<p>Can a student not check that box--and make that decision later?</p>
<p>Or must that be checked in order to apply for fin-aid at a school?</p>
<p>I would highly recommend reading the schools fa policy. At some schools they are very up front that if you do not apply for FA during admissions that you cannot apply later.</p>
<p>If you don’t check many schools will consider you as not needing aid and not forwarding your application to FA. You may decide after you get the package, that you may need aid, and there will be none available (other than loans).</p>
<p>sybbie719, how will a college look at things if a student doesn’t apply for FA and, during the admissions process, the sole breadwinner in the family loses their job?</p>
<p>That would probably be a special circumstance and the school would let the student amend it. However, there would be a real chance that no institutional aid would be left and the student would only have access to federal aid.</p>