<p>Hey guys! I have a question about financial aid; it would be great if anyone could help me......</p>
<p>How do colleges determine financial aid in the aid package that comes out in Mid-December? Do they only use CSS profile to form the package? What role does the FAFSA play if the award package comes out before we can fill it out?
I am planning to apply Northwestern ED if that helps..... Thanks!</p>
<p>Tentative financial aid is given alongside your acceptance (CSS Profile). When you fill out the FAFSA it is more a confirmation of your financial situation and it will probably change a little bit. Mine changed ~20k because of an error on their part and could no longer attend so I retracted my ED decision (which is possible if the finances don’t work out)</p>
<p>So they use CSS to estimate the total aid from the CSS and FAFSA? Does the net price calculator reflect upon that total amount or does it just reflect upon the CSS? </p>
<p>Generally speaking, the CSS Profile is more comprehensive, and a pretty fair representation of your finances. It is, however, based on old data - your parents will not have done their taxes yet, and sometimes, things change pretty dramatically from one year to another (loss of job, medical expenses, etc.,) FAFSA determines whether or not you are eligible for federal aid and is pretty cut and dried - individual schools look at more detailed information.</p>
<p>The NPC uses the school formula.</p>
<p>@Sakacar3 Thanks!</p>
<p>Be aware that there is are risks in applying ED to any school when you need financial aid. You get the estimates aid package and have to commit based on that and have agreed to pull your other apps when you make that commitment. If mistakes have been made, it can be a problem when you find out later. You are also viewing your aid package in a vacuum. If you don’t have a line drawn as to what you truly can afford, it can make things difficult. Be aware that it is possible that you could get better…or not. from other schools. Make sure you understand how this works and the pitfalls.</p>
<p>Thanks for the words of warning. I will definitely keep that in mind.</p>
<p>The FAFSA plays no role in determining need based aid before it is completed! How could it?</p>
<p>Most ED schools either use the Profile, or they use their own financial aid form to get information. There is usually an early priority filing date for ED applicants.</p>
<p>Schools,that use the Profile use THAT to determine the awarding of their institutional need based aid. The FAFSA is only used to determine eligibility for federally funded need based aid such as the Pell Grant.</p>
<p>@thumper1 Okay, thanks for clarifying the process for me:)</p>
<p>I understood that if a FA package was not acceptable, a student could refuse an ED offer. Is that true?</p>
<p>When speaking to someone at a college who wants all his athletic recruits to apply ED, he said that “you can always not go if the aid package isn’t good enough”. But I’m not sure that is true; is it a valid reason to not take an ED acceptance?</p>
<p>The estimated PROFILE completed before the year end to meet ED app deadline is used to come up with the estimated financial aid package. The FAFSA then has to be submitted using actual income for that year just ended. Those numbers are often verified against those figures reported to the IRS for the year. Those verified figures are then compared to what was used on the estimated PROFILE and the packages are adjusted if necessary to go with the actual income numbers. If there is a big change in those numbers, or a mistake was made, the package can changed, will likely be changed. A problem that can arise is that this might all come to surface AFTER the student has committed to ED based on the estimated fin aid package, and AFTER the other applications have been withdrawn. </p>
<p>Yes you can turn down the ED due to unaffordability and that is considered okay to do. You can run the NPC with your CSS Profile estimates to see what an estimate of your package might be. So maybe the offer shouldn’t be any surprise. But his likely won’t show any merit aid you might get, if you are expecting that. </p>
<p>If you do apply ED, then you don’t have to withdraw your other applications until you see the package. </p>
<p>Basically the CSS and the FAFSA show the same things, income and assets, but the CSS Profile just shows a more detailed picture and takes more into account so that is the detail they use for a package. So it isn’t a matter of which is used–for CSS Profile schools the CSS already has the FAFSA data plus more. The thing people are pointing out are that the FAFSA is going to show accurate real final numbers for 2014, where your profile will have estimated numbers. If they match pretty closely then nothing is changed. Your package that you accepted is the same.</p>
<p>But for instance, if your parent gets a big unexpected bonus in Dec then your FAFSA income will be larger that what you filed on the CSS. So your CSS profile income reported will be adjusted by the school, based on that FAFSA, and your final package can be different.</p>
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<p>I think the withdrawal of the other applications and acceptances is when you accept the ED offer. When you get that ED offer, you should also get your ED financial aid award. You will have a VERY short window of time to accept the ED admissions offer. You then must with draw any other applications and offers of admission.</p>
<p>@rhandco Yes, if an ED aid offer is not enough, some schools require you to appeal using the apeal forms on their website. If the aid is still not enough, any school will let you break ED contract.</p>
<p>Does the net price calculator give a good estimate? Has anyone have a large difference between what the npc says and what colleges actually give?</p>
<p>If your parents are divorced, own a business, are self employed, and/or own real estate other than your primary residence…the NPC will not be accurate. The NPCs are not accurate for international students sometimes either.</p>
<p>When we did the NPC for our daughter’s school it was significantly different than our financial aid offer. The school used a much higher value for our house than we used. The CSS profile asks many more questions than are not on the NPCs. Questions such as whether anyone will give you money to pay for school and whether your child has a car can also impact your award.</p>