No need based aid, but do I still fill out FAFSA?

Due to my parent’s income, I am not eligible for need-based aid. I will be clicking “no” on that question. Is there a benefit in filling out FAFSA? Will my form still go to the school? It seems such a waste of time since I’m not going to get any need-based aid anyway. One of my friends told me this really funny idea - she said that she is going to fill out the fafsa anyway even though her parents are well off and can pay for her tuition in cash. She said that colleges want to know that the students can afford to pay their high tuition, and the FAFSA will show this. Does that make sense?

No. If anything, there is a risk that at certain need aware schools, her app will go into the “applied for fin aid pile”.

The Admissions office has many many things to do during the application process. They receive a lot of applications. They don’t have time to look at each and every aspect of each application in detail, regardless of what they may say. A lot of things are done en mass and in bulk.

Schools vary in their procedures and are not transparent in how they do things. They may not be consistent in procedures. We cannot know how any given school deals with the financial aid process. We don’t know what the relationship is between the fin aid office and admissions. Sometimes they are headed by the same person and share the facilities. Sometimes they have little to do with each other.

It’s not a good idea to play games with the procedures without knowing what they are

If you want to file FAFSA for any number of reasons and you are not applying for financial aid, there is a little box that you can check that says “no” to the question, “Are you applying for financial aid” People do file FAFSA for reasons other than asking for an aid package from the schools. There are programs that want the FAFSA, families may want ready access to loans that one can get only with a completed FAFSA

You can skip FAFSA, after a certain income/asset level, it’s not necessary to expose your financial information as there is no advantage.

Some schools do require you fill it out even to get merit aid. I’d contact the financial aid departments at the schools you’re applying to.

If you are checking the box that says NO to applying for financial aid, then why would you complete a FAGSA which is applying for financial aid?

No one is required to file a FAFSA. Just make sure your parents are willing and able to pay the full costs for you to attend your colleges.

I’ve not heard FAFSA requirement for any purely merit based scholarship. Once requiring FAFSA always have some sort of need/disadvantage component. If you are not eligible for any aid, it’s unlikely for you to qualify for any need based scholarship. However, it’s always better to confirm with schools on your list. As majority of families does qualify for some aid, their answers reflect their situation and doesn’t help full pay/no aid situation.

@Riversider

There are some colleges that require financial aid forms be completed before they will disburse pure merit aid. Boston University has that policy in 2003 when my kid enrolled. Believe me, his was a totally merit award as it was a music performance award based on his audition. Our FAFSA EFC well exceeded the cost of attendance. The school asked for the forms and we complied. The merit award was substantial, and it was well worth our time to do these forms.

Families just need to check to see if the financial aid forms are necessary for pure merit aid. Schools will tell you their requirements.

There used to be at least one school that gave everyone who completed a FAFSA $1000. It was something. I know…why didn’t they just reduce the cost of attendance by $1000…but their policy was to give $1000 to each student who submitted the FAFSA.

In an era of hackers and scammers, $1,000 is not worth jeopardizing your financial privacy.

If you’re willing to forego $1,000 because you’re worried that completing FAFSA through https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa will put your financial security at risk, then you need to stop using credit cards, using software to complete and/or transmit your tax returns, or pretty much transact any business electronically.

Equifax said they had great cyber security in place, until it turned out they didn’t.

The federal Office of Personnel Management said they had great cyber security in place, until it turned out they didn’t.

Target said they had great cyber security in place, until it turned out they didn’t.

Anthem said they had great cyber security in place, until it turned out they didn’t.

Yahoo said they had great cyber security in place, until it turned out they didn’t.

Marriott said they had great cyber security in place, until it turned out they didn’t.

Etc., etc., etc.

DS got significant merit from many schools and we did not complete or submit FAFSA.

I would imagine that at most schools offering merit, it is unnecessary. But if you are concerned, check their website. BU states that FAFSA is required only for need based aid. Merit appears to not require it.

There are some merit awards that still require the FAFSA (or similar). Georgia Hope/Zell Miller does:

“Applying for the Zell Miller Scholarship
Must complete an application - FAFSA or GSFAPPS.”

Hackers don’t really care about your income or assets - it’s the SSN they are often after and that’s all over other paperwork unless you don’t want to reveal to the college.

It’s a personal decision, not to release that financial information. There are a lot of parents who refuse to do this, and their kids lose out on a lot more than $1000. Lack of parental cooperation to complete FAFSA and PROFILE is a real obstacle. Getting PROFilE completed by some NCPs is like trying to get certain people to release their tax returns.

One year, We were selected for verification when all we wanted was the Direct Loan for one of our kids. I dropped stuff off at the university financial aid office; a tax return maybe and some account information. That evening, saw the young financial aid officer who had all of this private info at the same restaurant, friend and I were frequenting, and he was people that did business with DH, and I residuallly knew. Yeah, a friendly wave and, well, what can you do?

I never acknowledge my clients in public first. If they greet me, I’ll reciprocate, but that’s not how things always work. Privacy is important to a lot of people and we all draw lines where we so please and want.

And yeah, I’d take that $1000 for my FAFSA. With our large family, not a whole lot private anymore anyways.

I have made changes in terms of leaving credit card info on accounts, however. I use just one card for any online payments. I don’t store card info. That wasn’t the case a few years ago but all of the above breaches of secure have made me more cautious about these things.