<p>I filed for FA for D's first two years of college. Her first year, oldest son attended a CC and I got aid for both of them. Her second year and this year, it was just her and I got about $500 from TAP. </p>
<p>Next year, next son will be in school. However, our income -for just this year - will be more than doubled from the previous years. This year's income is what we have to report for FA for 2012-2013. I know that I will not qualify for any FA. After this, our income will revert to normal.</p>
<p>My question is should I just not file FAFSA or CSS for the 2012 school year and then file again for 2013? Would schools be on high alert if I don't file in 2012 and then file for 2013. I told son to check off on Common App that we would not be applying for FA because I thought that might improve his chances of acceptance, but he has not filed any apps yet.</p>
<p>Yes, you should apply. Any scholarships, merit aid, etc may require you to file.
Previous poster is correct, if you dont file in previous years, you msy forfeit FA in other years.</p>
<p>You can submit FAFSA and it won’t matter I don’t think. Schools don’t really care about federal aid…that doesn’t really cost them anything.</p>
<p>Is your son applying to a school that is “need aware”? If not, then don’t worry…submit both.</p>
<p>If you don’t need much aid, then what’s the fear about submitting both? The school will see that you don’t need much, so how would that hurt him…he’d probably only need a fed loan? I would think needing LOTS of aid would hurt at need-aware schools.</p>
<p>My concern is that my son’s stats are so mixed. He’s got a 3.23 GPA with a fairly rigorous schedule (honors in math, ss and science forever, 5 APs this year, 2 in the past) and so so boards, 1350 SAT, 30 ACT (no review or prep for either) so he’s not a shoo in at any school that meets his intellectual needs (his low grades are due to failure to hand in HW, he generally gets 90+ on all tests, even without studying).</p>
<p>My thought was that if we didn’t ask for FA the first year, a school he might be borderline with might be more likely to take him as a full pay than a student applying for FA.</p>
<p>I hadn’t realize that you could forfeit FA in later years - what happens to families where a parent loses a job or dies?</p>
<p>You have all given me food for thought and I will anonymously inquire at the schools he picks as to the forfeiture issue.</p>