<p>... is there a reason to submit the FAFSA anyway? </p>
<p>Like it is easier/possible to get a Campus Job, independent scholarships (not that my kid is applying for any,really, but I can dream!), etc., if you have the FAFSA filled out?</p>
<p>This is our first year of getting a kid ready for college & I am willing to do what we need to, but don't want to do any unnecessary work (especially if it means I have to get our taxes done earlier than normal!)</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Some of the loan programs require the FAFSA, but I am not an expert. You can estimate on the FAFSA, so you do not have to have your taxes complete to submit.</p>
<p>If you fill out a FAFSA (even if you don’t qualify for aid), your child can take out an unsub Stafford Loan. So, if you want your child to have that option, you need to submit a FAFSA. Some kids (who don’t need the money for tuition, room, & board) borrow using Stafford to pay for their study abroad semester extra costs.</p>
<p>If you fill out a FAFSA, your child might get considered for some merit scholarships from the school. Some schools require FAFSA submission for merit scholarships consideration (I guess they want to be sure that they aren’t giving big money to Bill Gates’ children.
LOL )</p>
<p>However, in our case, my kids got merit scholarships without FAFSA. So, for that particular reason, it can depend on the school.</p>
<p>Some schools won’t let students apply for financial aid in later years if they don’t apply for it their first year, so some families apply “just in case” there is a job loss or other calamity in the future.</p>
<p>Thanks you all. Sounds like it is worth a call down to to the school.</p>
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<p>Some caveats to that: schools can’t not let a student apply for FA any year. And must award them any fed/state/other public money they qualify for.</p>
<p>Schools can refuse to give institutional aid in later years, since it’s their money. Whether many actually follow such a policy is unclear. When our income changed, S’s school sounded mystified when I asked, after reading this here, whether we could apply. Of course we could, they said, and we did receive institutional funds.</p>
<p>Some outside scholarships also want to see your SAR report for awarding aid to potential recipients.
For any Federal loans, and work study you must submit FAFSA.</p>
<p>Periwinkle - I never dreamed of applying to FAFSA because I knew we would not qualify for anything. Last week I got a call from my son’s admitted college and was reminded that there would be no money coming our way if we did not fill out the forms. Three times I said to her “but I know we won’t qualify”. She finally got through to me and said that since they were a private school and that even if our income was off the charts, she would give us $5000-8000 per year - but ZERO if I didn’t do the FAFSA. She let me just enter an estimate.</p>
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<p>You can file FAFSA with estimated numbers if your 2009 taxes aren’t done yet. But don’t forget to file a correction when you do have actual numbers.</p>
<p>What should one do if all college applications were checked off “not planning to apply for financial aid” and now it makes sense to file the FAFSA (for the reasons stated in this thread, other school funding/loans eligibility)?</p>
<p>Even if you said that you weren’t applying for FA, you can still file a FAFSA for a Stafford Loan. That doesn’t cost the school anything, so it’s not really asking the college for aid. Does that make sense? </p>
<p>I believe that same logic applies for FAFSA and scholarship consideration, since scholarships aren’t really FA.</p>
<p>Thanks mom2collegekids, It does make sense, but at all the presentations I’ve gone to now that it is Senior year, they keep including loans and scholarships in the “financial aid” bucket. One school our Senior applied to sent a large “grant” letter along with their acceptance. I looked back and on every application that asked, theirs included, the box was checked saying we wouldn’t apply for financial aid.</p>
<p>I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize this fantastic grant offer, but I also want to see what other offers might come through if we submit the FAFSA - the whole thing about if you submit FAFSA even if you don’t qualify for “financial aid” where schools will begin to consider offering other funding like grants or scholarships.</p>
<p>We had one school say that if we didn’t send a deposit in they wouldn’t offer any money! And that same school wants the FAFSA to award scholarships as well. Very confusing.</p>
<p>Would you recommend that I contact the school that offered the big grant and see if submitting a FAFSA will affect their offer?</p>
<p>*Would you recommend that I contact the school that offered the big grant and see if submitting a FAFSA will affect their offer? *</p>
<p>That would be the best way to know for sure. :)</p>