Are you considering applying for federal financial aid? If so, you might have heard of the Perkins loan program. Perkins loans are government-backed, low-interest loans that are meant to help students pay for school. They come with a lot of great perks, including the opportunity for loan cancellation (that's exactly what it sounds like it is⁠—imagine taking out a loan for school and not having to pay it back!).

If you want to get a Perkins loan for yourself, you've come to the right place. Read on for easy-to-follow instructions on exactly how to apply for a federal Perkins loan.

Note: As of 2017, the Perkins loan program is no longer being run. But don't worry⁠—we'll still give you a few options for what you can do for aid instead!

Taking the 2019 PSAT? Then you’ll want to have a decent grasp of what a good PSAT score for 2019 is. There are three main ways you can define good 2019 PSAT scores: (1) using percentiles, (2) using National Merit score cutoffs, and (3) based on the SAT scores you’ll need for colleges.

In this guide, we start by going over how PSAT scoring works and the most important information you'll see on your PSAT score report, from scores and subscores to percentiles. Then, we dive into our three definitions of what good 2019 PSAT scores are.

There are a lot of different ranking systems out there for almost any type of college you can imagine. Even though these rankings purport to use sophisticated algorithms and calculations, all the final lists seem to differ from each other. How should you be able to figure out what the best liberal arts colleges are when there so many different ranking systems out there?

I did the work for you by considering many of the top lists and compiling rankings of liberal arts colleges; in the beginning of this article, I'll lay out how exactly these ranking systems work. If you're looking for a realistic, reliable ranking list for the best liberal arts colleges in the country, then you're in luck.

Controversial topics are a good choice for an essay or debate because they immediately draw in the reader or listener. The adage that “controversy sells” is so rooted in society that even the rapper Chamillionaire named his second album after it! Controversial issues are also a good topic because it’s easier to write a strong thesis and find sources to back up your argument. After all, when something is controversial, everybody wants to have their say over it.

However, it’s also important that you address controversial issues with sensitivity and care. Because controversial topics tend to raise emotions, you must walk a thin line between opinion and fact in order to build trust between you and your reader/listener.

In this article, we’re going to give you the best controversial topics you can use for essays and debates—and we’ll explain the controversies for you, too! We’ll also discuss when to use controversial topics, the pros and cons of choosing a controversial issue, and tips for making sure you’re treating a controversial topic with sensitivity and respect.

That’s a lot to cover, so let’s get started!

What makes someone a “good” writer? While there are lots of answers to that question, one thing most great writers do is vary their sentence structure. They mix long, flowing sentences with short, powerful ones to communicate their points. 

But don’t worry: you can learn to do this, too! It starts with understanding different types of sentences and their structures. One type of sentence you’ve probably heard of that can add variety and depth to your writing is a complex sentence. But what are complex sentences, exactly? 

We’re here to help you understand exactly what complex sentences are and why they’re important by covering the following in this article: 

• Answering the question, “What is a complex sentence?”
• Discussing when to use complex sentences
• Reviewing the different parts of complex sentences 
• Explaining the difference between complex sentences, compound sentences, and compound-complex sentences 

Ready to become a complex sentence wizard? Then let's get started!

What is a compound sentence? How does it differ from a complex sentence? And there are compound-complex sentences, too? Don’t worry, we’ll help you keep them all straight! Read this guide to learn what a compound sentence is, what the different types of compound sentences are, what compound sentence examples look like, and what other sentence types you should know.

Garden gnomes. They might be your favorite decoration or your biggest pet peeve. Garden gnomes are small ornamental statues, typically resembling humans. Garden gnomes have been the subject of cultural fixation, reverence, and scorn, but have stayed an essential part of garden decor and more, even as debates raged about their purpose and pranksters tried to snuff them out. No matter what side of the garden gnome debate you’re on, learning the garden gnomes history is fun and enlightening.

If you’re applying to colleges, you need to know the upcoming SAT test dates for 2019 - 2020! Knowing these dates in advance, even if you’re not quite ready to take it yet, gives you all the more time to prepare and prep for your test, and in the SATs, prep is everything.

This article covers the SAT dates for 2019 and 2020, throughout the 2019 to 2020 school year. You can find the previous year’s test dates here, or dates for the future here!

Choosing the right ACT test date can significantly impact the score you get. You want to choose a date that gives you both enough time to prepare for the test and enough time to send your scores to schools by their deadlines and potentially retake the ACT if you need to.

At PrepScholar, we constantly review the best data to inform you about future test dates so you can decide well in advance when you want to take the ACT. In this article, we give you the ACT test dates for 2019-2020 and explain the factors to consider in order to select the best test date for you.

Learning cursive is learning an entirely new writing system. While it has many similarities to the letters in print writing, cursive is also quite different—and the cursive s is one of the letters that frequently throw people off.

In this article, we’ll show you how to write an uppercase cursive s and lowercase s in cursive. We’ll even get a little inventive and show you how to write a fancy s!

Brown is one of the most common colors found in nature. We see shades of brown everywhere, from elements of the Earth to food to human hair and eyes. Brown isn’t generally thought of as one of our favorite colors, but it’s a complex color that comes in endless varieties and creates natural warmth and beauty. We’ll go over how and why we see the color brown, some examples of the different shades, and how we use brown in our lives.

Doctors choose their medical specialty in their third year of medical school. Many of us are familiar with some of the different types of doctors, since we’ve seen specialists for a variety of reasons, but may not be as familiar with what those specialists do.

In addition to choosing their field of practice, doctors can also specialize further after their residencies by proceeding with a fellowship. For example, a surgeon can further specialize in orthopedic surgery, or an oncologist can specialize in a certain type of cancer. While we don’t have every breakdown of every specialist, you can find a list of common types of doctors below, which can serve as a point of reference when researching your future specialty.

If you love analyzing the state of world governments, combining historical events with modern conflicts, and proposing brilliant new solution to the world’s issues, political science might be the field for you.

But what is political science? This complex field combines history, politics, and scientific reasoning into one big package. Learn more about political science jobs, the political science major, and the field as a whole in this in-depth article!

Some schools are labeled as colleges, and some are labeled as universities. What's the difference between college and university? Should you consider going to one over the other? In this article, I'll tell you what it means for a school to be a college or a university and whether you might fit in better at one of the two types of schools.

You’ve likely heard of the 13 original colonies, but how much do you know about them? When were they created, why were they created, how did they gain their independence, and which states did they become? In this guide, we cover all the important and interesting facts about the 13 colonies, including the official name of each colony, when it was founded, and the role it played up to and during the Revolutionary War. We also give background on the colonies and explain how they eventually became independent states.