$$$ for Financial Aid

The college admissions process is pretty hectic-this is a no brainer. But what most people fail to realise is that applying for financial aid is even more hectic. If one has submitted his or her application correctly on the dreaded 31st December deadline, they can, for the most part, be sure that they are through the hectic process but with financial aid, things are extremely tricky. Each institution has its own deadline and to add to the confusion, each institution has its own preferred forms and some even have their own online financial aid applications. But the irony is that to apply for financial aid, some of the forms cost money: not infinitely-impossible-to-pay money, but the sort of money which caused my parents a significant burden. While I do recognise that the testing service involved is more than justified to charge us the money (after all they do have to send it those applications to colleges) but still it seems pretty ironic to give money to get money