What is financial aid?

It is the financial support that a student is offered to pay his tuition fees and other necessary expenses. These include scholarships, loans, grants, work-study programs, government aided loans, private scholarships etc. The type of financial aid given to a student depends on their financial needs, merit, available funds and classifications. Financial aid can be offered by government agencies, individual schools and other sources.

What are the types of financial aid?

There are basically two types of financial aids need based and non need based

 Need based: When the students do not have sufficient funds to carry on with their studies beyond high school, they are considered for need based financial aid. For this, the students must meet other criteria as well. The financial aid is decided after checking the financial status of your family. Here the primary requirement is the need for finance to support your further studies.

 Non need based: This is also known as merit based financial aid. A student receives this type of financial aid in recognition of his or her academic abilities, special skills and talents.


How to apply for financial aid?

There are certain situations when you cannot afford for an expensive education. Through financial aid, you can get into the institution of your choice. There are many students who apply for financial aid every year by filling financial aid forms. You will have the do the following to apply for financial aid:

 Firstly check for the financial aid forms between the months of 1st January to 30th June.

 Then fill out the Free Application For Federal Student Aid Form which is also known as (FAFSA). This can be obtained from the office of Post- Secondary Education. This financial aid form also includes student aid report which is used to determine your expected family contribution.

How to fill financial aid forms?

 In most of the financial aid forms, you will asked to fill in your personal details like your name, address, social security number, marital status, citizenship status and the type of degree you earned in high school.

 You will also be asked to give details of family’s financial history like total family income, number of dependant members and their educational background.

 Most of the financial aid forms give you the option to select about six schools in which you would like to apply. You can make the changes if the schools do not provide any financial aid.

 Before submitting the application forms sign it and remember to photocopy every sheet for future reference.

Once you fill the financial aid forms, you will have to wait till your application gets approved. Some private institutions will ask you to fill more than one financial aid forms. Before you begin to fill the financial aid forms, you should look for the important deadlines and gather all necessary documents which are required to submit the form. Once your application gets approved you will receive financial aid award letters from different institutions stating the amount and the type of financial aid given to you.

Banks to increase profits plan to expand savings accounts biz

Commercial banks with of view to increase their profits and bottom lines have started moving towards CASA (current account saving account). Earlier the banks were only interested in big ticket high cost deposits.

The Indian bank has this year cut down in its high cost deposit portfolio significantly. MS Sundara Rajan, CMD, Indian Bank informed, "We have shed close to Rs 2,200 crore high cost deposits this fiscal and we would not be renewing high cost deposits that come up this month".

Out of the total deposits organized by bank for the last fiscal year (2007-08) the high cost deposits stood at 11%. However bank is trying to bring this down to less than 7% by the end of the current fiscal. Rajan explained, "The need of the hour is to bring down the cost of deposits. We have to reduce costs and improve yields".

Likewise, Indian Overseas Bank is also concentrating on CASA. YL Madan, ED pointed out, "When it comes to quoting rates on high cost deposits, banks are not that aggressive now". On high deposits 7.5%-8%, interest rate is offered while on saving accounts only3.5% interest is given. But bankers are of view that ultimately borrowers are going to be the achievers as lending rates are falling.

In metro cities people prefer terms deposit as compared to CASA. Therefore banks are seeing towards semi-urban and rural branches for attaining growth in CASA. For instance, Vijaya Bank has got approval for 89 new branches to be opened this year besides have 11 old licenses thus is expecting higher CASA contribution from new branches especially those in semi urban and rural areas.

Moreover the smaller banks whose big source of income comes from term deposits are also looking at CASA. VS Reddy, MD, Lakshmi Vilas Bank told, "While in case of term deposits, the asset liability management becomes easier on account of time period involved, CASA provides greater profitability even though it’s a violently fluctuating portfolio".

At present about 15% of the bank's total deposits is obtained by CASA and it is believed that this figure may move up to 18% by end of next fiscal (2009-10). With a view to strengthen its CASA base, Lakshmi Vilas Bank has launched two new savings bank and current account products.

Indian Overseas Bank has planned to expand its CASA base by making use of mobile and net banking and ATM facilities. Currently Indian Bank is increasing new accounts through a current and saving account campaign. Rajan informed, "We can't depend on walk-in customers anymore". From last month bank has introduced a HNI (high net worth account campaign) and has plans to mobilize one lakh new accounts soon. Though in the last quarter people when banks were offering 10% interest rate on FDs rates people had move their funds from savings account to FDs.