<p>if u get accepted, and apply for FA afterwards, how much do they give you?</p>
<p>cuz i know in MIT, if u ask for FA, they do give a certain sum of money.</p>
<p>Not much. They've at that point given the majority of their money to the people who applied within the suggested timeline, and you would get leftovers, if anything.</p>
<p>The deadlines are so that there's a /pool/ -- they have an idea of how many people need money, how much they have to give, and who needs it the most. If you apply outside that pool, you'd be lucky to get anything significant.</p>
<p>Undecided is right, Schools set a budget for financial aid which is the reason that they have deadlines. If you apply for aid after the fact your chances of getting aid is going to be very slim barring some document catastrophic situation that had a major financial impcat on your family.</p>
<p>You needed to have applied for FA when you applied. That's why there are deadlines. People who apply after the fact may get nothing because all of the FA has been used up. In addition, the college may not believe that you need FA because the college would assume that if you needed FA, you would have applied for it when you applied to the college.</p>
<p>The only possible exceptions would be people whose financial condition drastically changed since the application was filed. However, I have heard of situations in which a parent lost their job after the student was accepted and the college still would not consider the student for aid for freshman year.</p>
<p>If you need the aid, file the FAFSA and other forms ASAP and just see what happens. You will only get what is left. Even schools that are need blind and guarantee 100% of aid, have guidelines and a budget for financial aid. They will go over if the applicant pool necessitate it, having followed all of the deadlines. But they are not as likely to do so for a late filer. </p>
<p>NSM is right with the situations she has heard about. My friend's daughter applied for aid after the end of the year due to a situation, and her school which is generous with aid still could not consider her for aid that year. She had to withdraw and go to a local college, since the family simply could not come up with the money.</p>
<p>It depends on how late you are. We do, at MIT at least, hear appeals from families who have missed our priority deadline, and who have missed completing their file by the candidate's reply date (May 1). Aid is granted depending on the reason. Since aid application status does not penalize you at need-blind schools, there is no point in waiting to apply.</p>
<p>My advice, get your forms in, even if they are a little bit late. But let the financial aid office know now why they are late, and ask if there will be repurcussions...</p>