<p>People are saying if I don't submit it today, do I get less money from the school. Is that how it works? I doubt it, isn't it just before the deadline of each school like FEB 15 for example?</p>
<p>You don’t have to submit them TODAY . . . but the sooner, the better. If all you’re expecting are loans, then it won’t matter. But some grants have limited funding, and for those, it’s first come, first served.</p>
<p>Some schools go through it chronologically until they run out of money.</p>
<p>You want to get it in as early as is reasonably possible, but you don’t have to rush. In theory, it is better to get it in early, but that is mostly for schools with late deadlines, if they have limited funding - if they run out of money giving aid to others, there won’t be anything left to give you. If you’re talking about a school with a January deadline, I wouldn’t worry too much - most won’t have even made admission decisions before you submit.</p>
<p>Ok thanks y’all!! Also wondering, if schools do it based on when they get the forms, what if my parents taxed weren’t be filed till early Feb? Thanks!</p>
<p>Most people submit the FA forms before their taxes are filed . . . the schools expect that.</p>
<p>For this, your freshman year, please encourage your parents to file their taxes asap. While filing early puts you in line, you will not receive a package until they submit either a IRS transcript or use the IRS data retrevial tool. Keep in mind that the process will still go forward; it will just go forward without you and money could still run out before they get to you as the majority of school in the country are need aware/need senisitive. This means when they come to the end of the financial aid budget, if choosing between 2 similiarly qualified students, they will take the student who “needs” less of the school’s resources.</p>