Introduction Most college students are affected by some form of financial aid which a nationwide issue. I became particularly curious as to if financial aid is really everything they say to be. Because financial aid is a national issue, research must continue to answer "Is financial aid really all it claims to be and does it really help with student success?" After doing some very extensive research and narrowing, financial aid really helping, how financial aid really works/better definition of the processes, influencing college choice/type of higher education choices, the political side, and money problems all exist as issues related to paying for college. . As an incoming freshman I was unsure of how the financial aid process worked at Shepherd. All I knew was that I filed my FAFSA and then got money back that was going to help pay for college. Knowing what I do now after doing all of this research, it would have been not only helpful but a lot easier if I had known all of this beforehand. Financial aid really helping The first subtopic is financial aid really helping. This topic is the total opposite of my actual question, but in order had to write a good essay there should be a defensive counter argument. All of the articles supported this topic and gave suggested ways to help students get the financial aid that they really deserve. All of the articles supported this topic, gave suggested ways to help students get the financial aid that they really deserve and had interesting tips and tricks that could potentially help students get the most out of their college. The articles also mentioned the fact that most colleges offer and early admissions or early acceptance scholarship. These scholarships vary in amount, but it makes a world of difference in the end (Avery, C. & Hoxby, C.m. 2004.). The facts that were found really did prove that financial aid can help students', and even though it was the complete opposite of the initial question it had challenged the said question by the end of the research. How Financial Aid Really Works - Better Definition of the Processes The next subtopic explains the finer details and gives a better outlook not only on the processes, but also gives a bit of definition to them. When researching some findings were that there were a lot of words used by financial aid programs that were not recognized or that were undefined. One thing found while doing the research is that some colleges offer tools on their websites that help students' calculate their potential financial aid. This proved to be interesting and also helpful because it allows students to gain a better insight on what the terms mean and just exactly how their college comes up with their financial aid totals. One of the articles that was used actually had a ten step plan that students could use to get the most out of their college in te