<p>Okay, so I was not aware that you had to file for financial aid the same time you were applying to schools. I didn't know that's how it worked. I figured you waited to apply for financial aid until you were accepted to schools.</p>
<p>well, apparently not.</p>
<p>I was recently accepted to Cornell ED (whoooooo!), but realized today when they sent me the official acceptance letter that I had not yet applied for financial aid. So I went online thinking "oh, well I should probably do that now that I'm accepted.." and what do I find on their site now that I'm looking for it? Financial aid stuff had to be in by nov. 1. Holy s***.</p>
<p>So, in a panic, I sent their Financial Aid department an email explaining what went wrong, and tried to fill out as much of the CSS Profile form as I could, but my parents are gonna need to pull out their tax return to fill out the rest.</p>
<p>I'm freaking out. There is no way I will be able to go to cornell without a buttload of financial aid. So, what does this mean for me that I'm so late in filing it?</p>
<p>You need to get on the phone and CALL the college on Monday. Talk to someone in financial aid. They will tell you what to do. </p>
<p>On your ED acceptance, you also should have a deadline date for acceptance of admission. IF the college says they will process your financial aid with your late application (ASAP), then you need to also ask or an extension of that ED acceptance deadline UNTIL you have the financial aid package in hand.</p>
<p>I hope you didn’t check the box “will not apply for financial aid” when you applied to the college.</p>
<p>Good advice. Pick up the phone absolutely. Pick up the phone as soon as possible on Monday. Have your parents get the paperwork done before Monday. You might consider having one of them nearby when you call the college …and you’ll need the forms anyway if this ED becomes a problem and you need to pull triggers for other schools. Agree if you checked the will not file box you have bigger problems.</p>
<p>I’m slightly perplexed that neither your parents nor you understood that your ED would come with a cost to attend that would be determined by your financial aid forms because your time to accept is short. How did you or your parents think you could make a decision without knowing the cost? You and your parents also need to think about what you are going to say when you call Cornell.</p>
<p>I definitely DID NOT check ‘will not apply for financial aid’, because on the common app for Cornell, there was no box for whether you would or not…</p>
<p>The reason we were unaware was because I guess when they applied to college (like, a million years ago) it worked the way I thought it did. Acceptance, then financial aid. And my misunderstanding I guess came from assuming all financial aid went through the fafsa (which isn’t due until January)…</p>
<p>And when you say “know what to say to Cornell on Monday” what do you mean exactly? Like, are they going to be…mad?</p>
<p>Well, what you need to ask Cornell is if you can immediately submit the Profile AND if you can have an extension for replying to your ED acceptance. You want to be prepared for this conversation as you really did miss their deadline for ED student financial aid applications so you really need to have yourselves composed and know what you are going to ask of them before you call. Otherwise, you will probably get quite flustered.</p>
<p>Good luck to you. I hope this works out for you.</p>
<p>I don’t know what I’ll do if there’s nothing they can do. I was so excited in my happy college bubble, and now it’s totally burst and ruined. I’ve fallen in love with the school and campus and now I may not be able to go at all because of the money and my own stupidity and ignorance. I feel like an idiot. =[</p>
<p>You made a mistake and you’re not the only one who has done so. Call Cornell and discuss this with them. Hopefully they will be able to help you.</p>
<p>Don’t mean to resurrect an old thread, but I have some advice for other people in this same situation: Call like the other posters suggested, and if that doesn’t work, take a gap year. You refile for financial aid every year, so after your gap year you can file on time and voila. Not a perfect solution, but better than being forced out of Cornell and into a community college.</p>