<p>Yes, I am a dingus. I mistakenly clicked "no" to the "Do you intend to apply for need-based financial aid?" to some colleges on the future plans section on the common app. The fact of the matter is that I do need need-based financial aid and will be filling out fafsa. Is this a big big deal? And does anyone have any advice towards preventing a major mishap from occurring (if my situation is indeed solvable)? I plan to e-mail the admissions office, but I'm not sure that'll work towards them fixing my mistake. I feel like an idiot, I'd really appreciate any advice. Thanks.</p>
<p>Email your schools.</p>
<p>However, you need to also look at each school’s website and see what else they require. If these are pricey schools that give lots of aid, then they likely require CSS Profile as well and maybe their own forms. And, if your parents are divorced, they may want Non custodial parent info as well.</p>
<p>??? Why are we seeing several of these: “I mistakenly said that I didn’t need FA” threads? I can understand if something major happened (loss of a high paying job or parent death), but this almost looks like a strategy kids may be using to get a “leg up” for admissions or a way to delay committing to an ED school while the school processes a very late FA request. I’m not saying that this kid did this.</p>
<p>You need to send a letter/email to each Admissions office. The reason most of them ask the question on the common app is that many colleges have separate Admissions and Financial aid offices. When you are accepted by Admissions, your name goes on the Accepted Student List that goes to Financial aid. If you indicated that you are NOT applying for financial aid, then your name may not go on the list, because Financial Aid only puts together files and tracks the FAFSA/PROFILE and do the calculations for those on that list. They are not about to have to sift through every single accepted student as they are under the gun enough to put together packages for those who applied for aid. They have to coordinate the timing of the packages with Admissions so students get the aid package either with or slightly after the admissions offer. </p>
<p>Also some admissions offices “rate” each acceptee. The rating is meaningless most of the time, but in some cases when that student is a candidate for financial aid, it can mean a great package if the student is one of the most desired that is mostly or all grants and full need met, or it could mean all or mostly self help. Also some schools are not need blind in admissions so applying for financial aid can make a difference in the admissions decision.</p>
<p>All of these things depend upon the school, so you need to let Admissions and Financial aid know along with filling out all of the paper work. There might be special forms required or additional questions answered for some merit within need awards that are eligble only to financial aid recipients. </p>
<p>ALso, at some schools, earlier is better. When they run out of the goodies, then that’s it, you get what’s left, and get a skimpier package. That is particularly noticieable with certain federal loan/grants that are limited. So if you want the money, you had better let them know, because it can make a big dfference in things from how much you get awarded to whether you are even admitted.</p>
<p>Some kids may just have automatically clicked “no” without at thought, or it was just a mistake. Some think that clicking "yes’ is going to affect the admissions decision, which is possible at some schools. The thought is that if they wait until after the acceptance and then ask for aid, they can have their cake (admisisions decisions as a full pay, financial aid as full need) and eat it too, particularly at schools that guarantee full need. What they don’t get, is that the full need guarantee is really not a guarantee at all with all sorts of caveats. Even the most generous schools have caveats. Definition of need, if you miss the deadlines, if you don’t come up with every shred of paper they ask for, certainly categories such as certain schools within a college, certain programs, transfers, international students, returning students after a break in attendance, and really any category they please can be excluded from the guarantee. It’s the school’s own money and they can do what they please with it. Also many of the schools that are need aware for admissions will not give you aid in later years if you apply as full pay. They are well aware of this game. If you need money afterwards, they want to see the tax info for the first year and compare for change in circumstances or they may have a sit out period regardless.</p>
<p>Thank you for the advice, I’m not trying to levy my chances either way, it was purely a mistake.</p>
<p>Not saying you did. If your colleges are all need blind in admissions, unlikley that there are any ramifications. FOr those schools not need blind, if your Admissisons officer thinks you are trying to game him…well, you can see how that looks.</p>