Scholarship / Financial Aid Information
Scholarships and financial aid can be obtained through three major avenues:
Federal and State Aid (FAFSA), specific colleges/universities, and merit based
competitive scholarships.
Federal and State Aid - To receive any Federal or State funding for
post-secondary education, parents/students must complete the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid or the FAFSA. The FAFSA will be available for
parents/students beginning January 1st of the senior year. The FAFSA cannot be
filled out any earlier as it is based on the previous year’s tax records and
income. To be considered for State Aid the FAFSA must be filed by March 15,
2012. Fishers High School will host a FAFSA information night and financial aid
workshop for parents on January 19th, 2012 at 7p.m. in the FHS cafetorium. The
FAFSA can be filled out electronically at
www.fafsa.ed.gov
Specific Colleges and Universities - Just about every post-secondary institution
that you apply to will offer scholarships and financi - Just about every
post-secondary institution that you apply to will offer scholarships and
financial aid for incoming freshmen. These opportunities are not available
through the high school guidance office but rather by contacting the college or
university’s Office of Financial Aid. The webpage of the college or university
that you are considering should have a link to incoming freshman scholarships
and the steps needed to apply. These scholarships are going to be more
competitive at the major state universities (IU, Purdue). Private
colleges/universities tend to offer more opportunities for scholarships to help
offset the much higher tuition costs. Bottom line: Contact the college or
universities Office of Financial Aid.
Merit-based Competitive Scholarships - These scholarships are
funded through numerous organizations, some local and some national. The number
of scholarships out there are far too numerous to list here. The best way to
find out which scholarships fit your resume best is to go to either
www.fastweb.com or www.scholarships.com. These two sites have over 800,000
different scholarships for high school seniors. Basically, these sites have you
fill out a personal profile that will include your GPA, extra-curricular
activities, community involvement, and everything else from gender to ethnicity.
The database will catch the scholarships that you would be competitive with.
Remember, these are open competitions, available to students throughout the
country so just filling out the application does not mean you will win it.
Scholarship searches can be a daunting task but very manageable if you get
started early on during senior year. Never use a site or service that charges
any fee to locate scholarships for you and never apply for a scholarship that
charges a fee. If you are skeptical about any service or scholarship that you
come across, always contact your counselor. Local businesses and organizations
will have some opportunities as well and they will always be posted on the
Naviance advising system (see the Naviance link on the Guidance homepage).
Additional Scholarship/Financial Aid Documents
Hamilton Southeastern Schools Foundation Scholarships
Websites and External Resources
The links below are non-HSE websites that offer helpful information about financial aid.
Any link marked with an asterisk * is a non-HSE website and will open a new browser window.
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