1. A student applies for admission before the admission
application deadline.
2. A student applies for financial aid in accordance with stated
deadlines, but as soon as possible.
3. The admission committee meets and grants admission.
4. The college or university financial aid office reviews the
application carefully, first to judge whether need does, in fact,
exist, and second to determine how much aid should be offered.
5. The financial aid office, after determining how much aid in
various forms is available for distribution, awards packages of aid to
applicants according to need and within limits of the resources at
hand.
6. Candidates are notified by the admission office of acceptance
and, either at the same time or shortly thereafter, by the aid office
of its award.
Or
The student could just create a free profile at http://ShowRoute.com/FinancialAid/
and wait for the colleges with Financial Aid to contact them back.