Financial Aid Deadline - Magic of 1/15?

<p>As I work through the details of the financial statement and financial aid forms and see the clock ticking - I do wonder about the 15th as a deadline Some schools have it as the 31st.</p>

<p>Does anyone know or have insights on what happens if the forms/ work are not complete by the 15th - midnight? If finalized on the 16th? 17th? Is aid hurt? lessened? gone? </p>

<p>Our decision to apply to prep schools this year (versus waiting to next year) was only recent. All other parts of the applications are in but that last important piece - financial aid is giving us fits with the portal and forms. Yikes...</p>

<p>its does’t hurt you your chances at all as long as you have the forms submitted by feb. 1st. Honestly the schools don’t start reviewing applications till then. Also most schools understand that many people have not completed their 2013 1040s and w-2s yet.</p>

<p>I think a late financial aid application may very well hurt your chances. There’s more demand for aid than there is aid to go around and I believe most/many/all? schools will consider timely applications before late ones.</p>

<p>Personally, I would do everything possible to get the appl’s in on time. If you’re having technical difficulties, be sure to touch base with the school(s) and they may be able to help you and/or cut you some slack.</p>

<p>The deadlines are still deadlines even if your taxes are not done. Different schools may have different deadlines. </p>

<p>The directions will tell you what to do, such as complete the FA appl using estimates and then provide final figures/copies of tax returns when your 2013 taxes are done. There should be an 800# for help with the FA forms (PFS, TADS, etc.) and my experience was that they responded promptly and were very helpful.</p>

<p>@funnygirl1200: Do you have a source for the Feb 1st information? I’m pretty sure that on-time applications would get looked at more favorably than the other ones.</p>

<p>@ Abacab11</p>

<p>Don’t worry about it. If you are in doubt call the schools yourself and let them know of your concerns. You will find them very nice and understanding. Whenever I have had concerns regarding deadlines I have found everyone extremely accommodating.<br>
But definitely make sure it’s done by January 31.</p>

<p>I’ve been going through a lot of FA info today to make sure I didn’t miss something. I think all schools we’re dealing with have 1/31 as the deadline for FA forms and 2012 or older tax records. Most just say to get them 2013 tax returns ASAP after that, but a few have deadlines for 2013 stuff. The earliest I have seen is 2/10, which is going to be difficult. We often have 1099s trickle in well after that.</p>