December 2005

Are Your Students Panicked About Paying For College?
Student Loan Selector Tool Can Help

When spring rolls around, along with college acceptances and award letters, your students may have their first bout of panic about how they're going to pay for college.

If their financial aid package isn't enough, there are still more student loan options to help cover their college costs.

Wells Fargo offers a Student Loan Selector tool to help steer students toward their federal loan options as well as their best-fit alternative loan, based on their program and the school they're attending. (Depending on the processes of the school they're attending, students may be directed to contact their financial aid office for more information.)

Students can find the Student Loan Selector at www.wellsfargo.com/student. Look under "Tools" in the left navigation bar and click "Student Loan Selector."

Encourage Students To Fill Out FAFSA Early

Eight million.

That's the number of students who didn't get the financial aid available to them during the 1999-2000 academic year, according to a study by the American Council on Education.

Why are all these students missing out on money for college? Either they don't complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), or they completed it too late.

Many students incorrectly assume that they won't qualify for financial aid and don't bother applying. There are many forms of financial aid, however, including student loans, and some federal student loans are not based on financial need.

The FAFSA is the first step in applying for financial aid, and high school seniors and their parents should be encouraged to fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1. Waiting until the last minute is not a good idea. After qualifications are met, financial aid is awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Students can fill out the paper form, or fill out the FAFSA online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.

College-Planning Tools For Students And Parents

Students and their parents can stay on the college-planning track with some tools on the Wells Fargo Web site.

Here, students will find a checklist to help them plan for college from freshman through senior year, as well as a scholarship search.

Parents will find resources as well, including loan information, tips to help students learn to budget, and information on saving for college.

Find this helpful college-planning guide at www.wellsfargo.com/student and click "Planning for College" then click "Getting Started."

Students Get Chance To Win College Money

Now is the time of year to remind all high school students to sign up for the CollegeSTEPS® Program Scholarship Sweepstakes. Through this program, eligible* seniors get the chance to win $1,000 toward college tuition, and all students get great college-planning tips.

To enroll, students can go to www.wellsfargo.com/collegesteps and click Sign Up Now.

Once enrolled, eligible seniors are entered into the sweepstakes drawings, which are held monthly from October to May. All students, freshman through seniors, receive informative electronic postcards with tips to help keep them on the right path to college.

To learn more about the sweepstakes, see the Official Rules and Eligibility Requirements.

*Sweepstakes is void in New York and Florida.

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