Do I really have to file FAFSA/Profile?

Paying for College
1

I filed FAFSA and Profile when DS1 was entering college a couple of years ago. It took a lot of time and effort only to find out that colleges consider us a full pay family. I stopped filing after that and DS1 gets only his merit scholarship.

Now, for DS2 – should I do it all over again? Will his admission chances or merit offers be jeopardized if we don’t file FAFSA or Profile? I don’t want to waste my time or profile my child as “wealthy” (not where we live). Not sure how having two kids in college will change the EFC. We are not eligible for grants, not seeking loans and will pay with our 529/current income.

2

Do you have to file? No, of course not. But you may be passing up free money if you don’t, depending on the school, your family’s financial situation, and your DS2’s stats.

3

Some school may ask you to file financial aid for merit scholarship. Contact your school!

4

The FAFSA parent EFC gets divided in half with two in college. But private schools who use CSS profile have their own calculation.

5

Run the NPC on the college website…with 2 in college you may be surprised.

As stated by the others…nothing says you “have to”, but you could be missing out on free money.

6

Check with the school just to make sure that merit is not dependent on filling out the Fafsa. I get it in writing just in case. I filed the first year the second kid started, realized between income, 529s etc that there was no point and haven’t filed for the subsequent kids.