I would file the FAFSA for freshman year. You just never know and it’s best to at least be in the system. D didn’t qualify for need based aid. We knew this going in, but had been advised to file anyway. If there was a change in our financial situation, we were told it was important to have at least filed once.
As it turned out, D, as a senior, was just awarded a $1,500 art scholarship by an outside foundation. It is awarded to NYU students and students at a few other universities. Luckily we had filed, because although it is merit based, it was filed as if it was financial aid and without having filed as a freshman, D might not have gotten the award because it had to go through those channels.
@uskoolfish very interesting information regarding outside scholarship. DD is still in the running for one national scholarship and just got nominated by her GC for another. They don’t have need component I believe.
@ballerina16 Actually when older D was at NYU we also had to file the FAFSA so that D could get a non-need based scholarship. The award is now defunct, but NY State used to award an NY State Leaders of Tomorrow Award to one student from every high school in NY. (It was from lottery funding.) It was a $6,000 award total, divided over 4 years of college. It was necessary for us to file the FAFSA every year so that the award could be given as a “TAP” award–which is the NY State Tuition Assistant Program. Usually TAP is need-based, but in our case TAP administered the Lottery award and it required the filing of the FAFSA.
You can always file a FAFSA for any year, even if you haven’t filed before. You can also file it during the school year if you find you need the loan. However, it’s really not a big deal (um, if you can get the stupid FSA ID to work) if you have a simple tax form. It used to be required for Bright Futures but it isn’t anymore, but the school still wants it so I just do it. The school hasn’t posted the merit award or any of the state grants yet on DD#2’s account, and it says the verification is missing (just submitted this week because of the ID thing). I’m sure I could argue it but it was just as easy to just file it.
DD#1’s school does require it for both its merit award and her department award. They also gave her an alum award last year, and that also required Fafsa to be filed.
OP, you mentioned that your daughter might be applying to MIT. Its been several years since my son applied, but 4 years ago he had to fill out the Profile. This was required even before we knew he was accepted or not. We did this even though we weren’t happy about giving them all our financial information (and I mean ALL as they require more detailed information than the FAFSA) as a requirement for applying. (I wouldn’t have minded if he was accepted as we have nothing to hide but we went through a lot of work to put this together, and now this information is “out there” on the internet or somewhere at MIT.) All three of our students filled out the FAFSA for their freshmen year. My oldest needed one filled out every year for scholarship purposes. The school where my other two go to does not require it, so we no longer fill it out.
“Somehow now we need to disclose very private information to the world.”
Some parents do look at what they can afford out of pocket, and limit their kids’ applications to places where no financial aid paperwork needs to be filed. If you really want to keep this information to yourself, it really, truly is OK for you to follow that plan. And with a high stats kid there are likely to be enough options out there with guaranteed merit money so your family ought to be able to find some decent college/university that will fit your budget.
And to add to Happymom’s fine post- if you are looking for a university to subsidize your kid via need-based aid, you really can’t complain that in exchange, you have to submit data which shows you actually have need. And if you are looking for the taxpayers to subsidize your kid via Federal funds, you DAMN well better submit data which proves you are entitled to the money.
Nobody wants a millionaire collecting food stamps. And when I donate to my alma mater’s scholarship fund, I assume that they are verifying that the kids who get the dough meet the college’s definition of “need”.
Your information may be private, but there’s a legitimate “need to know” on the part of the institution. How many posts have we read here of affluent families looking to game the system? (i.e. put the vacation home in the name of an aunt or uncle until the kids are done with college; re-title a kid’s account which was set up by a grandparent to help with college expenses so the parents don’t have to “blow” the money on college but can get aid instead, etc.)
@blossom Don’t be so easy to judge. Not the case here. It is my taxes that pay for someone else’s kid. First generation American that came to this country with $600 for family of 6 in the pocket and good education and earned my way up.
I am not judging, I am stating that in order to receive the funds, the college has a legitimate need to understand your financial picture.
And since I am first gen American, the notion that you’d assume we came over on the Mayflower based on my post strikes me as hilarious.
I am also the beneficiary of a good education, earning my way up, etc. And given my family’s history of forced expulsions, being victims of totalitarian governments, I am not one to claim “the government is always right”. However, someone wants a Pell grant- there will be some forms to file. And if that means a loss of privacy which is too intrusive- figure out a merit-only application strategy.
And by the by-- the amount of data that is floating around some off-shore call center about you and your spending, purchase history, etc. would astonish you. Your medical information is allegedly “private”- but did you use a credit card to purchase that prescription for (fill in the blank of whatever you’re being treated for)? Do you like those nice bonus coupons at CVS when you use your loyalty card? Do you download discounts from your phone?
Income and assets- that’s nothing compared to the REAL intrusion of privacy that people willingly subject themselves to every single day!
Don’t worry ballerina, the Chinese knows everything about us now, after the 22 million security breach from government.
But seriously I had the same reservation. Not worrying about my kids but other people.