<p>On the common app, it asks you if you intend to pursue need based financial aid. If you answer no to this question, can you still fill out the FAFSA in January?</p>
<p>ETA…if you NEED need based financial aid…why would you check NO on the common ap for applying for need based aid? Makes no sense. An acceptance will do you no good without sufficient aid to attend if you need it.</p>
<p>Yes, you can still fill out the FAFSA in January. But if you want institutional need based aid from any college, you would be wise to contact them to say that you have reconsidered and are now applying for aid.</p>
<p>If you are applying early decision, and you are accepted early decision with that NO box checked…do not count on the school giving you any institutional need based aid at a later date. Your ED application might have resulted in an acceptance because you didn’t need aid. </p>
<p>You can always complete the FAFSA for Direct Loan purposes, and to get any amount of the Pell Grant for which you are entitled.</p>
<p>^Yes. You have to file FAFSA if you want to borrow from Federal loans programs.</p>
<p>Unless you’re confident that you can afford to pay full costs out of pocket, then I see no reason that would check no on that. </p>
<p>If you check the NO box for FA, once you are accepted you can let the FA office know you will be filling out the FAFSA in order to get a Direct Loan. That’s not a problem at all. Do let them know though because otherwise they may not pull in your application to process it.</p>
<p>You may still get the loan if you file FAFSA.</p>
<p>Are you filling out FAFSA only to get a fed loan? If so, then you can say that you’re not applying for aid.</p>
<p>Yes, you can. However, you will likely not be eligible for any financial aid controlled by the schools. That money could be gone or be controlled by deadlines that may be missed if you don’t come right out and file for aid from the get go at some schools. </p>
<p>A number of folks file the FAFSA for a number of reasons, even though they know they do not qualify for financial aid. They want access to the Direct loans which one can get regardless of being eligible or not, for fin aid. PLUS is included in these loans as well as the Direct Student loans often referred to as Stafford loans for the students. Also some state programs require a FAFSA even though financials don’t come into play. Some merit awards also require a FAFSA to be filed, as well as some outside scholarships.</p>
<p>Bamboo…why do you want to check NO on the common application for applying for financial aid? What is your reason for saying NO?</p>
<p>Yoohoo…bamboo…are you still there??</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies everyone. I asked because my family can afford to pay for my college expenses. My parents do not think we will qualify for financial aid, so as of right now we do not want to go through having to fill out FAFSA, but I just wanted to make sure in case we change our minds.</p>
<p>Unless your school is a FAFSA only school, the only thing filling out the FAFSA is going to do is get you any federal aid that you are entitled to receive. </p>
<p>If you need institutional aid, and you don’t apply for it, you will not get it unless you fill out all of the financial aid forms that the school requires even if you file the FAFSA. </p>
<p>Please read the financial aid policies at the schools that you are applying to as some schools make it hard for you to get aid in subsequent years, if you don’t apply freshman year.</p>
<p>Bamboo, if you do not fill out the FAFSA in accordance to certain deadlines and do not fill out the “yes” on the app saying you are applying for fin aid, you might not get financial aid that you could have gotten otherwise. Though you can run the NPCs for a school and get some idea as to whether or not you are even close to getting financial aid from a given school, the only way to know for sure is to actually fill out the onerous forms and let financial aid make that determination. </p>
<p>If you are afraid that asking for financial aid will compromise your admissions decisions from the school, check if the school is need aware for admissions and ask outright at the Admissions Office. Most schools are not. There is only a relatively short list of schools that are. If it’s so important to get into one of those schools, that you and your family would rather pay full freight so you can go there, and give up fin aid (and those are the schools that most often will NOT give you aid in subsequent years without a hassle if you did not apply as a freshman), then just not apply for aid at those schools No reason not to apply to schools that are need blind in admissions and if you don’t fill out their forms on time, even early, some of them may run out of money or the grants for those later in getting in forms. Some schools also have strict guidelines to get full need met or access to certain grants. </p>
<p>My top choice school is need blind, so I did not check no to help me in the admissions process. My parents truly don’t believe we’ll qualify for any aid other than loans that we can get elsewhere. I hope this clears things up! I really only asked because my parents used to want to try to fill out FAFSA to see what we could get, though they know there is a very small chance we’d get anything substantial. Now after thinking about it, my parents don’t even want to go through filling out FAFSA.</p>
<p>If your college is a FAFSA only school, you might not get much aid anyway. Those schools don’t meet full need for all.</p>
<p>If your college uses the Profile (or their own form like Princeton does), you would have to complete THAT to really see what kind of aid you " could get". </p>
<p>Here is the link to the FAFSA formula. Your parents can print it out and work through it on paper so that they know what kind of federal money you will qualify for: <a href=“http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091913EFCFormulaGuide1415.pdf”>http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/091913EFCFormulaGuide1415.pdf</a></p>
<p>All of the colleges and universities have a Net Price Calculator at their websites. You and your parents can run those and see what you think.</p>
<p>Most schools are need blind in admissions,. If you want to know what money you can get from a school that tends to be generous in aid, you do have to let the school know you want that info and provide them with family financial info in the forms they request.</p>
<p>The FAFSA EFC just tells most students who are applying to the higher priced schools how much their family has to pay before they can get any federal aid. FAFSA is also needed to get Direct loans. You do not have to fill out a “yes” to fill out FAFSA just to see what your EFC is and to get access to those loans. But if your EFC looks like you may be eligible for financial aid, the school is your main source of that aid and if you didn’t check the “yes” on the app and do what they require to be eligible for that money, you don’t get it.</p>
<p>Obviously, only the schools that meet your need would potentially be need aware. If they don’t meet the need anyway, why would they care.</p>