The majority of the financial support available is need based. However, a lot of the schools and universities also have merit scholarships. After contacting the financial aid office and receiving the proper forms to fill out, it's very important that you keep in mind the deadlines. Here's a tip, complete your federal financial support packet and submit it in early January, and you could get even more money. The grants sometimes are awarded on a first come first serve basis. If the student completes the packet early and the funds are available, the students will be given some of those grants that are limited.
Grants come from the federal government, and some states and schools. So ask the people in financial aid office to steer you towards grants and scholarships first because they're like free money. You don't have to pay this money back unlike the private loans, which is the money you have to return after graduating from college.
In some states, including California, there are laws aimed at helping students who do not have a social security number. There are various programs that help such students attend school legally, and without any impact whatsoever in their legal status. So as long as you can provide documentation that you attended a high school and graduated from a California high school and attended for 3 years, you could attend school paying the resident fee instead of non-resident.
If your situation changes after completing and submitting the financial support forms, you need to let the financial aid office be aware of this change. Some financial aid offices have a form that you can fill out which helps you gather your thoughts and put everything on that paper. You can turn that in to the financial aid office to let them know of any unfortunate event that has happened. The financial aid office can then use their professional judgment after assessing your financial situation and make adjustments along the way to see if there is some way they can increase your financial support package via loans or education grants to accommodate you in the new situation.
If you or your family does not speak very well English, many financial aid offices have bilingual services, so there is no reason for you to be hesitant.
If you're stuck and need some help finding good information online try using Financial-Aid-Directory.com for finding the latest information on financial support to help you when you need it most.
