Are high school students who apply to college automatically considered for scholarships or financial aid?

Not necessarily. In quite a few situations, it is a separate application. Also the scholarship application is often in the same time frame as the college application. For some schools an application will be included in the acceptance package. Please note that the level of financial aid will depend on the evaluation that begins with your filling out and completing the FAFSA form that assesses the expected contribution that your family is expected to provide. Most schools usually require this and is a critical element in the process. The schools' website should have a link to the website for this form. It is a secure process and you determine to which school you want to release this information. Please be prepared, it is quite a comprehensive process to fill out this form. It may take several sessions to complete it. In addition, quite often you will still need to find sources of scholarships independent of the school. For some scholarships such as academic or sports, the scholarship notification may be in the acceptance package. This is one area that being proactive and doing your homework or research really pays off and the sooner the better. Best wishes.

Most schools will identify you as a potential merit or athletic scholarship candidate based on your college admission application. However, there are also tons of others awards offered by the schools that are not automatically awarded to students through admission applications and require the student to submit additional information (resume, essay, application, etc). You should receive a financial aid package within a few weeks of being accepted (sometimes prior to acceptance), though some colleges send preliminary information with the acceptance letter too. Remember, colleges are not the only resource for free money for college. Be sure to look into the following too: Check with your guidance counselor for local opportunities Check with the financial aid office at the colleges you are considering (most have web pages that list available scholarships) Check with employers (yours and your parents), churches, civic and non-profit groups or anywhere you have volunteered Use several free online search services to locate private awards for college, such as ScholarshipExperts.com (rated best by Forbes), Collegeboard.org and Schoolsoup.com

It strongly depends on the school. You will need to fill out the fafsa form. Some colleges may automatically let you know what you qualify for or you may have to check the criteria on the schools website.

Most schools will identify you as a potential merit or athletic scholarship candidate based on your college admission application. However, there are also tons of others awards offered by the schools that are not automatically awarded to students through admission applications and require the student to submit additional information (resume, essay, application, etc). You should receive a financial aid package within a few weeks of being accepted (sometimes prior to acceptance), though some colleges send preliminary information with the acceptance letter too. Remember, colleges are not the only resource for free money for college. Be sure to look into the following too: Check with your guidance counselor for local opportunities Check with the financial aid office at the colleges you are considering (most have web pages that list available scholarships) Check with employers (yours and your parents), churches, civic and non-profit groups or anywhere you have volunteered Use several free online search services to locate private awards for college, such as ScholarshipExperts.com (rated best by Forbes), Collegeboard.org and Schoolsoup.com

It strongly depends on the school. You will need to fill out the fafsa form. Some colleges may automatically let you know what you qualify for or you may have to check the criteria on the schools website.