Breadcrumb
- Federal Resources
Federal Resources
College Preparation Checklist
This resource can help students of all ages to prepare academically and financially for education beyond high school (PDF, 28 pages). It provides an overview of options for financial aid for college, and checklists for students and parents to reference at each stage of a student’s education.
Share With Youth: Budgeting for College
ED’s Office of Federal Student Aid reminds students about the importance of budgeting to achieve future financial goals and prepare for unexpected bumps in the road.
Share with Youth: FAFSA Overview
The Office of Federal Student Aid at the Department of Education provides an overview of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA takes about 30 minutes to complete, is free, and provides students access to grants, loans, and work-study funds from the federal government.
Share with Youth: Types of Federal Student Aid
The Office of Federal Student Aid offers more than $150 billion to students each year in the form of grants, loans, and work-study funds. While some colleges can also offer private student loans, federal loans often have lower fixed interest rates and other benefits.
Share with Youth: After the FAFSA — What Happens Next
This Office of Federal Student Aid video explains what happens after students complete and submit their FAFSA. The U.S. Department of Education will process the application and indicated colleges will be notified. Students will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) and can check their student aid status online.
Resource: Program-Level Gainful Employment Earnings Data
This data set provides information on program-level outcomes of college students preparing for gainful employment that can be used by prospective students and their families to weigh their options. Overall, the data show graduates of career training programs at public institutions generally fare better than those of comparable programs at for-profit colleges, earning higher salaries and being more prepared to enter higher earning fields.
Report: National Student Loan FY 2014 Cohort Default Rate
These data describe the FY 2014 cohort student loan default rate, which increased slightly from 11.3% to 11.5% for students who entered repayment between fiscal years 2013 and 2014. During the tracking period, more than five million borrowers entered repayment and 580,671 of them defaulted on their loans.
Resource: Digital and Social Media Financial Aid Collateral
This website provides digital and social media resources to help teachers and counselors share important federal student aid information with students and parents. It features sample social media posts, messaging guidelines, blog posts, infographics, presentations, videos, and fact sheets on a variety of financial aid topics.
Military Homefront
MilitaryHOMEFRONT is the Department of Defense website for official Military Community and Family Policy (MC&FP) program information, policy and guidance designed to help troops and their families, leaders, and service providers. Whether you live the military lifestyle or support those who do, you'll find what you need!
Resources: High School Issue Briefs
These issue briefs are the latest in a series that presents strategies high schools can use to help at-risk students stay in school and graduate:
- Case Management for High Schools
Provides information on case management, a school-based dropout prevention strategy
in which a social worker or school professional advises students and connects them to services to address their academic and non-academic needs - Social Services
Describes the social services high schools can provide to address the non-academic issues that can negatively affect student participation and outcomes, such as health care, mental health care, and assistance with shelter, clothing, or transportation
Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool
Developed by the Department of Education, college applicants and their families can use this tool to access campus crime statistics for colleges and universities.
Federal TRIO Programs
The Federal TRIO Programs are educational opportunity outreach programs designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRIO includes six outreach and support programs targeted to serve and assist low-income, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to post-baccalaureate programs.
Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP)
This discretionary grant program is designed to increase the number of low-income students who are prepared to enter and succeed in postsecondary education.
Dear Colleague Letter: Unaccompanied Homeless Youth Determinations
ED released a Dear Colleague letter that clarifies determinations for unaccompanied homeless youth for financial aid (PDF, 4 pages). This information can help financial aid administrators better understand the definition of “homeless” and how to determine if students qualify as such.
Resource: HIV Prevention Toolkit: A Gender-Responsive Approach
This toolkit (PDF, 138 pages) can help HIV prevention program planners and managers understand how to integrate gender into HIV prevention programs and support services for women and adolescent girls. As described in this blog post, the toolkit includes background information on how gender influences HIV vulnerability of women and girls, basic concepts related to gender and gender-responsive HIV prevention programming, and gender analysis and how it can be applied.
Suicide Prevention: Get Help Now
This fact sheet provides immediate resources for young people currently having suicidal thoughts and for supporting someone who is having thoughts of harming themselves. It also includes information on the warning signs and risk factors for suicide.
Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Toolkit
Rural Development is committed to helping faith and community organizations learn about and access programs that can enhance their capacity to serve their community. This toolkit offers a one-stop shop for organizations interested in applying for Rural Development programs and includes supplemental resources, legal guidance for faith and community groups and contact information for the Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Office and liaisons at USDA
Rural Development State Offices
This site provides contact information for Rural Development State Offices.
Rural Development Funding Notices
This site provides funding notices for Rural Development programs and grants.