Financial Aid Potential Debacle

<p>I attempted to apply for financial aid. I submitted my FASFA a few months ago before the deadline. Now I have been made aware by NYU through e-mail that I haven't filled out the CSS profile for financial aid. This prompted me to check Harvard's requirements for financial aid, and I have come to find out that the instructions do require me to fill this form out. A few weeks ago, on the Harvard online website, I was listed "yes" as having applied for financial aid. If I get accepted to H, am I basically screwed, considering that the deadline (February 1) is long-gone? NYU says they will give me another week to submit it, but I received no e-mail from Harvard about anything being missing to begin with. I thought H and most schools had a policy of informing applicants of missing application components, but perhaps they do not. </p>

<p>Do other ivies require this CSS profile? I had never heard of it before NYU e-mailed me.</p>

<p>february 1 was just the priority deadline. Missing that deadline only means that if you are accepted you will have to wait a little longer than others to get your aid package</p>

<p>Where does it say it is only priority? For the CSS form, I have to pay $16 per school?</p>

<p>You pay $16 for each school. A lot of private schools requires the CSS Profile, so make sure you send it to all the schools that ask for it. Not getting financial aid would be a much higher expenditure than spending a little more on the CSS forms.</p>

<p>Make sure you individually check the financial aid websites of each of the schools and submit all the required documents. </p>

<p>The financial aid and admission offices at Harvard operate separately so even while you may be informed of missing admission documents, it doesn’t mean it applies to FA forms. Since the deadline for FA forms for current students is much later, the financial aid office haven’t received the forms yet from the majority of the currents students, so submitting it now is not too late at all. It’s just that you may have to wait a little longer to hear about your aid package like successman said.</p>

<p>Thank you. I have a few follow-up questions. At this point would it make any sense for me to wait until I hear back from the colleges (~March 31) or will it be too late by then? Also, can not having met the priority deadline affect the money I receive?</p>

<p>I think you really should submit the forms now. There are federal tax return forms that you have to send in but you’ll only hear about this from CollegeBoard once you’ve successfully turned in your CSS Profile, so it’s imperative that you get it in as soon as possible. While submitting it later doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get less aid, financial aid is often allocated on a first come first served basis. Besides, you want to get your aid offers some time before the May 1st matriculation deadline so that you can compare packages before coming to a decision on which college to attend.</p>

<p>I’m not an expert on this but there are a couple of posters in the Financial Aid forum who absolutely are, so it may also be a good idea to re-post your question there as well to get some helpful advice.</p>