<p>I missed Boston College's by nearly a month and Tufts' by about two weeks. :/ The reason I missed them was b/c my parents didn't file their taxes until a few days ago and I waited to fill out the CSS Profile until then since it was much more complicated. I had submitted my FAFSA with estimates though. Does missing the deadlines render you completely ineligible for aid??</p>
<p>You are better of calling them directly to ask.</p>
<p>You missed the deadlines. Only the schools can tell you what that will mean to them.</p>
<p>The reality is you COULD have completed the Profile AND the FAFSA using estimates and updating when the taxes were completed.</p>
<p>Even at our DD’s small LAC the FA deadlines are strict; funds are limited and must be allocated quickly so applicants can see the offers in a timely manner. OTOH, admission application deadlines can be soft; excluding a top applicant for being a day late serves no purpose, though it eventually becomes too late to process an app.</p>
<p>If other students are reading this and they have a FA deadline approaching and may not make it, it would make sense to contact your schools and ask how firm the deadline is and if they have any suggestions if you’re going to miss the deadline.</p>
<p>As Thumper stated, you could have used estimates…many people haven’t filed their taxes yet, so they use estimates in the meantime. Often people have their last 2011 paycheck stub or other things that they use to help them with their estimates.</p>
<p>Everyone should carefully read the deadlines and financial aid submission requirements of every college they are considering. Many students don’t realize at some colleges they need to apply before they are accepted. As noted above, it is much easier to revise financial aid info. that was submitted on time than to make a late submission.</p>
<p>Also, watch for deadlines for your state grant programs. I saw one college that said that if you fail to submit a state grant application on time, the college will not make up that difference in financial aid. </p>
<p>My son’s university said that they had great difficulties with late financial aid submittals, so they will now strictly enforce the deadlines. They said otherwise they had too many budgeting problems with late submittals. I’m guessing that some of the students who submitted the latest had the greatest needs.</p>
<p>Also, these financial aid deadlines have been posted on the school websites since at LEAST early fall. It’s not like they have been a secret until now.</p>
<p>It is very important to adhere to the published deadlines the schools have…they have them for a reason.</p>
<p>If you missed the deadline, only the specific college can tell you what that means in terms of financial aid for their school. Call and ask.</p>
<p>I’ve applied to several schools and it’s hard keeping track of all these deadlines! And knowing what to do- I had no idea the financial aid process is so complicated. Nonetheless, I’ll be in time for the March 1 deadliners, which is most of my colleges. I just missed out on those two. And I did complete my FAFSA with estimates. However, I didn’t complete the CSS. My dad had multiple sources of income and getting them all sorted out took a while. Nonetheless, thanks! At this point I can’t do much about it except hope it turns out all right. I looked on BC’s website, and they said they don’t even download all the FAFSAs until the end of Feb. Hope they let my whole app go through; I know I won’t be missing the deadline for next year.</p>
<p>Make a spread sheet with all dates and, if your parents speak English and have no other impediments to filling out FA forms they should be the one to do it. CSS Profile is very complex and this board is full of stories of people who did it incorrectly and ended up with Profile EFCs that seemed way out of bounds. There are a multitude of ways to go wrong with the Profile, so get on it with parents ASAP.</p>
<p>Common sense would say that financial aid deadlines would be a little looser than for student applications, just based on the difficulties, which may not be the student’s fault, in gathering the financial info (sometimes from a parent that doesn’t live with the student) about which the student may know next to nothing. That said, I’ve tried to get everything in early, since I think that’s still best.</p>
<p>Yes, thank you so much. I already finished and sent the CSS - by myself- yesterday using the actual numbers from my parent’s tax returns, which I also filed for them (they usually get their taxes done in April). I think the numbers are right though, I had my father check them. This is why I couldn’t complete the CSS using estimates- everything seemed off to me and I didn’t want to send them completely wrong. I’m about to fax/send for IDOC the tax documents too so hopefully I’ll be able to stall my worries until April.</p>
<p>^ there is a whole lot of information that the CSS asks for that isn’t on the tax forms. I hope you were able to get that information accurately.</p>
<p>Yes, lol, you don’t need to worry. I am extremely careful in precision when it comes to things like that. My parents know English, but barely; they don’t understand half the terms on these applications nor do they desire to sit down and input everything. In any case where I was not 100% sure what to put, I translated and asked them. Then I had them go over all the numbers before I submitted it.</p>
<p>P.S. The complexity of the CSS was why I didn’t just sit down and enter estimates, despite knowing roughly what income my parents made. I wanted a base so I could have most of the info filled before I started asking my parents for the rest of the info.</p>
<p>FYI - it might be too late for you, but in our community there are CPA FA specialists who will totally take control of your Profile and FAFSA and do it for you with consultation and follow up including appeal with schools. This service is about $500 in our area. If you think you might not know what you are doing RE CSS Profile you could save yourself many thousands of dollars and possibly a chance to attend a school of your dreams by getting your numbers right. We did the $75 5 family line-by-line evening and I found errors in my forms even though I had been working on them for weeks with a book as a guide.</p>
<p>“Common sense would say that financial aid deadlines would be a little looser than for student applications”</p>
<p>That could be true for schools with “unlimited” endowments and financial aid resources. Others may not have any more to give out after initial allocations to those filing on time; they may not have the luxury of following common sense!</p>
<p>I didn’t say it makes no difference when the application gets in, just that I doubted they would automatically toss an application that was completed after the deadline.</p>
<p>I was actually shocked that you had to give out all that personal information even before the student was accepted. I don’t mind the FAFSA so much, but the profile is very invasive. Its one thing to give all that information to a school that actually needs it because you were accepted, but to have that information on file with schools that you were rejected at is a little scary.</p>
<p>^^But only about 300 colleges use Profile so it’s a small group of potential students compared to the entire college bound population and the vast majority of colleges that use Profile are private…only a few are public. Those 300+ colleges ask what they want to ask…they are giving away their money.</p>
<p>Anyway, to the OP, deadlines are deadlines. Deadlines are generally not “arbitrary” so sure if you blow off a deadline you run a risk. There’s generally plenty of notice on what the application AND finaid deadlines are on the college website and in the literature you get form the colleges. Sure you can “call” and beg mercy with all the reasons why you missed the deadline, but do you really want to be in the competitive process with that blot on your record?</p>
<p>kjcphmom, no one has to give the Profile information. You have choices here…only 300 colleges require it. If you don’t want institutional aid from these colleges, then don’t apply there.</p>
<p>There is an IRS tax retrieval tool that hooks your FAFSA to your tax return.</p>
<p>If I had the time and the ability, i think the world is ready for a website that would present all of the admission and finaid deadlines for every college and allow you to set up an account to keep track with automatic reminders about various forms, etc.–unless such a thing already exists.</p>