<p>So I sent in the last part of all the info needed for financial aid for my school on April 12 expecting that I would receive my package fairly quickly. However, now on the 28th I get an email from the school saying they need my tax forms which I had hand delivered in person. A quick call later, my dad finds out that they don't need my tax forms, but my parents' tax forms which we faxed to them before April 12th, and now the school cannot find those forms so we need to send them tomorrow (in person) and I won't get my aid package for 7-10 days. We're also giving the school a fax receipt showing that the tax forms were previously sent and arrived successfully. Will filing this late affect my financial aid package? The CSS profile said I would be granted work study, could that be taken away and already been filled by another student because my parents' tax forms were sent in much later than intended? </p>
<p>It depends upon the school, but, the answer is YES, you absolutely could lose out on aid. It’s first come, first serve on things like Perkins loans, SEOG money and school grants, and yes, possibly work study. </p>
<p>lovely. haha. Do I have any leverage at all? I’m an early decision student so I was locked in and the school lost the tax forms so that will delayed the process by about 2-3 weeks from when I would have previously received my package if one of the forms hadn’t have been lost. </p>
<p>You sent in an SRI without knowing your financial aid package??? You would not have been locked in if you could not afford to attend, which you would not know without the financial aid package. Usually ED students have those very quickly after being accepted.</p>
<p>I sent in my CSS profile in December, so I saw my estimated aid package. That estimated offer was suitable for us; It could even go down by a thousand or a little more and still be somewhat reasonable. But if everything is on a first-come-first-serve basis and the actual aid package I receive is far less, like 4-5 thousand+ less, than what my estimated aid package was, then I have no idea how we could pay for it. I would take on a lot of debt attending an instate school and I’m not ok with that. Could my actual package differ dramatically from my estimated package from the CSS profile? </p>
<p>My FAFSA was turned in a long time ago if that means anything</p>
<p>Your aid is based on PROFILE, not on FAFSA. You need to read VERY carefully what the rules are regarding deadlines and aid. Some school will not guarantee aid if you miss ANY deadline and some even specifically exclude certain aid if you did not meet a deadline. Make sure you let the Finaid office know that you met your deadlines especially in terms of providing verification of the numbers. </p>
<p>Yes, your actual package can differ dramatically from your estimated one if:
- Your estimates are off when the numbers were verified
- You were late in providing the verifications.
- If the school just flat out gave away some of the awards while your info was not verified, ie lost. </p>
<p>Some aid is just gone when it’s gone. Like if you have $3500 in SEOG money, and if the school is one that does not guarantee need if you don’t meet ALL of their deadlines, if you miss one single deadline for any reason, then they could give it someone else, and that is limited money. When it’s gone, it’s gone. </p>
<p>If the school is one that guarantees to meet all need without such deadline caveats, you are likely all right, though the specific configuration of your awards might be different.</p>
<p>Here is the problem. They only get so much of certain funds. If you can’t come up with verification of your numbers, that money has to given to someone who can. Can’t leave it in limbo as verifed students only can get certain funds.</p>
<p>All the deadlines were met accordingly and months in advance. Our tax estimates were off a little, we estimated that we were $2000 richer than we actually are so maybe that’ll help, I don’t know. I’m pretty sure W&M pledges to meet all in state need but I’m not entirely sure, the WM promise is a little confusing sometimes. </p>
<p>It depends on how the school processes aid. We filed FAFSA very early my daughter’s last year of college. She was selected for verification and in the brief time it took us to send in our tax returns they ran out of WS, Perkins, and SEOG which she had received the prior year. She asked why she didn’t get them as she had a WS job already lined up and they flat out told her that it was because of the verification process delaying her packaging.</p>
<p>I just received my financial aid package. I was actually given a little more aid than expected and I still got the Perkins loan and work study and received more grant money than originally expected so…hooray haha I guess we escaped a pretty tricky situation </p>
<p>I’m glad it worked out for you. Some schools will hold onto the estimated award longer than others. Pure luck as to whether or not a school does things that way or not. Trying to check on these things is just too much. Congrats.</p>