Frequently asked questions

What does MyFinancialPrograms offer?

MyFinancialPrograms.com offers free information to anyone looking for any type of financial aid, whether it is in the form of grants, loans, or more traditional aid. We aim to demystify the process of looking for financial aid by providing easy to understand program lists and down-to-earth program descriptions that anyone can understand. There are many shady sites out there and very often even the official sites are unclear. That’s where we come in and try to simplify the search for information.

So in a way we simply try to make the information already available more easily usable. We also always provide links to the official program pages in order to show the latest details and the fact we don’t hide behind words and smoke screens.

How do you make money?

MyFinancialPrograms’ main goal is not to make money but mainly to give back by offering free, easy to find and easy to understand information. MyFinancialPrograms only source of revenue is from advertising throughout the site and in our newsletter. The company’s goal for the site is to enable us to learn and test new marketing techniques and technologies, whether they are blogs, social networks, search engine optimization, etc.
We provide all the information for free. This information is already freely available on official sites so you should not have to pay for it, whether it’s on our site or any other site.

Do I have to pay money to use your site?

No, you should never have to pay money to find or receive information about financial aid programs. We do *not* charge for any access or service on MyFinancialPrograms.com.

Can I get money from the programs displayed on your site?

You could. Simply remember that we do not offer money ourselves. We simply offer the program lists currently available at the Federal level and soon at each State level. Don’t forget to check at your county and city level to see if they are providing the help you need.
Applying for financial aid is not always easy as a rule of thumb. In order to put all the chances on your side, you should start by following these principles:

  1. Find as much information you can about the programs related to your needs.
  2. If you are not certain about certain aspects of the programs, you should contact the offering agency directly.
  3. Apply early. The sooner you apply the greater the chance you will have to receive the aid you need. Remember that some programs have limited budgets and they may run out of money toward the end of the year.
  4. If you are not accepted, find out why. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. You may simply have to provide more information or resubmit your file with more accurate information.
  5. And if you learn that the current budget is empty, put yourself on a waiting list for the next one. Hopefully, you may not need the funds in a few months but if you don’t put yourself on a waiting list others will receive aid before you.

How much can I expect to receive?

This is a very hard question to answer. Every personal case and every program is different so we cannot make this judgment.
You submit a quick, two minute initial application over the web. Your information will be carefully reviewed by a government grants adviser from an independent company. Your grants adviser has access to a computerized database of over 1,499 different grants programs. If your adviser identifies one or more programs for you, he or she will call you to advise you and to let you know the next steps to take.

What is your quick eligibility check?

We offer a quick and free eligibility check based on a few personal criteria supplied in our brief questionnaire. We can usually provide an automated preliminary answer (yes or no) for about 60% of cases. The other 40% usually need a longer evaluation and most of the time we refer to other trusted sites that are capable of providing a better evaluation.
It is very important to remember that this quick eligibility answer can not be definitive. We are not the agency in charge of studying your file when you request aid and we are not in contact with them.
Also remember that our eligibility check is not guaranteed, whether it is positive or negative. We always encourage you to contact the official agency and apply with them directly. The reason we can’t provide a guarantee is simple; the programs’ criteria change often and we can’t keep track of every single program change.
So the answer we give you is: “you should be eligible”, “you shouldn’t be eligible” or “we are not sure whether you should be eligible or not”.
In all cases, you should contact the related agencies in order to receive a definitive answer.

Do I get something in the mail?

No. You receive all the information we can provide right away online, or worst case, we send you an email. We do not collect ground mail information. It is our policy to collect only the minimum information to be able to provide our free service.