<p>I’ve noticed a number of threads recently that have to do with the deadlines for financial aid applications. Here are a few suggestions:</p>
<li><p>Check YOUR college(s) finaid websites. You will find the specific deadlines for all applications there (financial aid and admissions). Make sure you write down each college’s information as the deadlines vary wildly from school to school. DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES!!</p></li>
<li><p>Some schools require an early filing of the Profile for priority consideration (usually for EA or ED applicants). The Profile is already online and ready to be completed and submitted. IF you have an early priority deadline that is before the end of January 2008, you should complete the Profile with the BEST estimates for the 2007 tax year based on pay stubs and other available information. You will need to update this once you have filed your 2007 taxes.</p></li>
<li><p>The FAFSA for the 2008-09 school year will not be available for filing until January 1, 2008. You should try to complete this as SOON as reasonably possible. You can do it in January as a “will file” status, meaning you will file taxes but haven’t yet done so. Again, use your best estimates. Then complete your taxes as soon as possible after Feb 1. This is NOT the year to wait until April 15 to complete your taxes. Once your taxes are complete, you will amend your FAFSA online to reflect your completed taxes.</p></li>
<li><p>If the school has its own finaid application form, complete that as well.</p></li>
<li><p>Look to see what other things the school(s) require. Some schools require signed copies of tax returns for two years (2007, 2006). Just make sure you send whatever they say they want.</p></li>
<li><p>Fill in ALL information on ALL of the financial aid forms your school requires. Leaving blanks means that you have not completed the application.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES!! THIS IS IMPORTANT…DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES.</p>
<p>Good advice from thumper. One addition. If you are going to have to ask for a special circumstances adjustment (such as for loss of income or excess medical expenses) have your supporting documentation gathered together and ready to go as early as possible. We did this last year and our completion of FAFSA showed as being March even though we completed the form in January. Some aid is limited and may be gone by March.</p>
<p>thumper, but that deadline is flexible right? After all, every year, students miss it by a few days and then frantically post that they want to know if the school will still award FA.<br>
For the rest of you: I am being facetious. The deadline is always firm. Miss it and you miss out. Heads up. Good post thumper.</p>
<p>are finaid deadlines usually postmarked by or received by? i am kind of confused because in the instructions it says "you should submit by november 15" (ED), implying a "received by" date. however, in the same instructions, the application is "required by" november 15 as well but i know they mean that as a postmark date.</p>
<p>Finaid can be "in office" or postmarked - check with the school. Also, the application is a separate issue ffrom the finaid documents -- it is entirely possible that one has a postmark deadline and one has an in office deadline.</p>
<p>Ebeeee is right...not flexible. And here is my opinion.</p>
<p>In my opinion, that deadline is NOT flexible. Remember that some schools are using monies on a first come/first served basis (yes, this is true at SOME places). If you miss the deadline, your application "could" go to the bottom of the queue and be considered only after the ones that were completed on time are considered. Is it worth risking that? If you are eligible for priority consideration (with an early priority filing DEADLINE), your application for finaid "could" be moved to the regular decision pile as opposed the priority one. Is it worth risking that?</p>
<p>Re: extension for deadlines...sure, my GUESS is that some schools are more lenient than others, but you would have to check with the specific school to see if they will accept their finaid forms late. Personally I don't think that's very good form. What are you going to say when you call "Is it alright for me to submit my financial aid form a few days late." They have deadlines for a reason.</p>
<p>proud08er,
if you aren't sure, why not just make sure it arrives there by the deadline and not worry about whether it is a postmark by or arrived by deadline? Just get it done early and you won't have to worry about it.</p>
<p>Every year we had a kid applying to college we put a large wall calendar up and as soon as we knew of a date/deadline it went on to the calendar. That way you could see what was coming up the next week or month at a glance.</p>
<p>Great advice! I do have one other comment -- beware of the Profile! It can take up to two weeks after you fill it out for it to be sent to the college.</p>
<p>This piece of wisdom is from experience. Ds applied EA to a place, and we filled out the Profile on 10/22. It supposedly didn't get to that college until 11/7, missing the deadline by 7 days, even though according to what the Profile says, my ds's form was sent to another college (which he was not applying EA to) on 11/1!?!?!</p>
<p>We are NOT happy about that, and are just praying that that our stupidity doesn't cost him any aid.....</p>
<blockquote>
<p>FInaid applications are usually either the same date or later than the school's application deadline, right?!!!!!!!!>></p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<p>Well...if you are asking if the finaid deadlines can be BEFORE the application deadlines, the answer is probably not...but there is a "maybe" answer. Here is the deal. If you are applying to a school with rolling admissions, for example, the final admissions deadline can actually be very late. However, the finaid monies could well be all gone for late applicants. So you would be very wise to complete ALL of your applications to a rolling school as early as possible.</p>
<p>Cockatiel, I had a similar situation and I called the college and they said it was perfectly fine as long as I submitted the Profile online by November 1, and the college typically gets it a couple of weeks later. You should be all right.</p>
<p>The FAQ section of the CB Profile site says they turn it around to the schools fast...within a week if the school takes paper, and a day or two if they take the Profile feed electronically. In the case of the school I submitted it to today, they just wanted it submitted to CB/Profile by COB on their stated deadline of Nov 15th.</p>
<p>You need to check each college website for the due dates for the finaid applications. The FAFSA for the 2008-09 school year is not available for filing until January 1, 2008. The Profile is online now. But before you do anything...check YOUR college websites. The deadlines very from school to school.</p>
<p>do not make the same mistake i did, in thinking that the financial aid things would be done after admissions...I got lucky with Yale, they let me submit my profile and tax returns a week after the deadline. Don't count on this happening frequently; I pleaded for leniency and they fortunately gave it to me.</p>
<p>enderkin, remember too, that Yale has a LOT more money to disperse than many colleges. Perhaps their leniency was because they still had institutional aid to award. At some places, if you're late, the institutional aid is gone.</p>