<p>I am only a junior but I have a couple question about FAFSA. How exactly do they come out with their numbers?? is it a mxture of grades and scores with financial status?? Do you apply at the beginning of senior year or near the end?? </p>
<p>I currently have a 3.7 W and 1300 SAT and a some what low family income. What do you think my estimated amount might be ??</p>
<p>Thanks!! I need some money for college :)</p>
<p>FAFSA is nothing to do with grades and scores - it is for need based aid not merit aid and is based on financial status (income and assets of student and parents). You cannot apply until January 1st of the year you are applying to college. So if you are going to college in the fall of 2009 the earliest you can submit FAFSA is Jan 1st 2009.</p>
<p>A good source for researching financial aid is finaid.org</p>
<p>Also there is a thread at the top of the page by thumper that has good information.</p>
<p>there should be some kind of rule that you can't post on these boards until you've read "Financial Aid for Dummies" or something similar. I am shocked at how clueless some people are and how they don't do any research on their own </p>
<p>anybody lurk before posting or read any of the info on the internet rather than asking a question?</p>
<p>sue - you sound like you need a margarita ;)</p>
<p>I don't mind helping, but it is disconcerting to see people post "tell me what I didn't bother to look up for myself".</p>
<p>read this. It gives you all you need to know about what goes into the fafsa</p>
<p>It took me 3 seconds to google that (and I've posted the same link several times)</p>
<p>sue,
Ha, I feel the same way many times. When I first came to CC spent a few months reading about every old post there was (there weren't that many back then). Nowdays I often suggest people do a CC search, google or (heaven forbid) go to the college website.</p>
<p>I think the OP is a kid though, and I'm glad they're asking these questions now since the parents obviously aren't involved at this point. </p>
<p>SCM, you are the epitome of patience, I've seen you answer the most basic questions over and over again, and with clarity and thoughtfulness. You are to be praised, I personally think that FA/merit scholarships are much harder to understand than the application part of college selection.</p>
<p>Well I was there myself not so long ago. I am always amazed at the number of kids trying to find their way through the financial aid maze without apparently much parental input. I admire that they are even thinking about it. It took my daughter being a freshman for her to start really understanding the importance of the scholarship/financial aid process.</p>
<p>I do grit my teeth occasionally so I kind of chuckled when I read Sues post. I needed a Margarita or 3 myself the other day when I answered a question and posted a quote from the appropriate site (which I knew nothing much about myself but had googled) and people continued constantly asking questions that were answered in the quote.</p>
<p>and that other post "tell me about financial aid for these schools" right next to each other, set me off :-)</p>
<p>I think that if you think you are smart enough to apply to Univ of Penn, you ought to able to find their FA website.</p>
<p>sue, I saw that one too and had the same reaction. I know my 'smart' kid would have a hard time figuring out FA on her own. But maybe that's because I've been holding her hand for too long...she says as she works on D's taxes...</p>
<p>I remember getting a copy of one of those books about how you can put yourself through college with outside scholarships. I learned a couple years later all of the ins and outs about outside scholarships and promptly started steering my D in the direction of colleges with good merit aid rather than applying for tons of outside scholarships which might just end up displacing FA, if we qualified for it that is.</p>
<p>"entomom said: ......SCM, you are the epitome of patience, I've seen you answer the most basic questions over and over again, and with clarity and thoughtfulness. You are to be praised, I personally think that FA/merit scholarships are much harder to understand than the application part of college selection."</p>
<p>I agree to that 100%, SCM is ASCM (Awesome SCM)!</p>
<p>And I want to add same for Athumper1 (Awesome thumper1)!</p>
<p>And a few others too such as ASue!</p>
<p>Gee thanks guys :o</p>
<p>Aw gee...thanks!! </p>
<p>I will say...you are seeing me reply more and more..."call the school" or "look on the finaid website for your college".</p>
<p>There are thousands of colleges in the US with varying policies, deadlines, forms, etc for financial aid. None of us is an expert on all of them. BUT each school certainly has a website that addresses their financial aid requirements. </p>
<p>I (and a lot of you added to it) created a list for getting started on financial aid. I guess when I did that, I thought it might at least help the novice get started. It's not "all inclusive" but it does have some good pointers in it.</p>
<p>P.S. Sybbie deserves an "A" too.</p>