<p>Do the colleges wait until they know kids have a good chance of acceptance to look at finaid. It seems silly for them to start looking at forms if the students aren't even being accepted. So if they ask you to send something else or resend something a different way is that a good sign? Grasping at straws here I know!</p>
<p>Hmmm, never thought about it, but it sure would make sense! I can't imagine them going through the trouble of putting together a package for every single applicant, regardless of admission status. I think you're on to something arizonamom -- but then again its only wishful thinking on my part! ;)</p>
<p>Where I worked, financial aid was given the names of the accepted students. But even before, this happened they were looking at files to make sure any glaring deficiencies were addressed. But then those were the old days before ED was so popular, and there was not as much to do before the RDs.</p>
<p>Ahhhhh.......April 1 is so far away, Thanks for the input!</p>
<p>One of the univeristy counselors at our high school used to work in eastern university admissions and said that the admitted students list was continuously provided to fin aid so that they could put together packages as kids were admitted.</p>
<p>That does not mean that finaid nesc. has your name when asking for more info!</p>
<p>does anyone else really think this is true? So, if I got a letter from College Board telling me that one of my schools needs a copy of my parents' 2004 taxes by a certain date, is there any hope that that particular school has actually accpeted me.....?!
(It's not the only school that I've applied to that requires the 2004 taxes)</p>
<p>Collegboard is a clearing house for the school. In order to streamline the amount of paperwork, many colleges are now asking that the paperwork be submitted to the college board. If the collegeboard is asking you for information, they do not have a completed financial aid package to send to the college</p>
<p>Many schools now have a verification processso even after you have sent information to the college board they may ask you directly for the information. This is not the case. You have ot wait this out a little longer</p>
<p>I'm in the exact same position as the original poster. I received a letter from CollegeBoard saying that "The following colleges" have sent requests for my financial aid information. Does anyone know how MIT works in this regard? It is a need blind school so supposedly, it should not need to see my financial aid information unless I am accepted, correct? I doubt anyone can give a definitive answer, but is anyone aware of how the whole financial aid/acceptance process works with MIT?</p>
<p>This is how Northstarmom responded to a similar question on the Harvard forum:</p>
<p>" I think that financial aid has to start early looking through their applications, way before admissions decisions. There's no way that they could wait until acceptances are done in mid March because that would not give financial aid an opportunity to do all of the calculations that are necessary for the 60% or so of accepted students who get financial aid offers.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, applications don't even start going to admissions subcommittees at Harvard until Monday".</p>
<p>The plot thickens!</p>
<p>Hmm yeah, I understand that. But it just doesn't make sense for them to gather financial aid information on every single applicant. Is it possible that admissions sends names up to financial aid as they accept people? That would appear to be an efficient way to handle financial aid without overloading the office with unnecessary paperwork. I wish we had an MIT admissions representative on these forums =)</p>
<p>Andy, </p>
<p>The college board is simply doing a closed loop process, the Profile is done through them and the colleges use them to gather finanical aid information for their schools. It is pretty standard.</p>
<p>While actual aid packages are dont done until a student is accepted, there has to be a system of due diligence so that every one is treated fairly in the process, which includes having financial aid paperwork for everyone that request finanical aid in the event if they are admitted, the process can move forward.</p>
<p>I see. Thank you very much for your reply. I won't get my hopes up unduly then.</p>
<p>I know that things are feeling really tense about now and April seems to be soooo far away, but relax. In the end you will end up where you need to be.</p>
<p>if more than one of my schools DOES require the 2004 tax return, why would the college board only send me the request and list ONE of those schools? If it's just a paperwork formality, shouldn't the collegeboard letter state the names of all the schools to which I've sent the PROFILE that requires the 2004 return? Wishful thinking I'll admit, but that would make sense if as applicants get admitted, they notify Finanical Aid, which in turns notifies College Board...</p>
<p>Schools are indifferent stages of the admissions process, some are really hust getting underway</p>
<p>Yeah, I'm trying to quell all occurrences of wishful thinking. It will make it easier if things don't go how I want them to or better if they do. I just realized it last night when I thought that the financial aid info request was a semi notification of acceptance, but I had actually convinced myself that MIT wasn't my top choice, just in mental preparation for not being accepted. Now that I got falsely excited, I have to "reconvince" myself. =)</p>
<p>As a side note, I asked my guidance counselor today about the information request, and she said that it's never a bad sign. It means that they are interested and havn't said no yet. Once again, maybe it's just wishful thinking because being a guidance counselor and knowing every subtilty of the admissions process are two ENTIRELY different things.</p>