by Ramona Mackgil

You get what you pay for, so it only stands to reason that a proper education comes with a big price tag. Everyone deserves to have a good education, so the government has stepped in to assist students in need. With a variety of student aids, from employment opportunities to scholarships to college grant money, government programs are giving students the opportunities to get the education they need. Do you know what a college grant is, and how it differs from a student loan or scholarship?

College grants are student financial aid programs that award tuition money to deserving individuals. Grants are available from the federal government, non-profit civic groups and private institutions to fund education based on a student's economic need.

You may be surprised to learn that a college grant is not the same as a student loan. The main difference between the two is that a college grant, unlike a student loan, does not need to be repaid. In contrast, students who receive loans are obligated to repay the money within a certain specified period, as determined by the agreement between student and lender. This is why students and parents alike favor college grant money over regular student loans.

To determine the amount of college grant money you receive, most colleges and grant programs factor in your parents' income as well as the average cost of college. The result is then a basic estimate of how much money you should receive from your grant.

Most college grant money programs fix a certain amount which they then send to the colleges and universities where the grant is awarded. A student with a grant may either receive the money in checks via the postal service or the college would automatically credit the amount to the student's account.

If you think that you may be eligible to receive federal financial assistance with college grant money, you must fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Applying online at FAFSA.ed.gov is the easiest way to do this is. You'll have to submit your FAFSA application no earlier than January 1st of the year you will be attending school.

The deadlines announced by the federal student aid programs and your college of choice may vary, so be cautious of the dates on which you will be filing for college grant money. File your application well before any of the dates, just to be safe.

In addition to the FAFSA, there may still be other forms you will need to submit. Incoming freshmen may also need to complete the CSS Profile Application, as required by a number of private colleges. Your CSS profile provides administrators with additional data from which to derive your eligibility for institutional need-based assistance. This profile application usually becomes available in the middle of October. It's also possible to register and apply online at collegeboard.org.

With the use of the processed information from either the FAFSA or the CSS Profile, colleges determine your eligibility for college grant money by using your household, demographic, and financial data as the basis.

Contributor Ramona Mackgil contributes articles to several Internet magazines, on family kid and family lawyer topics.