Start now to get the most aid

The sooner you start looking for money for college and filling out the applications and forms, the better off you’ll be, no doubt about it.

You should start learning about all of your financial aid options during your junior year and be ready to write your scholarship essays and submit applications by the first semester of your senior year.

Consider even writing a few scholarship essays this summer—and if you’re working on your college application essays at the same time, you can probably reuse some of the material. Plan on filling out your FAFSA and other loan and grant forms at the beginning of your second semester senior year. You will get your financial award letters in the spring—right around the same time you receive your college acceptance letters!

As long as you’re starting early, check in with students who graduated the year before you. Find out who won the biggest scholarships and ask them for advice and perhaps even to look over your essay. Not everyone will want to help, but it can’t hurt to ask, and any advice you can get is useful.

I can’t say that I was always on top of the game. I can’t say that I didn’t procrastinate as much as the next guy. But I can say I wish I had been more efficient and hadn’t prolonged the process the way I did. It would have made everything go smoother and would have saved my parents and me a lot of stress!