College Financial Aid Tracker: Illinois Schools With Most Applications

By John Dodge

CHICAGO (CBS) -- As parents and students face deadlines to submit requests for federal financial aid for college, Lane Tech High School ranks No. 1 in the state for aid applications.

As of the end of February, 872 students at Lane Tech have submitted the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Noble Street Charter School ranks No. 2 with 756 applications.

At Lane Tech, that application figure represents about 87 percent of seniors.

By contrast, at New Trier High School, which has similar enrollment numbers to Lane Tech but in a more affluent suburb, only 37 percent of students submitted applications.

Here are the top 15 schools, based on total number of FAFSA applications.

Deadlines vary by each state. In Illinois, residents are urged to submit applications as close to the new year as possible. In Indiana, the deadline is Tuesday.

Last year, the federal government issued $134 billion in aid, most of it in the form of student loans. About $32 billion in grants, which do not have to be repaid, were offered.

Parents of college-bound children are urged to submit an application, regardless of whether they think they would be eligible for assistance.

Beyond determining state and federal financial aid, colleges use information from the FAFSA to determine their scholarship awards, according to a news release from The Indiana Commission For Higher Education.

IL (1Free Applications For Federal Student Aid)

Free Applications For Federal Student Aid