<p>I will be telling my parents to submit the FASFA Jan 1st, but with only estimates. When there is a deadline for financial aid at a college. Is the will file status acceptable for the deadline? Or do you need to do your taxes before the deadline? Will they send me two packages? An estimated and a real one? When does one typically receive both of these? Will I get my final one in March? And I have applied to more then 10 schools, I've heard that there isn't room for more then 10 schools. So, what do I do? I can still put in the schools I haven't heard back from, correct? And should I sent the FASFA to a school that wait-listed me? And once I'm in college, should my parents just wait until they filed their taxes to do it? Or should they do the same thing each year with the will file status? Is the deadline the same for current students? It is my understand that only some schools require the CSS Profile? What's the purpose of this and why is it only certain schools? Maybe it is a different form I'm thinking about. Thanks everyone!</p>
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Make sure they are GOOD estimates…as close to the real 2011 numbers as possible.</p>
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Your initial filing of the FAFSA will get you into the queue but your family needs to do taxes and update and finalized ASAP after Feb 1.</p>
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Many schools have deadlines in January which is BEFORE taxes can typically be filed…which is why many kids file Jan 1 using a will file status…then update ASAP after the taxes are completed.</p>
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Sometimes. But since most schools don’t send their finaid packages for Regular decison students until mid April or so, you should have plenty of time to get your taxes done, amend the FAFSA and then resubmit so you get the real financial aid package in time to make your matriculation decision by May 1. Just get it done…as early as possible NOT APRIL.</p>
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The only ones who usually receive more than one award are students who apply ED/EA and get an estimated award with their acceptance…then get the final one later one. My guess is that if you are a regular decision applicant, you will get your finaid award (assuming all is complete) only one time…early April.</p>
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You complete the FAFSA with the first TEN schools, then you submit it. Then you go back into the FAFSA, delete schools and add the remainder of your schools and submit again. When you complete your taxes and go to amend, don’t forget to do ALL the schools again!!</p>
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You should submit your FAFSA to ALL schools where you want to be considered for need based financial aid. ALL OF THEM.</p>
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In most cases, the deadline for returning students is later than for incoming freshmen. But you will need to check your college when the time comes.</p>
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<p>Some schools, about 300, REQUIRE the CSS Profile for consideration for institutional need based aid (money that is the school’s money…not federal funds). If the school requires it, you MUST complete it…and on time. The Profile looks more in depth at family finances and assets than the FAFSA does.</p>
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<p>Hope you get some good advice here. The folks who post here are very knowledgeable.</p>
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I just wanted to add - wait to delete and redo the FAFSA until AFTER you’ve received your SAR which means the batch has been processed. I think it takes 3-5 days. Figure that time into your schedule.</p>
<p>Wow. Thank you so much. I was hoping I would have all my financial aid packages by April 1st because we plan on visiting all the schools I’m admitted to during spring break which is from March 29th-April 7th. I only applied to two school RD (Hobart & Holy Cross), the rest are EA schools. I was hoping I could make a final decision after spring break, but I guess I can’t if the two RD schools haven’t told me my decision yet. Hopefully, they will by then. When I put in each school I applied to on the FASFA, will it tell me which ones require the CSS profile? Do I fill that out on the FASFA website too? My father filed FASFA for my brother this summer and somehow he didn’t do it right, so we didn’t get anything but it was just a local technical school, so it doesn’t cost much. He could have gotten a HOPE grant though which would have been free. I just have to be on top of my father to do all this. Thanks again for your help.</p>
<p>When I delete the schools, will I be able to update the deleted schools when we get our faxes completed? Do I delete the schools after the will file status or wait until we finished the taxes? When we get the real taxes, will it automatically send the updated info to the colleges?</p>
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<p>NO…the FAFSA has nothing to do with the Profile.</p>
<p>You need to go to the financial aid section of EACH COLLEGE to which you are applying. Check the required submissions for aid consideration and the deadlines for them. They will all be different. Make sure you don’t miss any deadlines.</p>
<p>I have to day…for your EA schools…did any of them require the CSS Profile and did they have a priority early filing date for EA applicants? Some schools do.</p>
<p>CHECK EACH SCHOOL. The things you need to submit vary wildly by school. The schools will not process your aid request until you have EVERYTHING sent to them. So…check…to see what you need to send and the DEADLINES.</p>
<p>Thanks, will do! For the deadlines, is the will file status acceptable? Can I fill out the CSS profile on Jan 1st as well. Do I just list the schools on it and send it off? Does the profile have a will file status as well? Or do I wait until we file the taxes in Feb to do it?</p>
<p>I just looked at the CSS profile on college board. $16 per college WOW… I applied to 16 colleges and a lot of them are on it, ugh.</p>
<p>It’s good to do this as early as possible in January, but you’re probably good to go at any point in early January. If your parents don’t feel like doing a FAFSA on Jan 1 don’t give them alot of grief. Like others said, you’ll only be able to do 10 and then you’ll have to wait a few days for your SAR and then do the rest. Also last time I went through this there was no way to update Profile automatically…you had to hand write changes and send to the colleges. There is also a cost when you submit Profile so make your spreadsheet and when things are due --if you have more than 10 schools is going to take a few days at the least. While you looking at the college websites to get the due dates for FAFSA and Profile…take a minute and see if there are any scholarships that require separate forms and what those due dates are.</p>
<p>Thanks! FASFA doesn’t cost anything to send to colleges, right? Only Profile? Why does the profile cost so much? Out of the colleges I applied to, the following use the profile: College of Wooster, College of Holy Cross, Clark University, Hobart, Lenoir-Rhyne, Lawrence, Ursinus, Ohio Wesleyan (wait-listed though, so may not even accept it now), and Wheaton (Mass). OMG, that’s $128 not including OWU. </p>
<p>We should do the Profile in the beginning of Jan too, right? So, when I get my parents do to their taxes. We will have to hand write each school when we get our taxes to update it? This sounds so stressful already! But they won’t give me a financial aid package until we give them the taxes info. So, are the FA deadlines for wile file status or the final status with your taxes? How do you know if your college requires the profile for the scholarships you receive?</p>
<p>If you complete your CSS Profile before taxes are compete, using estimates, you will have to contatct EACH college to find out how that school wants to get the updated information when your taxes are completed. To be honest, if the schools have early Feb deadlines for the PROFILE, your family is smarter to just get their taxes DONE before you file the Profile. That way you won’t have to update it at all. The Profile cannot be updated online.</p>
<p>If you file your FAFSA early with a “will file” status, make sure that the asset info is correct. You will not update that section later unless an error is made - like marital status, it’s one of the questions that should be answered once per year and then left alone.</p>
<p>Okay, so we should basically file the FASFA January 1st with estimates and then wait until Feb when we’ve done our taxes. Or should we just wait until our taxes are completed to file FASFA? Thanks!</p>
<p>Clark has a Feb 1st FA deadline, so I don’t know if we would have our taxes back by then.</p>
<p>You should do as much as you can, as soon as you can- get your foot in the door so to speak. IMO. ;)</p>
<p>On Hobart and William Smith’s website it states: </p>
<p>"First-time upper-class financial aid applicants must also submit the following:</p>
<p>College Board CSS Financial Aid Profile Form."</p>
<p>So, would I not be required to do their Profile? Is this only suppose to be for the upper class? Or is Hobart an exception and most schools require all applicants to do the Profile?</p>
<p>I assume everyone would need the PROFILE. Their website isn’t clear for some reason-the link states * renewal* financial aid.</p>
<p>I believe HWS is saying that if you are not a freshman and applying for financial aid you need to submit the Collegeboard Profile" I don’t know what context you found this but did it refer to people who did not ask for institutional financial aid freshman year? Prospective freshman at HWS who want institutional financial aid do file Profile.</p>
<p>To get a good estimate, your parents can use their last 2011 pay stub that’s what mine is planning to do. Just for income and taxes taken out.</p>
<p>If you log into college board and log into the PROFILE, you will see a list of participating institutions and who they require them for.</p>
<p>I didn’t notice it said renewal financial aid, my bad!</p>
<p>If you haven’t got it yet, get your pin number for FAFSA. You will need one and whichever parent is going to fill out the parental info will need one. You will use this pin and the parent pin for all four years so put it somewhere that you both will remember next year.</p>
<p>My father already did the FASFA for my older brother in the summer, so he should have a PIN. I’m guessing I can ask for one without starting the application for the FASFA!</p>