The different types of financial aid:

Grants and Scholarships: Financial aid that doesn’t need to be repaid. Grants are usually need-based. Scholarships are usually merit-based.

• Federal Pell Grant: Awarded to undergraduates with a maximum of $5,500 and is based on cost of attendance, status as full time/part time student, and plans to attend school for a full year or less.
• Texas Public Education Grant (TPEG): Requires at least half time enrollment and is prorated if student is not enrolled full time
• TEACH Grant: Prorated if student is not enrolled half time or full time.
• TEXAS Grant: Requires at least half time enrollment and is prorated if student is not enrolled full time.
• Federal Supplement Education Opportunity Grant: Requires at least half time enrollment
• International TPEG: Requires one to be an international student, maintain satisfactory academics, and enrollment eligibilities.
• Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Higher Education Grant: Requires recipients to be at least one quarter of Indian blood descendant of a member of the American Indian tribe of the BIA

Loans: Money borrowed for college or career school; you must repay your loans with interest.

There are four types of Direct Loans:

• Direct Subsidized Loans: For undergraduate student who demonstrate financial need
• Direct Unsubsidized Loans: For undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, does not need to demonstrate financial need.
• Direct PLUS Loans: For graduate and professional students as well as parents of dependent undergraduate students
• Direct Consolidation Loans: allows a student to merge all federal loans into one loan with a loan servicer

Federal Work-Study: Program in which you work part time to earn money to pay for school.

• Available for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students with financial need.
• Provides part-time job while students are still enrolled in school.
• Administered by the Federal Work-Study Program of the school