For many students looking to go to college, applying for financial aid is becoming something of a rite of passage.

This year is no exception, and is expected to include more students and be more competitive than ever.

Tara Payne, vice president of corporate communications at the New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation, or NHHEAF, said if the numbers of students attending financial aid information sessions at high schools is any indication, "it will be a huge number of applications this year."

She said these sessions are seeing numbers "almost double" what they were last year.

The University of New Hampshire and Plymouth State University are just beginning to see the first batch of applications, as financial aid registration began on Jan. 1. Deadlines for financial aid at those schools are March 1.

While they won't get a sense of where the financial aid season is headed until the end of the month, Suzy Allen, director of financial aid at UNH, said last year's applications increased by 23 percent over the previous year.

Most students apply for financial aid using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA. Students send it to the school or schools to which they are accepted so the institution can advise them of different aid programs for which they qualify.

"A high-need family might qualify for the federal Pell Grant," said June Schlabach, director of financial aid at PSU. "The school then coordinates that access for the family."

Schlabach said the school hasn't yet seen a significant increase in applications this year over last year.

"I have no crystal ball," she said. "I think the big challenge will be when next year comes when some of these families are experiencing the economic crisis we're having."

But some organizations that deal with family questions about financial aid already are seeing the impact of the economic situation.

"Last year was a significant year but we're already seeing a 40 percent increase (in calls) over last year," said Craig Carroll, CEO of Student Financial Aid Services, Inc. "It's going to be a tough year for financial aid. There are a lot of financial aid programs where aid is on a first-come, first-served basis because there are limited funds available."

However, Allen said, financial aid is available to any qualifying students who apply by the deadline.

"At UNH, aid is distributed to all on-time applicants," she said. "If you're on time, you get all the money for which you are eligible regardless of whether you apply on Jan. 1 or Feb. 28."

Payne at NHHEAF said the difficulty now occurs when students seek private loans.

"We used to have a private loan program, which was the way students would fund college when they didn't have savings," Payne said. "We had to suspend our program back in March because of market turmoil, which left numerous students without alternatives. All over the country we're seeing private loan lenders not able to provide funding for students. We really haven't seen that loosen up. Our program is still suspended and we still haven't seen where we'll have future liquidity."

Payne said students will have no trouble receiving federal loans and grants, but "it will be colleges' own institutional money that relies on a deadline, and it's harder to find alternatives."

High schools are also seeing an increase in not only the number of families inquiring about financial aid, but in those looking for cheaper higher education options. Sean Peschel, a guidance councilor at Somersworth High School, said students have been exploring the "two-plus-two" option, which is spending two years at a community college and two years at a four-year university to save money.

On the state level, Payne said this option and others like it are becoming trends, and while she doesn't have a set number of how many students are now considering these cheaper alternatives, simply the fact that it's being considered says it all.

"I can say that we used to not have this conversation and now we're having that conversation with most families that come in, even families that have a child doing well academically and who have money set aside," Payne said. "Even if they were well-positioned to manage college costs a year ago, they may not be today."

With families less able to rely on tapping into home equity because of job loss or negative credit status, looking to loans seems to be standard procedure for the college bound.

"We're really pushing families to file by (the deadline) because we have limited resources," Schlabach said. "The more conversations we can have to get to have students to apply on time, the better."



For questions about filing for financial aid, call 800-4-FED-AID or the financial aid office at your prospective college.