My S18 applied RD to GW. We submitted the FAFSA and CSS profile, but just realized that GW wants tax returns submitted directly rather than through iDocs. We are going to call the financial aid office tomorrow, but I’m worried and am wondering if anyone knows whether they are strict about submission of all supplemental documents by the admission deadline. Many other schools have later dates for submission of these documents. Also, for what it’s worth, we are full pay, so he is only hoping for merit aid.
If no one with direct knowledge of this chimes-in, I’d recommend asking the Admissions folks directly. Personally, I can see it go either way. Since GW is “need aware” I can see them wanting that info before making a decision. However, your situation is different since you’ll be paying full price, and I’d then assume that those documents wouldn’t matter. Good luck- hope you get your answer soon.
Send them in ASAP and you’ll be fine. It’s best to email them to finaid_docs@gwu.edu. Put your son’s GW ID in the subject line and put in the text of the email that he applied Regular Decision.
Thanks, @NHuffer and @Mbmama . I spoke with the Financial Aid office this morning (after a 48 minute hold!) and they said to email or fax the financial directly and that it was not a problem at all. As it happens, I was also worried that his transcript hadn’t been received directly from the high school, so I spoke to Admissions as well (only a 4 minute hold) and they said the deadline was extended to the 12th due to weather, and that late documents would be accepted through January. Quite a different response than American University, which seems to be much more rigid about deadlines for the third party documents.
One more update, in case anyone comes across this thread and is worried or confused, like I was. All of the schools that I spoke with have now confirmed that they accept transcripts through Common App, which makes complete sense and is a relief. Some of the school websites and even emails from AOs were confusing on this point, and it was exacerbated by the fact that my son’s applications hadn’t completely uploaded yet, so we were not able to check earlier whether the schools had, in fact, received the transcript that had been uploaded to Common App back in October.
@NHuffer Last night I went on my Gweb and saw that it stated I had missing documents. I just checked it again and it said that the financial aid office received all required documents. I have been selected for verification through FAFSA and I went on CSS (before it shut down for maintence today 1/12/18) and it showed me a list of documents GWU is requesting? Don’t know what to do.
@physics007 You have 2 separate issues here. You need settle the verification issue directly with studentaid.ed.gov (I believe you need to obtain a IRS transcript but I have no idea how that is done.) The extra docs for GW need to be emailed directly to GW (to finaid_docs@gwu.edu - state your GWID in the subject line.) This usually consists of the student’s and parent’s tax returns and W2’s. If the student didn’t file, there is is form to fill out stating that which you can get on GW’s Financial Aid website. I’d advise getting these docs to them asap so you can get your award package as close to the admission decision as possible. It’s a pretty big bummer to get accepted and then have to wait several weeks to find out if you can afford it. Hope this helps.
@Mbmama What do I do with the IRS transcript after? Do i send it to gw also? Thank you for this information, much needed
I’m not really sure. Fortunately, I’ve never had to do it. I would check the Financial Aid office website and see if there is info there. Good luck!
Just remember that email can be very insecure and your tax returns have sensitive information including SS #'s.
@Mbmama Do you know how long it takes for financial aid to process documents?
@physics007 I sent mine in two weeks ago and GWeb still hasn’t updated. I read a different post on here that last year they didn’t update one person’s account until March.
Same @rosebudd21 did you call them? b/c they have my FAFSA and not my CSS, but I submitted both. Do you think they just haven’t updated yet?
@taratarataratara I emailed them and they said they will accept any completed financial aid application and it doesn’t matter if it’s a bit late. I don’t think they’ve updated the site in a while because mine hasn’t been updated either. I’m just assuming they have it
I got an email today saying that I didn’t submit my parent’s tax info when I actually did with my Non-tax filer statement in the same email to OFA. Strange thing is that my non-tax filer statement was marked received just a few days after I sent that email.