<p>HI, i applied to UCSB and applied for financial aid on January 1, 2009. (yea my parents thought i was gonna procrastinate).</p>
<p>so i got into UCSB and my unofficial financial letter didnt come which said it was gonna come out on april 15 . then i got an email saying to update my fafsa using the 2008 tax thingy.</p>
<p>so today i updated my fafsa, the correction thingy. and it says its gonna take 3-4 days to process the new information</p>
<p>im kinda freaking out right now cuz my parents make so little money its not even funny and i want a good education. will my changed status affect how much money i get? does sending in early fafsa get you more money or is it more on the need based?</p>
<p>The amount you get won’t change unless your parents underestimated their earnings when originally filing.</p>
<p>Beware, the UC’s are not schools that meet need for most students. If your parents make very little money you will certainly get Federal aid such as a Pell Grant, Cal grant, stafford loan and work study. You may also get SEOG and a Perkins loan. This will, however, not cover the cost of a UC. After this you will have to get the rest in grants from the school which they may or may not give you enough in.</p>
<p>So all you can do is be patient and see what they offer.</p>
<p>So- you filed FAFSA in January using estimates and indicated that you and your parents have not yet filed your tax returns. You received an estimated EFC when you filed (its at the top of the SAR form)</p>
<p>Then you got an estimated aid award from UCSB. But that was just an estimate, based on your estimates of income you put into the FAFSA in January. How generous was that aid package? Did it indicate you’d be eligible for a Cal Grant? Pell Grant? Would that make UCSB affordable for your family?</p>
<p>Then you received an email from USCB reminding you to do a FAFSA correction, including actual income numbers for 2008, and changing “will file” taxes to “Have filed” taxes. You did that. What was the new EFC? How much higher or lower than the estimated EFC?</p>
<p>UCSB will likely adjust their package of aid up or down, depending on whether your EFC went up or down. If only a small change in EFC, likely little change in the award package. If there was a large increase in EFC (several thousand dollars), you’d likely get a revised award package that includes less aid. If your EFC went down significantly, you’d likely receive a more generous aid package.</p>