Financial Assistance From The Department Of Education

What's the hardest part about obtaining a college degree? Is it passing your subjects? Well, some would possibly think so. Most college students could attest that the most challenging part about getting a college education is, as you may have guessed, paying for your college tuition fees.

Every school year, American college students pay at least $20,000 to cover college tuition fees alone. And as you well know, the costs doesn't really stop there. You still need to pay for books, allowance, food, transportation, and the list just continues to infinity and beyond.

Perhaps you've spent a lot of sleepless nights thinking about it. And perhaps you'd be glad to learn that the United States government, your government, has thought about it as well. In fact, the government has been thinking about it well before 1980.

The United States Government mandated the establishment of United States Department of Education under the Department of Education Organization Act of 1979.

The US Department of Education was basically created to encourage the promotion of student achievement and their preparation for global competitiveness by way of fostering academic excellence and ensuring equal access to quality education.

The department participates in four fundamental activities, including:

a) The development of policies that are associated with federal education funding, the administration of funds and the monitoring of its usage

b) The gathering of data and overseeing of scientific studies in American schools

c) The detection of major issues in education and the development of solutions that would address them

d) The enactment of federal laws that prohibit discrimination in certain programs that receive federal funds.

The Department of Education provides a lot of programs and several other forms of financial assistance which have been proven to be largely helpful for students who are academically deserving but financially challenged.

Some of the services offered by the Department of Education are Grants, in the form of Federal Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants, Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education Grants, and Iraq & Afghanistan Service Grants; Federal Work-Study Programs, and Federal Loans such as Perkins Loans, Direct Stafford Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, and Direct Loan Consolidation Programs.

Every aspiring university student must always keep in mind that with regards to education, there is always a form of assistance that's available for everyone.