Applying for aid, don't expect to qualify but what if circumstances change?

Paying for College
1

I apologize in advance if this issue has been addressed on other threads.

My D applied ED to a school that allows families to be first time applicants for aid AFTER the first year IF family circumstances change significantly during her time enrolled. Because of this we did not apply for aid, since we know we do not qualify. She was deferred. We are frantically working on additional applications and I have discovered that at least one of the schools she wants to apply to requires a fin aid application with the application for admission if you think you might need aid at any time during your years enrolled. Is this common? While I do not necessarily anticipate needing aid I would hate to get caught two years from now should something happen to change our finances. Is this common? If we have to submit forms for this school should we do it for all of them? I cannot even find the policy on many of the websites for these schools, the one I found was on a mailing sent to us (not on their website). The original ED school was on the website, but so many of the websites don’t address this…

2

So…apply for aid when your kiddo applies for admission. What you describe is very common for international students in terms of institutional need based aid…you must apply for aid the first year to be eligible to apply in subsequent years.

This is not as common for students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents…but some schools do place restrictions on future years if you don’t apply for aid when you apply for admission.

This does not apply to,dederslly funded aid per FAFSA. If you become eligible for a Pell Grant in future years, you will get it regardless…when you file a FAFSA.

However, institutional need based aid is at the discretion of the schools.