<p>A couple months ago, when I applied, my parents told me not to bother with any financial aid stuff, because they were sure I wasn't getting any. Now, though, they want me to at least apply since anything at all may help.</p>
<p>So I know nothing about how to go about applying for financial aid. On the application, I checked the "no I do not intend to apply for financial aid." I was reading the packet today, and apparently I need to fill out the CSS profile before I fill out the FAFSA. When is the CSS profile due? Can I still turn it in?</p>
<p>And how much would my family have to make to not even bother applying? It's a five person family, and I have siblings in 10th grade and in 7th.</p>
<p>I thought the Stanford deadline for the CSS Profile was Nov 1st for SCEA. If I were you, I would call Stanford and see if you could still send in your CSS. As for applying, I say apply anyways. Who knows? Sometimes Stanford gives out pretty nice financial aid. Also, if you want to get a glance at how your EFC might look, go to <a href="http://www.finaid.org%5B/url%5D">www.finaid.org</a>.</p>
<p>Definitely call the admissions office & let them know your parents will be filling out financial aid info. It won't be too late, although you might have a slightly reduced award due to your timing. How much your Expected Family Contribution will be is determined by your particular situation; there is no way to tell without running the numbers (your parents can do preliminary number-crunching on the finaid site). Our EFC is about 1/4 of our gross annual income (difficult to come up with, but that's what the government says we can afford to pay!). Schools like Stanford typically will make up the difference between your family's EFC & the cost of attendance (found on their website) with grants, work study, and loans. I am not sure what percentage of the difference is made up in loans at Stanford --- you can actually find this info in the common data set for the school (go to website & search for common data set --- look at the financial aid tab). Good luck!</p>