<p>Can you complete this form without sending it to colleges? I just want to approximate how much i would receive. Also, I'm a junior right now, when should I start applying for financial aid, grants, and other money-fulfilling opportunities??</p>
<p>You can complete form and never send it anywhere; to complete it you do need your parent’s financial information. </p>
<p>When you have to apply for fin aid depends on college and type of aid you are applying for. For example, if you want to try to qualify for scholarships/merit aid, some colleges require you to submit your application for admission earlier than any regular deadlines (such as by Nov 1 or Dec 1 of your senior year in high school). If applying early decision, colleges typically require you to submit needed financial information (often on another form called the CSS Profile provided by the College Board) for aid when you apply for ED so they can tell you what it will probably be when you get the ED decison in Dec. For regular admission, the FAFSA is usually due sometime after Jan 1 but by when after Jan 1 varies anywhere from sometime in Jan to end of March. </p>
<p>As to any colleges to which you are thinking about applying, I would suggest that you go to their sites and learn their rules for financial aid including forms required and whether you need to apply for admission early to qualify for any scholarships.</p>
<p>Thank you so much!^</p>
<p>If you apply for scholarships from outside sources (such as FastWeb), they usually tell you whether you can apply as a junior, or senior, or college freshman, etc. If you are looking at outside sources it never hurts to look into it early and see what is available for you to compete for right now.</p>
<p>There are good FAFSA calculators at [FinAid</a> | Calculators](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Calculators - Finaid) and [College</a> Calculators - savings calculators - college costs, loans](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>Calculate Your Cost – BigFuture | College Board) You also can print out the formula for 2012-2013 and work through it on paper. That would be a good thing to do if your family has a complicated financial situation: <a href=“http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/082511EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/082511EFCFormulaGuide1213.pdf</a></p>
<p>But much more important than your FAFSA results is the amount of money that your family is able and willing to pay. You need to sit down with your parents and find out how much that is. Many people cannot easily afford their FAFSA EFC, so even if they do attend a college that meets full need based on the FAFSA, that college is still unaffordable.</p>
<p>There is a lot of useful general information at [FinAid</a>! Financial Aid, College Scholarships and Student Loans](<a href=“http://www.finaid.org%5DFinAid”>http://www.finaid.org) and in the Financial Aid Forum here. Spend some time reading through those two, and think about what it all means for your particular situation.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>Can you complete this form without sending it to colleges? I just want to approximate how much i would receive</p>
<p>Your EFC is not going to tell you how much you’re going to receive. You might determine that you can get a Pell Grant if your EFC is low enough, but that won’t be enough to pay for college.</p>
<p>If I remember correctly, you’re interested in OOS publics that have high COAs. So, an EFC of even 0 isn’t going to tell you much. All you might get is a 5500 Pell grant and a 5500 loan…not enough to pay for college.</p>
<p>EFC is a misnomer…it’s not the amount that you have to pay.</p>