The deadline is fast approaching for applying for student aid -- Feb. 2 for most private schools and March 2 for state schools.

Most colleges and universities require applicants to apply online (or by paper) through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (www.fafsa.ed.gov). You will need a PIN to sign the application electronically. It takes about three to five days to receive a PIN (www.pin.ed.gov).

Four weeks after filling out the FAFSA, you should receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) with all of your financial aid information, including your expected family contribution (EFC). After reviewing it for accuracy, make sure all of your colleges receive this report. Many use it to determine what financial aid they will offer you. Some private colleges require you to fill out the CSS Profile (www.collegeboard.com).

Check with your college for financial aid deadlines and additional requirements. Once you are done figuring out how to add up the incomes and determine your family's property value, after fighting with your parents, and after all the headaches of navigating through the financial aid maze, you are done .

If you are accepted into the college, you can expect a financial aid letter to arrive about a week later, summarizing what the school will or will not give you. If money is a problem, the financial aid letter will be a big factor in your decision whether to accept.

GO TO COLLEGE so you can have a great future! our parents tell us. Then we read the newspaper headlines: "UC to turn away 3,200 eligible students." Or "Fewer admissions, (even) higher fees."

I cannot tell you how frustrating it is for prospective college students like myself, who have worked so hard in school, to face the prospect of being turned away by the state's universities because of the budget crisis. And those lucky enough to get in will be paying a lot more than our predecessors. With additional budget cuts expected in the near future, who knows how high those fees are going to rise?

Since 1980, Cal State tuition has increased from $210 to $2,776. For UC, that number has gone from $736 to $6,028. And that's just annual tuition. Those numbers do not take into consideration books, housing or other expenses. If you add that all up, average total undergraduate fees at Cal State campuses are expected to be at about $14,802, while UC costs are expected to be at about $20,000 -- a much higher price than students in other states pay to attend their public schools.

Those hit the hardest are middle-class families with incomes between $60,000 and $90,000, whose access to financial aid is being cut.

There is a huge misconception that all teens use their vast disposable income to shop 'til they drop. Sure, there are teens whose families fit the rich suburban stereotype, but there are a lot more who, along with their families, are really worried about how they're going to pay for school.

We're not asking for a handout. I expect to work during college and am hoping for some sort of scholarship or grant, but I suspect we'll be in the same boat as a lot of other families.

One solution offered is for UC-qualified students affected by enrollment cuts to attend a community college for two years, with the promise of eventual transfer.

I have nothing against community colleges, but that's discouraging for students who have spent years working to meet the admission requirements for a state college or university. Like many of my peers, I have been juggling 20 hours of work a week, with studying for AP tests, improving my vocabulary for the "perfect" SAT score, and participating in numerous extracurricular activities.

I can't help but wonder: Where is our reward? The chance so many other generations have enjoyed -- to go off to college, leave home, meet new people, become independent and spend four years totally immersed in the college experience?

California has some of the best public schools in the nation, and the caliber of students attending them continues to rise as an increasingly larger pool of applicants competes for spots. At the same time though, where are all the new schools being built to accommodate the larger number of eligible students?

I feel as though going to a university has become less about learning and more of a business. What happened to the 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education that "guaranteed a spot to all eligible students at UC or Cal State?" What happened to the guarantee of financial aid from the government to every family that needs it?

With the rising tuition rates, some students I know have decided not to attend college next fall, because they do not want to put a strain on their families financially.

How can we accept that the government can go in debt to pay for a war with no plausible reason, but it can not afford to help the next generation pay for an education that could later benefit his country?

I find it ironic that our president is proposing a plan to send men to the moon and Mars with a price tag that is sure to soar into the hundreds of billions, yet we hear no plan about building more schools, or even improving them to meet demand.

After all, we are only "the future."