<p>i said i wanted to apply for financial aid, but now i dont. can i contact the admissions offices and ask if i can change that? if i can, what do i say?</p>
<p>if i just dont submit the forms, will i automatically be rejected?</p>
<p>They may have just asked on the form about whether you were applying for FA to determine if they needed to send you the forms/info. Certainly, if you don't return anything, you won't get any. I would send an email to the admissions office.</p>
<p>Looking at the list of some of the schools you are interested in attending, why would you not want to apply for FA? You just may be eligible.</p>
<p>But, OTOH, your parents may just have the $170,000 + to pay out which in that case, you are a lucky young woman</p>
<p>The only reason not to apply for financial aid is if you think that the attempt is totally and completely hopeless. Briefly, need-based aid works as follows: Each college has a COA (Cost of Attendance). The applicant fills out a FAFSA form (and maybe a CSS/Profile) and this is used to calculate a EFC (Estimated Family Contribution). NEED is calculated as COA minus EFC. The college may (or may not) meet your NEED with a combination of grants (free money), loans, and jobs.</p>
<p>The system is set up so that the rich pay full price and the poor pay very little. The difficulty is how they define rich and poor. A family with a combined income of $70K can probably still get good financial aid. Financial Aid starts to dry up around $100K and is almost gone by $150K. When both parents are working, this isn't that much money, although people not making it may think so. There are EFC estimators available on the web, particularly at College Board. If you really think that it is hopeless, not applying is a reasonable decision. Not everybody applies.</p>
<p>(This is a simplification since savings are also used to calculate EFC, and parents' and student's assets are handled differently.)</p>
<p>the only reason i dont want to apply for aid is because i missed a deadline already, and my guidance counselor said that i cant apply now. also, yeah... both my parents work.</p>
<p>The deadlines for finan aid are pretty slack. You have to do the FAFSA (<a href="http://www.fafsa.ed.gov%5B/url%5D">www.fafsa.ed.gov</a>) and in order to have the information correct, you need the 2005 financial data that nobody has available until Jan 1st. If you apply now, you'd be okay. I'm not saying to delay, but the finan aid decision don't come out until after you are accepted.</p>
<p>If you do the FAFSA online, you need to sign it electronically using a "PIN". Both your parents and yourself need to have separate PIN's and there is some wait time involved in getting them. Apply for the PIN's first, then do the FAFSA. Some colleges also require that the CSS/Profile be completed at the College Board website.</p>
<p>A EFC estimator is at:
<a href="http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp%5B/url%5D">http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp</a>
Your parents typically do the FAFSA since they have all of the financial info. If you go to the EFC estimator, you can get some idea of what your EFC would be by typing in your parent's income, your income, your parent's assets, your assets, and some other info such as your zipcode and how many children are in college at the same time. Any equity in the family home or value of cars is not counted as an asset. On the other side, any consumer debt such as credit cards or car loans does not reduce your assets.</p>