<p>We have one kid at an OOS public school as a junior, and one kid applying in-state to UCs plus a few OOS publics and a handful of top tier privates. Main possibilities for financial aid are the top tier privates that say they are need blind.</p>
<p>How important is it to submit CSS/FAFSA early? We are really busy and prefer not to estimate taxes and then resubmit forms, so hoping to do a single submission ~January 27. </p>
<p>Will we be missing out on financial aid opportunities if we submit on January 27?</p>
<p>You have to look at each school’s deadline. If you can truly do it in January it should be ok, but I’ve read some posts here about school’s that have a Jan. 15 deadline for initial
estimates.</p>
<p>Thanks AD! </p>
<p>I checked and all schools have deadlines between Feb. 1 and March 1. So based on this, I assume submitting the FAFSA and CSS Profile any time between now and Feb. 1 is ok, and earlier does not provide any advantage. </p>
<p>If anyone believes otherwise, I’d appreciate your thoughts.</p>
<p>I would do the FAFSA now with exact assets and well estimated income. Use “will file” on the FAFSA taxes form. Then do your taxes electronically as soon as you can. Once they are processed (not before Jan 30th from what I’m hearing), go back in and use the IRS retrieval tool. Hopefully it will go push button easy for you and it automatically updates the lines and counts as verified. Your “will file” puts you in line sooner for any “limited” funds. Profile is up to you. Accuracy is more important, because you can’t electronically update it. I would consider doing FAFSA and Profile on the same day an exhausting marathon. Just remember, cut it too close to the deadline and if the site goes down, you will be pulling your hair out.</p>
<p>Thanks sportlich! – sounds like an excellent approach…will plan along these lines.</p>
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<p>Being need blind is an admissions process, not a financial aid process. Most schools are need blind in admissions, which simply means that your finances are not a consideration in admissions. However, most schools do not meet 100% financial need because most schools are operating with limited funds. </p>
<p>Even at schools that meet 100% demonstrated need, there are very very few that meet the need with no loans. I always recommend filing early as many schools giver preferential aid (if they really want a student they will give a more preferential package). However, if you are at the end of the line, and the school does not have the $$ to give, you may end up with less aid and more loans than you would have had if you had applied earlier.</p>