Son got a few email reminders about the financial aid deadline. Our income isn’t high but we have some assets. He is the only dependent.
Is it ok to do nothing? Should I let schools know we don’t plan on applying fot FA?
Did you guys check the box for financial aid and the college thinks that it needs some info for the financial aid package? I think that if you check no financial aid and send no documents then they will base the financial aid package expecting you to pay everything. The package might include merit if they offered that and loans.
I don’t remember if son checked the box or not for FA. If checked, what will happen if we don’t do FAFSA or CSS.
Be aware that some schools require you to fill out FFSA and CSS to qualify for any merit scholarships. Carnegie Mellon ( Where our S is at) does this. Also some schools require you to fill out financial aid forms to be filled out upon matriculation for you to qualify for any aid thereafter. I would really look into these possible things that could impact your student.
Sorry, meant to write FAFSA
Why would you not want to fill them out at least the first year?
I haven’t filed my taxes. I don’t know how much we make either for 2015. I have a sick child and a business to keep me busy.
If you don’t apply now, you may not be allowed to apply in future years. either. It depends on the school. Can you afford four years of the full cost without aid? If not, you need to get the forms done ASAP if you want him to receive aid. If he is a US student, you need to do FAFSA if he plans to take out federal loans.
If your income is not high, then WHY WOULDN’T you apply for FA? If I’m not mistaken, I believe the policy has been changed so it’s ok to use your tax return from a year further back (2014).
Are you thinking that your son has a better chance of getting accepted to schools as full pay? If so, that is true in some instances. But you would be surprised at how high your income can be and still get aid if you have extenuating circumstances like a sick kid or multiple kids or other challenges. You can file estimates I believe.
Apply. Send in the FAFSA and CSS with estimates based on your current records. You can note it as such. When you get your taxes sorted, you can update. This will give them the information they need to create an estimated aid package, which they will revise after you’ve finalized your taxes and sent in the final figures.
We didn’t qualify for financial aid but I filed FAFSA last year using the estimates (and then updated) because several colleges said if a student ever needed loans, they have to had filed for freshman year. It didn’t take long.
@SlackerMomMD Those schools had no right to tell you that. Fed aid does NOT have that req’t. A person can submit FAFSA his senior year for fed loans…and get them.
We are full pay. For each kid, I called the FA department of every school they were going to apply to and asked if we had to apply for FA in order to qualify for institutional aid in subsequent years. No such schools were on my kids’ lists, but that is not going to be the case for all schools. Do call and ask–and check if you need to file FAFSA/Profile for any merit opportunities.
Never heard of not being eligible for loans if you don’t file FAFSA freshman year. What schools are saying this?
Colleges can ake up their own rules for their own money, but not for federal money. You can always file a FAFSA and get loans or other federal entitlements during the school year or any year following.
Then I probably misunderstood the verbiage and the schools meant financial aid. But often the financial aid package only contains only loans (well, in our case). I found it best to just file FAFSA (5 minutes) and know that we weren’t getting any grants or even work-study.