Do financial aid packets from the schools come before they are admitted or after?
ETA…some colleges will give you a financial aid preread before acceptance…this is not a financial aid award, but is a pre read estimate of your aid. This applies mostly to athletes who are often asked to apply early but want to know school affordability first.
Financial aid packages come either with your admission or after.
Why would a school give you a financial aid package before admission?? Unless you are talking about a pre read which is really an estimate.
For Early Decision applicants, the financial aid package will come either with the acceptance or very shortly thereafter. This is because this is a binding acceptance and students need to see the financial aid package to be certain the school is affordable. The window for accepting these admission offers is short.
For Early Decision applicants…sometimes the financial aid package comes with or shortly after acceptance. But since this is not a binding acceptance, there are some colleges that send the financial aid offer out closer to when regular Decision students receive theirs.
For rolling admission schools…it depends. Some send their financial aid packages with or shortly after acceptance. Others wait.
For regular Decision, the financial aid package comes with or shortly after the acceptance.
I can’t think of one place that sends financial aid packages before acceptances .
PLEASE…if you have applied Early Decision , early action or rolling admissions…keep an eye out for the priority filing deadline for your financial aid application materials. Have everything to the school before that deadline or you won’t receive your financial aid award in a timely fashion.
Actually…everyone should check the appropriate deadlines for financial aid applications and DO NOT MISS THE DEADLINES. Schools have deadlines for a reason.
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It would be a huge waste of the financial aid department’s time to give aid packages to everyone that applied before they’re admitted.
Thank you for your replies! Sorry, I am a first time parent here and apologize for the newbie questions. Reason I ask is that I chatted with an online FSA counselor and she said that each school was different…some do offer FA packages before and some after, so my reason for asking. Thank you for the reminder on the FA applications, ye, we have already submitted! TY!!
What college offers a financial aid package before admission?
Never heard of a college delivering FA offers before admission.
However, college FA departments will be processing FA applications in parallel with the admissions department making admission decisions. That way, when the final admit class is determined, the FA offers are ready to go with admission offers. Colleges that are FA need-aware on an individual applicant basis for admission also need to have potential FA offers available when making final admission decisions.
What’s an FSA counselor? A paid counselor that helps with financial aid?
If you are talking about need-based aid . . .She is terrible at her job, understands the job but is a poor communicator, or you misunderstood.
For regular decision, early decision, and most early action: For almost every student in these categories the financial aid determination arrives either with your acceptance or shortly thereafter, meaning a few days or a week after.
For rolling decision: If the student receives an acceptance in the fall or early winter, the FA determination can arrive as described above OR can come at the same time the regular decision students get theirs.
If you are talking about MERIT aid, yes, there are some schools that have pre-stated merit award criteria listed on their websites. But I don’t think that’s what you meant.
I worked in financial aid for years. Lots of FAFSAs were sent to us from students who never applied. We didn’t touch those. After a certain date, aid was packaged for all accepted students - if a FAFSA was received from an accepted student after that, or if a student who had submitted a FAFSA was accepted after that, we packaged aid when the FAFSA was received or when the student was accepted. While I can’t say that no school would communicate an aid package prior to acceptance, I don’t know any that do … and I don’t know why they would, to be honest.
Seton Hall offered my D 19,500 per year in scholarships in her acceptance letter
@BmacNJ your kid didn’t get her aid before she was accepted. That is what the OP is asking about.
@FullSquishy mentioned in other threads about athletes. I’m wondering if her student is an athlete recruit. In some cases, colleges will give a preread on financial aid to recruited athletes who are sometimes asked to apply early. The families want a sense of if schools will be affordable. But this preread is NOT a financial aid offer. It’s a good faith estimate. The financial aid offer comes with or shortly after acceptance.
Yea, that makes sense…FSA meaning Federal Student Aid…they have a chat online function. Yea, it was confusinf why a school would send a FA packet BEFORE admittance…like I said…I’m learning as I go…thank you!