<p>Here’s the way I read this “poll”; Maybe you shouldn’t check the box if your EFC is way more than the COA, but never hesitate to submit the FAFSA after the application is in. Perhaps submitting a FAFSA and sending a copy to the school, is not the same as applying for institutional financial aid.</p>
<p>Also, many on CC say admissions office doen’t see financial aid stuff, and vice versa.</p>
<p>Momsquad, I feel as you do. You can call the particular schools your kid is applying to and ask the FAFSA question. I called one today and found out the FAFSA is not necessary. Re being able to tell by your FAFSA information if you qualify, my understanding is that the admissions office does not see what the financial aid office sees. They only see the application which has the box checked or unchecked. I don’t know what really goes on though.</p>
<p>I did not file for FAFSA for D1 but someone in her college forum suggested she would get some merit aid if I had file for FAFSA. I did I filed late, like April, but she got nothing. I know I won’t file for FAFSA again for D2. I found the form very intrusive and unless I need aid badly, I won’t bother.</p>
<p>I called a school today, and was told that since they are need blind they don’t even consider financial aid requests at application time. However I have also read that this school is one that “discounts” tuition to applicants with good stats. We may check the box for some schools and leave it unchecked for others. I think that is possible, need to tackle it again this weekend.</p>
<p>Some students do actually come out ahead in the merit aid department. It does depend on whether their school allows them to keep merit aid from outside sources. Some schools use outside funds to offset their awards and/or financial aid. My D is a UGA Fellow with her scholarship including an OOS tuition waiver and a stipend that essentially covers tuition, room, board and books etc. She also receives $5000 per year scholarship from our home school district as well a nominal amount as a NMS (this would have increased if we had financial need). As outside scholarships are not absorbed by her school, all funds are funneled through her student account and any excess is refunded directly to her. Finances were not a make or break issue when it was time for her to decide which admission offer to accept but the amazing people and opportunities coupled with a true full ride made it her first choice hands down. Other schools also offered big merit money but none of them had the “stackable” scholarships; her money from local scholarships would have reduced her institutional merit money. Schools vary on how they handle these awards and it can make a real difference in out of pocket costs. And, she is loving it all! And we’re saving the college fund for graduate school. She will, of course, be taxed on some of her awards but she is budgeting for that.</p>
<p>My daughter has a full tuition merit scholarship. Additionally, she gets a check each semester for her National Merit Scholar award. We do not fill out any financial forms, nor have we ever been asked to fill anything out. If we thought we would be eligible for aid, we could apply and put any aid toward her living expenses. Because the NMS money comes in after her fees (and up to this year campus room and board), she just deposits it and saves it for something she wants.</p>