To fall 1996 financial aid recipients, the second semester means that it is time to think about deadlines.

Mark Hamilton, director of financial aid, recommends that students seeking aid for the fall should apply as early as possible after the first of the year.

"Right now, students should be filing the renewal forms for the fall of 1996," Hamilton said.

OU students have various financial aid options, including five categories of scholarships and grants that do not need to be paid back. Undergraduate Oklahoma residents who fill out their applications early enough can get up to $7,420 in grants and fee waivers per year.

Students seeking additional free aid in the form of grants or scholarships need to pay special attention to deadlines.

For example, those students wanting Oklahoma Fee Waiver Scholarships, wih up to $1,200 in fee waivers, $1,000 for graduate students, need to apply by March 1.

Some departmental scholarship application deadlines have already passed.

The Office of Financial Aid offers a list of scholarships available to OU students.

"If a student is looking for scholarship opportunities, they should access the Fastweb Scholarship Search through the OU Financial Aid Services home page," said Hamilton.

"You can't begin too early to research scholarships."

Not every scholarship and grant is processed through the Office of Financial Aid.

There are many financial aid sources available through individual departments at OU.

"Each department will have their own criteria and their own application process, though we do provide supporting information to the departments," Hamilton said.

The minimum requirements for students receiving grants and scholarships through financial aid office are:

- 25 ACT score or 1030 SAT score for incoming freshmen, and

- 3.25 GPA for undergraduates.

Graduate students are not eligible to receive grants through the Office of Financial Aid, but may do so through their respective departments.

Only financial aid programs with need-based criteria is processed through the Office of Financial Aid.

Other merit-based scholarships are available through outside sources.

The OU Guide to Scholarships and Financial Aid lists all scholarships available through the Office of Financial Aid and individual departments.

The booklet is available at the reference desk of Bizzell Memorial Library.

As of Jan. 6, there have been 16,709 financial aid applications submitted for the past fall and current spring semesters.

Students who are applying for loans should also apply as early as possible, but have until June 1 to be eligible for early fall disbursement.