If you’re a parent of a high school senior, you’re probably thinking about the day your baby graduates high school and enters college. After reality sets in, you may be plagued with the thought of how you’re going to get your son or daughter through four years at a university. There are several ways you can pay for your child’s education.

Unfortunately, not all of us are born with a silverspoon or have magical godparents that’ll completely cover the cost of college. Finding other ways to finance your child’s education may be long and tedious but it’ll be worth it when you won’t be paying for thousands of dollars in tuition costs out-of-pocket.

• Scholarships – Scholarships can be based on talent or personal attributes. There are many scholarships available. Many of which can be found on scholarship databases, like FastWeb. Some of these scholarships are awarded based on many different criterias. Many are like competitions where you have to submit a piece of work. Other scholarships are awarded based on personal attributes such as GPA, ethnicity, affiliation with an organization, even some for being left-handed! The thing with scholarships is that they reduce your financial aid package because the government considers it as a financial resource to fund your college tuition.
• Grants – Grants are usually based on need. I suggest every family to do more research about grants because they are like free money and they don’t have to be paid back. The parent or the student usually fills out a FAFSA before the school year starts. The FAFSA evaluates the students financial situation and disperses the amount of money based on things such as income, and tax credits.
• Loans – Loans will need to be paid back. There are two types of loans, subsidized and unsubsidized. Unsubsidized loans accumulate interest while you’re still in school and subsidized loans start accumulating interest 6 months after you graduate.

You should also stress to your graduate how important it is to maintain a good grade point average. Some colleges award scholarships for good grades. Nonetheless it’s also important to work hard and be a well-rounded student. Encourage them to join as many organizations as they can because organizations can award scholarships too. It may take many forms and applications to get financing for a college education but in the long run, the benefits will be worth it.