How does finical aid work??? like who gets it...and when/how to do u apply for it...?

Anybody can get financial aid. It depends on your need for aid, merit and grades. Fill out a fafsa form. You can fill it out online here: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ or you can probably get a form from your school. If you are interested in loans you must specify that on the form.

After a few weeks the fafsa form will be processed and the results will be sent to your school where they will decide how much to award you in loans and grants. They will inform you either online or by mail how much you qualify for. You qualify for grants (which are NOT payed back) based on your financial need. If you qualify for loans, your school will let you know how much you have been approved for. You can choose to accept however much you have been offered. There are subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Subsidized loans are ones that don't collect interest until you graduate or drop out of school. Unsubsidized loans do collect interest while you're in school (it might be the other way around, though, not sure).

After you graduate or drop out of school there is a six month grace period you have where you don't have to start paying back loans. After that you can choose from a number of different payment plans. You may only have to pay, say, 50 bucks a month for the next 10 or so years to pay off what you have borrowed.

I got approved for 3200 dollars a semester in grants and 2250 a semester in loans that do not collect interest. (The state I live in offers a scholarship to all high school grads with above a 3.0 that pays for all tuition so I never had to worry about that). My school sent me the checks and that was that! Not a hard process at all. The whole thing took about a month.

As far as getting accepted into schools, it is better to have at least a decent gpa if you have a high ACT or SAT score. You have a pretty good chance of getting into some decent schools.

Just my advice about choosing a college: If you are going to the more expensive college then make sure you are getting what you pay for. In other words, don't slack off and choose a good major. Make sure the major you choose will lead to a good paying job so that you can surely pay off your student debt. The option I chose was to go to state school, make good grades, don't get into too much debt. Then, go to a good grad school (no matter what the cost) so I know I will have an education that will get me a job that will support me as well as pay off any debt.

Best wishes.

You get the money to pay for your expences, you can also get financial aid to wave your class fee's and also get book vouchers. You can apply at the school. I would go to a smaller less expensive school as much as you can and then transfer to a larger one when your ready. Small School = $60 parking permit. Large School = $500 parking permit.