Educational Grants - Financing Your Education with State Assistance The Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) provides grants to States that can be used in financial assistance programs to help support eligible postsecondary students. What's this I Hear About a Free Application for Federal Student Aid? Are you struggling to get through school financially but not sure where to turn next? Have you exhausted loan options but are sick of paying large fees just to apply for the loan and being turned down anyway at the end? You will be glad to find out that that there are cost-free Federal Student Aid applications available to you. What is the Difference between Getting a Federal Student Loan and a Private Student Loan? Student loans can be very tricky, and are very confusing to most. In many situations, families are accepted for all different kind of loans and then are left in the dark when it is time to pay it back or fail to realize that they owe as much due to accrued interest. What does it mean that Federal Student Aid is a PBO? A PBO is a Performance Based Organization representing an initiative that was created in order to help the government operate more effectively and efficiently. When people call Federal Student Aid a PBO, this means that they are committed to and hold the same standards of the Performance Based Organization.