Student Loans and Scholarships Options for Last-Minute Financial Aid

While the deadline may be approaching to let colleges know what your final decision is, this does not necessarily mean the end for financing college. While you need to accept anything you want from the college they offered you in your financial aid package, there are still other ways to obtain more money to help fund your college education.
Loans– A student loan is probably your smartest option when it comes to loans. For most of these, the payments are deferred until after you graduate or until you are out of school for a certain period of time. Some loans require interest payments while you are in school. These payments are not huge and are quite affordable. By paying off interest while you are in school, it will be much easier to pay off the rest of your loan once you are out of school. By paying the interest, you will have a considerably smaller amount to worry about once you are out of school.
Scholarships– While it may be too late for scholarships through your school, there are many ways to get other scholarships, such as FastWeb. This website still has a huge variety of scholarships they are offering with some that have due dates in early next fall! So scholarships are still an option this late, you just have to be sure to jump on top of any opportunity given to you. There may also be ways to get scholarships for extracurricular activities. Search the EDUInReview.com scholarship database with more than 400,000 options to see what suits you.
So while your decision may be due, finances don’t necessarily need to be set in stone just yet. While having finances figured out may make things easier, it doesn’t mean you can’t make a decision. If you are confident in your ability to pay for school, then go ahead and send in your forms. But if you are unsure, get as much figured out as possible and then send in everything.