Financial Resources for Post-Secondary Education 
Post-secondary or higher education can be expensive, but there are many resources to assist your future education expenses. There are five general categories of financial assistance:
- Scholarships - gift aid that is given based on talent or achievement; can be need-based and does not need to be repaid.
- Grants - gift aid that is given to a student based on need. Does not have to be repaid.
- Loans - debt that must be repaid, but usually after graduation. Interest is often subsidized.
- Work-study - work during your education; usually a subsidized campus job.
Conditional Scholarship or Loan - a loan that is partially or completely forgiven if the recipient renders a service (i.e. Peace Corps, ROTC, Americorps, working in a "high impact" area, etc.)
Financial Aid usually comes in the form of a package which may involve a combination of the above types of assistance.
Aid is potentially available to students attending all kinds of post-secondary (after high school) training (i.e. community colleges, technical colleges, public and private universities, etc.)
Most financial aid is need-based (family and student are the first source of money for education). Family and student income are reported to the school. If the expected contribution by the family and student is less than necessary to cover education costs that student has "need".
For more on how to pay for school, visit the State of Washington's Higher Education Coordinating Board's website @ http://www.hecb.wa.gov/Paying/index.asp
