It's FAFSA Time

It's that time of year when all senior parents are bugging their kids about the FAFSA, the college financial aid form, which has been available for submission since January 1. All my friends are asking, "Has Lauren sent in her FAFSA? My son (daughter) hasn't!" I reply no and we have a big discussion about scholarships and college financing.

I got out my own college financial paperwork, because Lauren wanted to know when I found out about my scholarships (mostly March/April). In the folder was my FAF (the former document, which was simply the Financial Aid Form, rather than the Free Application for Federal Student Aid). It was really interesting to look back through all that information from the 80's- Mom's job info, my summer job info, our bank account balances, monthly expenses, etc.

Also in there- SAT and GRE scores. Whee!

One of my winning scholarship essays was in the folder, too. Oh, such pretty words about how much I loved math and science and how I was driven to help all mankind with my future endeavors. Cheesy, but true. Dear Foundation-- it turns out I've done a bit towards helping mankind, and will continue that pursuit. So, thank you!

I also told Lauren about a small engineering scholarship I got from Schlumberger, a petroleum services company in Houston. I didn't apply for it, and I'm still not sure how I got into the pool of people from which they selected their scholars. When I got the letter, I was SO confused, because at the time, the only Schlumberger I knew was a mattress store, and I thought it was from them. Yeah, there's a joke there somewhere...

So get those FAFSAs in, seniors! Get your parents off your back. :)