The more competitive the school the more you will need the coach's help. If he likes you enough to offer you a scholarship from his budget, so much the better. Regardless of where you decide to apply or whether you are being offered an athletic scholarship or not, fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid ( FAFSA). Mail it in January of your senior year and have it sent to any school you might apply to. You can get both Federal as well as State applications for aid from the counseling office at your high school. Each institution that offers you admission will also offer you a financial aid package based on the FAFSA form it receives from the feds along with whatever additional information they require. The Feds forward the information from the FAFSA to the state agencies responsible for helping college students with financial aid. In Pennylvania it is the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency or PHEAA. While there is no deadline for sending in the FAFSA, most state agencies do have a deadline. For the PHEAA it is May 1. The earlier you send in the FAFSA the better since many financial aid programs work on a first-come, first-serve basis.You should receive a form from the Feds and the State to review by the end of March. If you don't, use the telephone numbers provided with the applications to contact the Feds and State directly to make sure they got your application. More on FAFSA and Financial Aid.

Once you are excepted to a school, your parents can negotiate with the financial aid office. Make sure the financial aid officer helping you understands that his or her school is your first choice, but you can't afford to attend without more financial assistance. If another school has made a better offer, bring that information to their attention and be prepared to back it up. If you present a strong enough case, then your request for more aid will be reviewed by a committee that decides how much they need to sweeten each financial aid packet to get the applicant to enroll in their school. This additional money is not based on the student's actual financial need, but on factors such as what special attributes the student in question brings to the institution. If the schools is interested in improving the quality of its athletics programs, than athletic skills may influence the school to award more money. Sometimes, the baseball coach has some influence in these decisions. Even if he doesn't have a lot of pul with the financial office, it never hurts to have him make a call on your behave. This type of negotiation is more likely to be successful at a private college or university. Private schools, although usually more costly, can also afford to offer better
financial aid packages so that in the end it may not cost all that much more to attend a private school. For more information about financial aid and private schools write to the Consortium of Private Colleges & Universities, 239 Littleton Rd., Suite 8a, Westfore, MA, 01886 or online at www.collegexpress.com

All schools have money they award to attract students with excellent academic credentials coming out of high school. If you have a high class rank and high SAT scores, you might be offered some of this money. You will be less likely to get a merit scholarship at a more academically competitive school because everyone applying to these schools are high achievers. On the other hand, less competitive schools want these high achievers as well, and may actually be willing to offer more money to get them. For more information about financial aid and the cost of a college education try the Money College Guide on the web.

DON'T MAKE THE MISTAKE OF WAITING FOR YOUR HIGH SCHOOL COACH TO DO YOUR WORK FOR YOU! You have to be proactive. Don't wait for a college coach to make you an offer. Apply to the schools that look attractive to you and try to get in on your own merit. Financial aid is offered to almost all students based on need. It is possible to be offered athletic money from one school and have a better financial aid package from another without athletic money. Look at the whole picture and create options for yourself by not putting all your eggs in one basket.