The fact that empire is one of the few schools that accept financial aid is one of the major items that the school has in its favor. None of this would be possible for me if not for that fact. It takes some know how to figure out if you can really afford to attend school, and what concessions you have to make to do so.
At Empire, applying for financial aid was extremely basic. I went home, I filled out the FAFSA (Free Application for Student Aid) at www.fafsa.ed.gov and the school did the rest. About a week later I was called back to the school to look over my EFC (Expected Family Contribution) and my Financial Aid Package.
When the school packages you, they approve you for the maximum amount of government aid, including loans, that you are eligible for. When they do this, it does mean that you are likely to get a disbursement after you start school. This is when the school cuts you a check for any money you have left in your student account after your tuition is paid. Because Empire is an accelerated program, you receive one dispersement at the freshman level and one dispersement at the senior level.
In my case, my EFC was 0 and my disbursements will be in the thousands a piece. Unfortunately, that overage is from the loans and will have to be paid back. In the mean time, it is a great way to meet my bills and living expenses while attending school and possibly repay some of my loan interest ahead of time. I'd go into the nuts and bolts of how this works but I'd rather not bore you. Most of this is very thoroughly covered on the fafsa website.
In my case, about $9,000 of my expenses are fully covered by government grants. This is nice and all, but I was looking for ways to add to the free money that I wouldn’t have to pay back. I think we can all agree that, that's the idea way to go to school; cheaply. To this end I looked into third party grants and scholarships. To my surprise there was quite a number of them available.
The one I happened to locate first was known as the ACE Grant. This is a grant that the AACS (American Association of Cosmetology Schools) provides to accredited schools for students enrolling who demonstrate financial need. This is also a grant that is available to Empire students. However, when I inquired about it at the school, I found that very little was known about it. At this point I took it upon myself to research and locate the paperwork required to apply for the grant (which can be found here). What I found out was that in order to obtain this grant the application required the following:
1. Speak with a working professional and have them interview you.
2. Fill out the application form in full
3. Demonstrate financial need
4. Bring these to your career planning adviser.
What I didn't manage to find out was that an essay was required and that when they said “newly enrolled” they meant that in the sense that the student applying for the grant had to do so on the day that they signed their enrollment paperwork or they were ineligible. Because the staff at Empire were not particularly familiar with this grant, despite it being in their handbook, I missed out. On the plus side I only missed out on $250. Money is money, but in the scheme of tuition, it's piss in the ocean.
For a different school or different location the amount of money provided could be different as well. The AACS provides money to various schools to fund the ACE grant depending on several statistics about the school. The school then distributes that money based on need between 5 students. Just make sure that you ask about it before you enroll if you're interested.
Most of the other available scholarships can be located through the AACS website at http://www.beautyschools.org/index.cfm
The bulk of them are for students who are presently attending school and are halfway through their studies.
You can bet I'll be applying for them.
Next: (On Rearranging Your Life)
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