Financial Aid for Sophomore yr. Return of the FAFSA?

Parents Forum
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<p>How long are the Fasfa files kept? My son was in a very fortunate place of receiving merit aid. Because it was a merit scholarship only, the college did not require us to re-submit Fasfa or CSS in subsequent years. Our daughter is now applying. Can we use the same PIN for child #2, and update the numbers, or must we start over? Of course...this is assuming we can find all the old password info!</p>

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<p>Another thing worth mentioning, at at least two schools I am intimately familiar with, the FA awards for returning students come out surprisingly late in the year. Like May-June, so late that if there were an unsuspected big drop in aid there would be little time to adapt unless a Plan B was already in place.</p>

<p>I will also say that through 2 UG educations so far, from year to year where there was no change in the Fafsa and Profile, there was no change in the amount or composition of the FA for my returning students.</p>

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<p>DT: At UCs they seem to come out in July, so you'd better hope there are no ugly surprises. If there was a huge change in circumstances, i would ask for an early review, to make sure I could afford the next year!</p>

<p>AnxiousMom: We are not paying for grad school either, but hate that our info may affect my D. I knew it was that way for Law, Biz, and MD school, but thought other programs allowed the student to be independent. Especially when you realise the FAFSA asks for number in college, UG only! Talk about getting hit from both sides.</p>

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<p>It's a nice color, Curmudge!! Policies on renewal finaid vary from school to school, and are sometimes dependent on the type of aid your child receives. In our experience, DS had to do both the Profile and FAFSA for all types of aid for entering freshman year. However, for renewal of his merit aid, he didn't have to do the Profile. And then...just to REALLY confuse us, they actually changed the procedure and the FAFSA was also not required for renewal of merit aid. BUT we had a financial change of circumstances...a second kid in college...so we had to do both again for his senior year to see if we would get any merit aid (we did...a small amount). DD also had to do both forms for entering freshman year, but she never has to do the Profile again...ever. We do have to complete the FAFSA for her finaid renewal. SO...what do you need to do...? Call the finaid dept or check the finaid website at your kid's school. Wouldn't this all be easier if the procedures were the same everywhere?? The good thing, as pointed out above, once you've done the forms, doing renewals isn't nearly as big a pain as the first time. Ah...but you DO need your PIN numbers.</p>

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<p>We have had to file a new FAFSA every year - and the deadline for returning students for consideration for any scholarships etc..... was Valentine's Day!!! :) - such fun - no more fun for me tho - kiddo is a senior and grad school is not in site - so I am FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!! LOL</p>

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<p>You will need to do a fresh FAFSA for your daughter. You cannot use your first child's FAFSA and update. You can only do that for the same student. And your daughter will need to get her own PIN number (do it now). She cannot use your first child's PIN. But...here's the good news...you parent can use the PIN you have (assuming you can find it).</p>

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<p>Question for parents of sophomores (or older). To be more specific, those who have already gone through the process of filling out FAFSA and CSS Profile for the 2nd or 3rd time:</p>

<p>(1) When a student is applying for Financial Aid for the sophomore year, does the FAFSA online application bring up last year's information, allowing one to update only those fields (where information has changed)? Or, are you required to start from scratch, and fill in every field again?</p>

<p>(2) Same question as above, but for CSS Profile? </p>

<p>The FAFSA was not too bad, in terms of number of entries required. The CSS Profile worksheet had about 15 pages worth of questions. I am hoping that we merely have to update fields where information has changed. </p>

<p>Thanks for any information/responses. Greatly appreciated.</p>

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<p>I just found this answer on the FAFSA website: <a href="https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw0607/help/renfaq02.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw0607/help/renfaq02.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>What is the difference between a Renewal FAFSA and the FAFSA? </p>

<p>The Renewal FAFSA pre-fills most of the answers on the application with the answers that you reported on your FAFSA last year. This significantly reduces the time it takes to complete the application. If you use a Renewal FAFSA, you must provide answers to the income, asset, and tax questions. You must also update any information that has changed since last year.</p>

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<p>I think the CSS Profile needs to be redone -- I may be mistaken, but I don't recall anything so convenient as pre-entered fields there. But check your college -- some colleges do not require the Profile for subsequent years. </p>

<p>The FAFSA renewal is always necessary, because that is needed to qualify for federally subsidized aid. But as noted above, it is pretty easy to deal with.</p>

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<p>This has been the experience in our house.</p>

<p>the fafsa renewal is done each year.
did not have to file the profile again.<br>
needed to submit the following: </p>

<p>Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
Renewal Financial Aid Application
Scholarship Data Worksheet
Parents’ and Student's Signed Federal IncomeTax Returns (all pages and schedules)
Parents’ W-2 Forms </p>

<p>None of the paperwork is mailed directly to the school's FA office. All of the information was submitted through the college board using the IDOC (we have to down load the IDOC cover sheet to mail with the rest of the paperwork to the college board.</p>

<p>this year FAFSA renewal is due 2/15 and other paperwork is due 4/15. A new form has been added:</p>

<p>Federal Verification Worksheet April 15, 2007</p>

<p>the rest of the process remains the same.</p>

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<p>You need to check with your kid's college to see what the procedure for finaid renewal is. At DS's school, for any need based aid, students must complete annually both the FAFSA and the Profile. Supporting documents ARE sent straight to finaid at the school. DS's school does not use IDOC (not every school does...you need to check your kid's school). At DS's school for MERIT aid only, students do not have to reapply at all. That changed when he was a junior. For his soph year we did have to complete the FAFSA (but not the Profile). HOWEVER...take note...even for DS...when our "financial situation changed" (meaning DD was also going to college) we had to do the FAFSA and the Profile...again. NOW for DD...her school required both the FAFSA and Profile for entering freshmen. They only require the FAFSA for renewals...no Profile (and not for any reason...no Profile as an upperclassman). Again...we have to submit supporting documentation directly to the finaid office. No Profile therefore no IDOC...but the school didn't use IDOC anyway. </p>

<p>Best news...in all cases the deadline for returning students for our two kids is much later than for incoming freshman. That means we can actually complete our tax returns on Feb 1 and then just file the stinking FAFSA.</p>

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<p>D is sophomore and I had to do FAFSA and supplement. This is required every year, but the deadline is in April. And I made a goof on the FAFSA, and the school contacted me in the summer, and told me what to do to correct it, and I did. Didn't affect the FA at all.</p>