What to gather before you apply
The accounts, IDs, tax records and balances the FAFSA and benefit applications ask for, collected in one sitting.
- Create every account
- Pull the tax year the form asks about
- Write down balances and household details
Student aid and everyday benefits, explained plainly
Read a guide at your own pace
Every article is free to read
Call or write with a question
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About us
We explain the aid and benefits open to college students, in plain words, and show you where to apply for each one.
Where to start
Three guides most students
read first
Benefits beyond tuition
A map of everyday support worth looking into, from food and health coverage to internet, childcare, transit and tax credits.
- List your monthly costs
- Match each cost to the map
- Gather your papers once
Grants, scholarships, loans and work-study
Which kinds of aid you repay, who awards each one, and how they fit together in a school's aid offer.
- Sort every line
- Find what remains
- Choose work-study and loans
How it works
How to use the network, in three steps
Pick a topic
Choose from paying for school, food and housing, health coverage, taxes, work, tech or family support.
Read the guide
Each guide walks through one job from start to finish, with a checklist for the end.
Contact the office that decides
Every page names the office that runs the program, so you know who to call and what to ask.
Our commitments
Plain answers about student aid and benefits, with nothing to sell you.
Free from start to finish
Every guide and article is open to read. The applications we explain are free too: the FAFSA costs nothing to file, and neither does applying for SNAP, Medicaid or Lifeline.
- No account or sign-up to read
- No fees for anything on the site
- Free applications named as free
- Warning signs of paid filing services
- Text updates only if you ask
Independent of schools and agencies
Student Benefit Network is an independent information site: not a government agency, and not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Education, any state agency or any school. That leaves the articles free to explain each program as it is, including its limits.
- Not a government agency
- Not a school or a lender
- No paid placement in any article
- No outside links to sell you anything
- The official source named on every page
We explain, the office decides
We do not award, lend, decide or apply for any grant, loan or benefit; the program or office named on each page does that. Each page says which office that is, so you know who to ask.
- No eligibility verdicts
- No award estimates
- No applications filed for you
- The deciding office named on each page
- Questions to take with you
Your details stay with us
Reading the site asks nothing of you. If you write to us or sign up for texts, we use your details for that and nothing else.
- Nothing to give to read a page
- Your personal information is never sold
- Mobile numbers never shared for marketing
- Reply STOP to end texts
- Ask us to delete what we hold
Guides
Step-by-step guides for the jobs
every student runs into
The accounts, IDs, tax records and balances the FAFSA and benefit applications ask for, collected in one sitting.
Read the guide
A map of everyday support worth looking into, from food and health coverage to internet, childcare, transit and tax credits.
Read the guide
How to add up housing, food, books, transportation, fees and personal costs alongside tuition for a full school year.
Read the guide
Fees for free forms, grants nobody applied for, loan-relief pitches and login requests, and what to do if one already reached you.
Read the guideQuestions students ask
Short answers to common questions
Can a college student get SNAP?
Often, if one of the student exemptions applies, such as work-study or caring for a young child. Your state SNAP office decides.
Food and housingRead: How SNAP treats college students
Do I have to keep my school's health plan?
Health coverageRead: Waiving your school's health plan
Is there help with the cost of internet?
Lifeline discounts phone or internet service for households that meet its rules, and many providers run their own lower-cost plans.
Tech and internetRead: Lower-cost home internet options
Helping students find the aid and everyday support they can apply for, one plain answer at a time.
Topics
Seven topics, ten plain-English
articles in each
Paying for school
10 articles
Grants, the FAFSA, work-study, federal loans and the aid offer that puts them together.
Food and housing
10 articles
Food assistance, campus pantries, housing contracts, first rentals and help with utility bills.
Health coverage
10 articles
Your options for health insurance as a student, and the health services a campus runs.
Taxes and money
10 articles
Education tax credits, Form 1098-T, banking, credit and a budget that lasts the term.
Work and career
10 articles
Campus jobs, internships, your first pay stub, your rights at work and the career center.
Tech and internet
10 articles
Software your school pays for, lower-cost internet and phone service, devices and account safety.
Family and support
10 articles
Student parents, independent status, disability services, veterans, foster youth and caregivers.
(The offices that make the decisions)
Financial aid officeYour aid offer, appeals and work-study
Bursar or student accountsYour bill, payment plans and refunds
State SNAP agencyFood assistance applications
State Medicaid agencyHealth coverage through Medicaid
Internal Revenue ServiceEducation credits and tax forms
Latest articles
Plain answers for the costs of student life
2 min read
The FAFSA, step by step
What the form asks for, who has to sign it, and what the schools see once you press submit.
2 min read
How SNAP treats college students
The student rule, the exemptions that open the door, and what to bring when you apply at your state SNAP agency.
2 min read
Staying on a parent's health plan
How dependent coverage works until 26, what happens far from home, and when to plan the next step.