<p>Ok, our son is applying to get into college during Fall 2013. He is well on his way in filling in his college apps (already accepted in Rutgers).. and he plans to finish his regular apps by Christmas. So, my question is - when should we start thinking of Financial Aid and start filling in those applications? I never went to college here and have no clue.. so, FAFSA / College Financial Aid applications - when should we start filling those out? Thanks.</p>
<p>The Fafsa app doesn’t open until January, but you need to apply for a pin. If you have not done that here is the link: [The</a> PIN Web Site - Federal Student Aid](<a href=“http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp]The”>http://www.pin.ed.gov/PINWebApp/pinindex.jsp)</p>
<p>The first date you can start filling out FAFSA is Jan 1, 2013. FAFSA has tax options of ‘will file’ and ‘filed’ when you submit. Since it is beneficial to submit FA forms ASAP and because many fr FA deadlines are very early, my advice is to fill out FAFSA with estimates and submit as ‘will file’ quickly in the New Year. Then, when you taxes are finalized, you can revise your information and submit electronically as ‘filed’ </p>
<p>One hint: I estimate starting with taxes from the year before, but I make sure that the estimates I give result in a slightly higher need for FA than I think will be the final result. The reason I do this is because I’d rather have a little too much allocated to my child than to have to hope additional money will still be available later in the process. But I do mean slightly, I would not advise projecting wildly different numbers just to get a large preliminary FA offer and then end up getting much less when final numbers are in.</p>
<p>If your child has any schools that require Profile, that is a little different. Profile has been available since Oct, so you can fill it out anytime now. The big difference is that you can’t file revisions electronically with Profile. I still advise filling it out early with estimates, but later you will have to ask schools how they want corrections made (usually by hardcopy).</p>
<p>IMO the most important thing to start with is to go to the FA website for each college and make a record of their FA deadlines for fr admits and make a list of exactly what forms they require.</p>
<p>Where will your child be applying?</p>
<p>Many schools do NOT give much aid, so don’t let a FAFSA EFC confuse you into thinking that you’ll be given aid for “the difference” at all these schools.</p>
<p>No school is req’d to use the FAFSA EFC to determine your aid EXCEPT to determine federal aid, which isn’t much and is mostly for low income kids. </p>
<p>Federal Pell grants are for those with EFCs that are below about 5000.</p>
<p>CSS Profile is req’d at many of the best schools that give the best aid. But, again, not all CSS schools “meet need”.</p>
<p>You may find that your FAFSA EFC (estimated family contribution) or your CSS “family contribution” is a LOT higher than you can afford. </p>
<p>It is VERY important that you tell your child NOW how much you’ll spend each year on college. That way there won’t be any surprises later when school expect you to pay more and your child expects you to as well.</p>
<p>Run some of the Net Price Calculators at some of his schools to get an idea. These are just estimates…assume that they are “best case”.</p>
<p>Wow… this board really rocks! Thanks for all the great pointers here … really appreciate your quick feedback.</p>
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You can only fill it out if you have some clue what the numbers will likely be. In our case it will have to wait, chips falling where they may. We’ll get it done as early as realistically possible.</p>
<p>You really need to look at the website for each school he is applying to. Go to the Financial Aid section (or through the admissions pages there are often links to financial aid for incoming freshman). It is VERY important to review each one and make a list of all the dates and documents due. You can’t actually fill out the FAFSA until January 1, but if the school requires the CSS profile, it can be turned in now. We made a spreadsheet of the dates for tracking them.</p>
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<p>Estimate: An approximate calculation or judgment of the value, number, quantity, or extent of something.</p>
<p>I don’t see any discrepancy between an estimate and ‘some clue’. Although if it were a matter of going past a deadline, which for fr admits at some schools can be as early as Feb 1, I’d submit a WAG if that’s all you’ve got ;).</p>
<p>The dad should run the NPCs on each schools’ website. Doing this NOW may eliminate some of the apps that still need to be done and paid for.</p>