Financial Aid Options for Texas Students

With the cost of attaining a college education continually on the rise, more and more students are turning to financial aid to help pay for their education.

For college-bound students in Texas, there are several organizations that can assist students in finding and applying for student loans.

College for All Texans Foundation

One of the primary programs dedicated to helping Texas residents achieve a college education is "Closing the Gaps by 2015," a plan adopted in 2000 by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

The plan has four primary goals: to close the gaps in student participation, student success, excellence and research. For student participation, the plan's goal is to increase overall higher education participation among Texas students by adding 630,000 more students by 2015.

A central component of the "Closing the Gaps by 2015" plan is the College for All Texans Foundation.

With the mission to generate the necessary resources to ensure the success of the "Closing the Gaps by 2015" plan, the College for All Texans Foundation is focused on raising the necessary funds to carry out the plan's campaign.

As part of the campaign, the foundation created the College for All Texans web site, which provides a variety of information for students, from how to select the right college to how to pay for college.

Through the College for All Texans web site, prospective college students can obtain details pertaining to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the primary application required to obtain federal student aid.

The Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation

Organized in 1950, The Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation is a nonprofit charitable corporation established to support charitable, scientific or educational undertakings that increase accessibility to higher education for "financially limited but worthy students." The foundation also works to assist Texas college students in completing their educations and obtaining degrees.

Among the many facets of The Minnie Stevens Piper Foundation designed to assist college students is the foundation's student loan program. The program not only helps prospective college students estimate their total financial needs but also guides students in finding education loans to cover those identified financial needs.

Texas Guarantee Student Loan Corporation

The Texas Guarantee Student Loan Corporation's vision is to serve as the premier source of financing, information, and assistance to aid all students and families realize their educational goals. Its mission is to make the school experience "simpler, more productive and less threatening."

Established by the Texas Legislature in 1979, the Texas Guarantee Student Loan Corporation, also referred to as TG, is a public, nonprofit corporation that administers the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

Commonly referred to as FFELP, the government-sponsored program provides low-interest loans to aid parents and students pay for education beyond high school. Included in the program are Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans, Subsidized Federal Stafford Loans, and Federal PLUS Loans.

As the FFELP administrator, TG guarantees repayment of student loans to private lenders if the borrower should die, become permanently or totally disabled, discharges the loan via bankruptcy or defaults on the loan. Among its many other duties, TG also shares information about the program with students and schools to help create financial access to postsecondary education available to qualified students.