have you submitted your fafsa? this is pretty much the standard procedure for every school for applying for federal aid.

after you've filed this, your application is reviewed by Uncle Sam and your awarded loan $$$ based upon your need. The schools your applying to will receive it as well and they will consider you for their own scholarships. These are based on a variety of things, depending on the school. Some are based on your portfolio and things like that, some are based purely on financial need.

once you've been accepted to a school they will send out information on other forms of aid such as TA-ships and grants....

start with FAFSA... you got to do that...

that will allow you to apply for federal loans (which are for almost everybody, neccessary)

then hunt for scholarships...

ooh, i'm too slow

Do what wangsta said, but you need to get on the ball. The fafsfa is the basis for most all financial aid. A lot of schools have fafsa deadlines and many of them have already past. Thats not to say that you won't get a financial offer with loans and stuff, but most of the scholarships will be gone.

I'm pretty suire about this, but it can't hurt to check...

FAFSA is only for US student, right? I mean, if I got accepted to a US grad school and I was from the UK there's no point in me filling it out, right?

make sure you check in with the financial aid offices of the schools your applying to. in some cases they have their own streamlined and expedited pipeline for FAFSA applications. in some cases, they actually do a large portion of the work for you.

apply for everything - scholarships, grants, TA positions, workstudy (library, shop, etc). it all adds up and it all helps.