Just got a frantic text from my daughter. Her best friend’s mother “missed the financial aid deadline by 1 day.” She is wondering if there is anything she can do. Friend attends an in state school. We don’t qualify for aid other than loans so I am not too familiar with all the ins and outs of this. If she takes a gap semester can she apply for aid for Spring or does this all have to be done earlier. I suggested gap semester and begging the school. What are her options?
Any entitlement aid; pell grants, federal loans, state aid that the friend is eligible for they will still receive. What your friend will miss out is Perkins loans, FWS (if she were eligible) and any opportunities for school based aid; merit money and need based aid. Taking a gap semester will not most likely change that because that money has been allocated for the year.
She didn’t miss the deadline for FAFSA because that’s next June. She might not be considered for any institutional need based award (or merit if there was a deadline for those), and the school may be ‘out’ of some things like work study or Perkins loan funds. What was she expecting based on what she got last year?
There might not be any more of the ‘extra’ money for the spring semester either. Sometimes it’s all awarded in the fall. She should also make sure any merit would be available in the spring. My daughter’s merit is ‘8 consecutive semesters’ and they are pretty strict about it.
She should call the FA people immediately. I’ve been chatting and emailing away with both my daughter’s schools today. Seems everyone has realized there is a missing form or signature and could I provide it immediately? I’ve found them to be quite nice, and I’m trying to be pleasant too (although really, can’t they use the DRT info and not require tax returns and W2s?).
Thanks I thought she was out of luck. I feel so bad for her. Just found out her mother knew this for quite some time and just told her daughter today! School starts in less than four weeks. I just don’t get people sometimes.
She needs to get the materials in ASAP…and contact the college to find out what the impact on a late application is.
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Friend attends an in state school
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So, she’s a rising sophomore? If she was needing aid other than fed aid, then she can ask the school if she can take a year of absence, and then submit for her aid early next year. She won’t be able to get aid for Spring, because that aid was part of that earlier deadline.
God knows why the mom just told her now. Likely because the mom didn’t want to listen to her D being upset all summer. However, unless they have another way to pay for school, the mom was just delaying the inevitable.
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Her best friend's mother "missed the financial aid deadline by 1 day."
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does that mean that the mom submitted FA paperwork one day late??? Or does that mean that the mom realized the FA forms were due the day before so she didn’t bother to submit anything? (I suspect it was the latter, and not the former.)
@mom2collegekids - Yes she is a rising sophomore. I also suspect she did not bother. Her daughter is low on her priority list. I am the one who helped her daughter choose which colleges to apply to and I also helped her with the common ap.
Well, the D needs to call her school and ask for a leave of absence. Then, after Jan 1st, this D needs to MAKE SURE that the FA forms are filled out BEFORE the deadlines.
This D has learned a painful lesson. She can’t rely on her mom for things like this. She must take control of these matters to make sure things get filed. She may not know this, but she can file with estimated numbers from the year before and then correct them later. At least she’d “be in line” and not miss deadlines.
I suspect the whole “missed by a day” is a big fat lie. The mom likely blew the whole thing off. Disgusting, but sadly there are parents out there like this. Sometimes it’s just jealously…maybe the mom is jealous that the D is having this college experience that she didn’t have? Who knows.
If any of her aid should have been state aid, she needs to find out what she needs to do during an absence to make sure she doesn’t lose that.