<p>Well I'm looking at my early decision school, getting my LoRs ready, finalizing my essays, and such. However, on their pamphlet that in the mail, my school says that certain Forms for Financial Aid are due Nov1st with the application. What? I was never told about these forms (or much at all about how to apply financial aid) from my high school. </p>
<p>It says I need:
Financial Aid Supplement
CSS/PROFILE
Noncustodial PROFILE
Parents' and students' 2009 federal tax returns</p>
<p>Take a deep breath… If you need help, please ask your guidance counselor or call and ask the financial aid office at the school you are applying to. Sounds like an ivy or NESCAC school, so you can do it. The finical aid supplement is on the schools website and may not be much at all. The profile and noncustodial are on the college website, complete with instructions. Ask you parents for the tax forms, you will need that info for the profile. Don’t forget to do a fafsa form too…and remember that one is free.</p>
<p>Fafsa won’t be available till Jan 1st 2012, for the 2012-2013 school year.
You won’t have 2011 #'s so it is ok to estimate as close as possible for PROFILE with verified 2010 #'s.</p>
<p>Your school guidance counselor will NOT help you fill out fnancial aid forms. Where I am, they are forbidden to even discuss family finances.</p>
<p>The reason you need to do these forms (the ones in the first post of this thread) by Nov 1 is that you are applying Early Decision. Early Decision candidates are given their financial aid award when they get their ED acceptance. If you don’t get the financial aid info the school is requesting to them on time, you won’t get a financial aid award with your ED acceptance. How will you be able to make a decision without that award?</p>
<p>SOOO…sit down with your parents. Get all the materials together. I doubt that the school wants your 2009 tax returns…they likely want 2010. Your financial aid forms, however, will be based on the BEST POSSIBLE ESTIMATES for 2011. You will also need the most current bank statement or something that gives you the balance in yours and your parents accounts as of the filing date for the Profile. It’s also good if you have your most recent pay stubs as they will give you year to date earnings and taxes…and you can get a better estimate of the full year using those. </p>
<p>I would suggest that you go back to your ED college website and look very carefully at what they want you to submit (e.g. that tax return…maybe they do want 2009…although if they do, they probably also want 2010). </p>
<p>Once you have the information it’s a matter of sitting down at your computer and putting the info on the Profile form. If you have non-custodial parent, they complete their form as well…separately from you and your custodial parent.</p>
<p>Try to get it done at least a couple of days before it’s due…so just in case there are computer glitches…you’ll have time to submit.</p>
<p>Good luck…once you have this done, the FAFSA will be easy when it becomes available which is not until January.</p>
<p>BTW…the PROFILE form will not likely be on your college website (although there might be a link to it). It is administered by the College Board. Go there.</p>
<p>Ah jeez this is crazy. I am shocked my school did not tell me about this. I will be filling out these forms (I heard they take a long time) now… once I find them. </p>
<p>It is not your high school’s responsibility to check to see what forms are needed for financial aid consideration for the colleges to which you are applying. That is YOUR job. There are 3000 or so colleges in this country and the requirements for applying for financial aid vary wildly. You need to check this yourself.</p>
<p>High schools generally have a lot more to worry about than getting financial aid info out there for students who may be applying early- but I agree at some point it should be mentioned, perhaps during junior year, when students are taking the PSAT for possible national merit status.</p>
<p>However- I will take this opportunity to point out that applying early decision means you are committing to the school & giving up your opportunity to compare aid packages.</p>
<p>Schools that meet 100% of need, can fill that obligation with any combination of loans, grants & work study.
Because you won’t know of the accuracy of your EFC until you file the FAFSA with finalized numbers next year, you are making a commitment without really knowing what the dollar amount will mean.
Even if it doesn’t change at all, by applying early decision you are telling this school they are your first choice and you are not interested in comparing competing offers.</p>
<p>Here is the link for the CSS form
<a href=“https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp[/url]”>https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp</a>
If your parents are married you will not need to do the Non Custodial Profile. If they are divorced (and your school requires it) you will have to do the Non-Custodial. If you provide an email for the Non-Custodial parent while you fill out the Profile they will send an email to prompt the other parent to fill out the form.</p>
<p>Lastly - SEARCH the website for your college to see if they have any additional financial aid forms of their own. From your list the “Financial Aid Supplement” may be on the school’s specific website.</p>
<p>Do all schools want the same things? What does each school need? From what I’ve gathered so far:
-all schools need the CSS and 2010 tax data
-PROFILE, IDOC (not even sure what this is) for certain schools
-school financial aid forms </p>
<p>Regardigg what each school needs…YOU need to check the websites for EACH school to find out what that school requires for financial aid consideration. This varies wildly from school to school. NO not every school requires the Profile…some do, some don’t. Almost all schools require the FAFSA. Some schools have their own finaid form, some don’t. Some schools require tax returns, some don’t.</p>
<p>AND the DEADLINES for receipt of these items will also vary by school so be sure to check those too.</p>
<p>You need to look on EACH college website in the financial aid section. There should be a section “applying for financial aid” or something similar for each school. Look there…then write it ALL down as it will likely ALL be different from school to school.</p>
<p>Okay, I’m registering the CSS Profile right now. </p>
<p>Do not all my schools need it? Penn does (as indicated above), but for other schools it does not seem like the case. Do I send my CSS/PROFILE to these schools as well? </p>
<p>2933 - Univ of Pennsylvania, PA
Early Filing: 01-Nov-2011
Priority Filing: 01-Feb-2012
Int’l Students - PROFILE or institutional option - check institution’s website</p>
<p>1839 - Univ of Michigan, MI
Priority Filing: 30-Apr-2012
Int’l Students - Does not accept</p>
<p>1832 - Univ of Chicago, IL Early Filing: 01-Nov-2011
Priority Filing: 01-Feb-2012
Int’l Students - PROFILE or institutional option - check institution’s website</p>
<p>5820 - Univ of Virginia, VA Early Filing: 01-Mar-2012
Priority Filing: 01-Mar-2012
Int’l Students - Does not accept</p>
<p>So I’m confused… which schools do I send my CSS/PROFILE to?</p>
<p>EDIT: @thumper. I checked all my schools and they all accept the CSS/PROFILE.</p>
<p>Crazy, are you an international student? If so, you need to very carefully check the policies of even awarding aid to international students. I think a couple of your schools either don’t offer aid to international students OR it is very limited (U Mich is one to check).</p>
<p>Crazy…according to the list you provided above, some of your schools will take a school form OR the Profile (Penn, Chicago). The institutional form will be free to file. The Profile has a fee.</p>
<p>According to your list, UVA and UMICH do not accept the form…but then you go on to say that all of your schools take the Profile…</p>
<p>From UVA’a website:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>University of Michigan doesn’t seem to offer need based aid (other than loans) to international students and say clearly that international students must show evidence of having enough money to attend for all four years.</p>
<p>So CRAZY…are you an international student or did you just put that info for others?</p>
<p>I am a US citizen… and I am getting confused.</p>
<p>I am applying ED Penn, EA Umich, EA Uchic, EA UVA. I am allowed to do EA alongside ED (I am sure). What do I need to ensure that I can possibly get some aid from these schools? I understand for Penn I need the CSS/PROFILE, tax information, and their form. I am not sure about my other schools.</p>
<p>Yes you can apply to them all (assuming none of the EA schools is a single choice EA school). If you are not an international student, you will need to do the Profile for them all…by the deadlines listed…and the FAFSA when it becomes available.</p>
<p>“ensure” you will get aid? Well…get the application materials done ONE TIME…and then wait.</p>
<p>You do know that you will likely NOT have your financial aid packages from those EA schools before you need to make your decision about Penn, should you get accepted ED.</p>
<p>Check each school…look for what they require for you and the deadlines. Just get everything they require to them prior to the deadline for THAT school. Then you wait and see.</p>
