<p>When my daughter submitted her Common App, she indicated that she would not be applying for financial aid. She did this because we thought it may harm her admission chances, and because we did not think she would qualify for much aid, if any.</p>
<p>Now I am wondering if we should go ahead and file a FAFSA. I keep reading recommendations to file even if you don't think you'll qualify for much aid.</p>
<p>So should we go to the trouble of filing a FAFSA? Or if we said no on the Common App, is it too late? Thanks for any help on this!</p>
<p>If you want a Direct Loan only, just go ahead and file the FAFSA. Everyone can do this. </p>
<p>If you want the colleges to consider your daughter for need based aid, then I would suggest that you do a couple of things. First…look on the websites for ALL the required financial aid application submissions. Second…contact the colleges ASAP and ask that they change your daughter’s status to YES.</p>
<p>No, it’s not too late to file FAFSA which will enable your daughter to take out the $5500 in student loans for her freshman year. Generally you have until the end of May/first of June…the date will be on the FAFSA website. The college she will be attending still certifies the amount, I believe, so you might want to give them a heads up since you indicated you would not be utilizing financial.</p>