Ignorance. I’m not using the word in a derogatory way … but there is a lot of chatter out there about federal aid that keeps people from filing FAFSA.
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It’s an easy way for public schools to check that the students are legal residents. Some states do not allow public schools to offer merit scholarships to undocumented residents.
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Many schools recommend all do FAFSA, just in case. . My EFC was six figures but I still did it ( the first year). Just seems silly (to me) not to …in some crazy chance you net funds. With the IRS data retrieval, it’s not hard.
I might be wrong so someone correct me but I believe we only got the covid relief payments from the school if you did a FAFSA. They were unexpected but both my kids schools sent.
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When you fill out of the FAFSA, you automatically register for the Selective Service stuff. I regretted filling out the FAFSA – I filled it out of foolishness that someone would give me money :-).
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One reason not to fill it out (if you definitely don’t qualify for need based aid) is that it reveals too much information about your finances to your kid, which some parents may not be comfortable with.
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My kids didn’t see my FAFSA. I did. Sent the ten schools. A week later deleted and did the next ten.
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This was school dependent. A school I am familiar with automatically provided Covid relief payments to students who had submitted FAFSA, but made it known that non-FAFSA filers could also receive the payments by way of a simple online application.
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That’s a bit weird considering that the students have to e-sign them…
The requirement to register with selective service before filing fafsa/getting federal aid was eliminated a year or two ago.
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Then I guess I e signed. My finances aren’t their business.
Or I had them come and do it. They wouldn’t bother to look.
It’s one or the other.
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Wrong. FAFSA used to provide an opportunity for male applicants who had not already registered with the Selective Service System to do so when completing FAFSA, but it was not automatic (it was opt in). The caveat was (maybe still is?) for males not registered, you were denied federal student aid.
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It did not sound like it is opt in. It sounded like it was mandatory at that time. 4 years ago.
Here’s the PDF version of FAFSA from four years ago (academic year 2019-2020):
2019-2020 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
See student question 22. For a male applicant who had not previously registered with SSS, this provided a chance to opt-in. Not automatic, although at the time not registering by some process would have resulted in denial of federal student aid.
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Can kids opt out now if they opted in then (by mistake)?
You (if male) have to register for selective service. If a male doesn’t register by age 27 (I think that’s it, I have 2 girls) it is very difficult to get it corrected. It is asked whether you are register on the federal job applications. If you registered and are female, it would just be dropped.
I did my kids’ FAFSAs too, because they were away at school. Sometimes I’d call them to ask questions and say “I’m hitting send” but not always. I did their taxes too because I needed the info to do MY taxes and take the AOTC. But even if they saw the FAFSA they would have seen my income. I used the DRT and the numbers were grayed out, even to me. I guess they could have seen my enormous bank account numbers…
Some don’t realize they qualify. My kids didn’t get anything the first semester, but I filled it out anyway. Because I had a big change in income (job ended) the schools advised me to file a change in circumstances and I did and they got Pell grants very late in the spring. I never filed for FA when I was in school because my father said we wouldn’t qualify. I’m pretty sure he was wrong as we were a family of 9 with 3 in college. If I knew then what I know now…
But if you don’t want to fill out FAFSA, don’t. You might be missing out on some grants (Covid money, a bonus just for filling it out (Stetson used to give them)) or if they are required for merit. Just ask your school if you have questions about the requirement.
This is accurate on sometimes, although it doesn’t always matter. At several schools, there is excellent guaranteed merit aid available.and some of those departments are powerful enough, sometimes even better than those of a highly ranking institution.
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Or, it shares that information with anyone else who might see the FAFSA. I’m far more concerned about what the people to whom the FAFSA is submitted might do with that information than what my kid might do with it.
I’m not sure we count as ‘chasing big merit’- not even sure what that means. Is it full rides/room/board?- but the only merit DS is considering is probably ‘small merit’.
There’s really no need to double check our immigration status, either.
I can think of only one other reason, and it’s just an annoying one, but it exposes that information to people who might want to use it for other purposes.
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Information provided on the FAFSA cannot be released to anyone who does not have an educational need to know. For example, a development staff might want to use it to target rich parents … but they cannot do so, as the school is required by law (enforced by very high monetary penalties) to restrict this information to only those who need it for educational purposes. Aggregate information can be released if it wouldn’t allow individual identification of a student, but individual information is very carefully protected.
And information about immigration status cannot be provided to anyone, including government agencies other than Federal Student Aid, which can only use it for processing purposes.
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And while registration for Selective Service is no longer required to receive financial aid, it is still a legal requirement for males.
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Many schools will only provide aid / grants / scholarships to U.S. citizens. In that case you’d have to show proof of your kid’s citizenship. But I don’t think that necessitates filling out the FAFSA. You could show a passport or birth certificate.
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