Financial Literacy: College Students & New Adulthood

Financial aid is available from a variety of sources for college, career school, graduate school, and professional school.

Congratulations on your college acceptances! The Financial Aid Award Letter Comparison Tool helps you evaluate your financial aid packages and determine the bottom line cost – the difference between the cost of attendance and your financial aid package – for each college. It may surprise you that the school with the highest cost of attendance may not be the most expensive for you to attend!

If you have to take out student loans, comparing your options can help you find the student loan best suited for your needs.

Add some information about the schools you’re considering to see the financial impact down the road. If you don’t have a financial aid offer, we’ll show you where to find cost info for each school.

You can compare up to 3 schools.

Federal Work-Study provides part-time jobs for undergraduate and graduate students with financial need, allowing them to earn money to help pay education expenses. The program encourages community service work and work related to the student’s course of study.

Do you ever feel clueless when it comes to finances? You’re definitely not the only one. Terms like budgeting, saving and investing can sound intimidating, but that is why we're here.

Use this calculator to help analyze your budget as a full-time student. This calculator is specifically designed to help students understand their expenses and income while attending a university, college or other full-time educational institution. This calculator allows you to input your expenses and income for an eight-month school year running from September through April.

Grants and scholarships are often called “gift aid” because they are free money—financial aid that doesn’t have to be repaid. Grants are often need-based, while scholarships are usually merit-based.

Grants and scholarships can come from the federal government, your state government, your college or career school, or a private or nonprofit organization. Do your research, apply for any grants or scholarships you might be eligible for, and be sure to meet application deadlines!

Grants don't have to be paid back. A grant is "free money" for college.

Search more than 7,000 scholarships, fellowships, loans, and other financial aid opportunities. Select Category Search or Keyword Search. Choose selections from at least one category below. See Scholarship Search Help below for additional information about the scholarship process and tips for using this tool.

Mint.com tracks and categorizes your spending based on the financial information you provide. Add bank, investment, debt and assets to see your financial information in one place.

For pay software available online and on your devices which also includes financial literacy webinars, an online message board community, and budgeting tools. 60$ but often on sale for 50% off. Syncs with your online financial accounts.

Open Source Free Accounting and budgeting software which allows you to important bank data. Provides a listserv to help learn how to use it and an ebook on using accounting principles with the software.

Details on funders that provide scholarships, fellowships, grants, and a wide range of financial support to individuals

When it comes to repaying your federal student loan, there’s a lot to consider. Understanding the details of repayment can save you time and money. Find out when repayment starts, how to make your payment, repayment plan options, what to do if you have trouble making payments, and more!

Use the Repayment Estimator when you're:
beginning repayment of your federal student loans for the first time; or exploring repayment options based on your income.

Paying off student debt can be confusing. Walk through your options and optimize how to pay off your loans.

Understanding the repayment process for your federal student loans can go a long way toward building a solid financial foundation.

If you have several loans associated with the same loan servicer (the company that sends you a bill each month) and you don’t provide instructions, your servicer will generally decide how to allocate your payments in excess of the amount due...Leaving this decision up to them isn’t always the best choice.

The tax benefits can be used to get back some of the money you spend on tuition or loan interest or to maximize your college savings.

New York State college students and families can save money at tax time. Take advantage of federal education benefits and New York State education benefits.