarship Program

Other
https://usveteransmagazine.com/ US Veterans Magazine resource list of scholarships for dependents of veterans (search under Education tab)
uncf.org/scholarships United Nego College Fund
apiascholars.org/ Asian & Pacific Islander Americans
www.hsf.net Hispanic Scholarship Fund
Collegefund.org American Indian College Fund