I heard from a counselor that once it hits February, the available money of FAFSA to applicants will decrease. Wait even longer to next month and the money pool decreases.
Due to new information, I have to correct my application once it finishes a few days of processing.
Is the thing about the money pool true? If so, is it a sharp cut-off based on months, or is it a gradual decrease based on who has applied already?
Say, someone submits on January 30 and it finishes processing February 2. If the cut-off exists, would the applicant's timing count as within Jan or February?
So someone who submitted in January corrects the FAFSA later to add the 2015 tax return (or any info) in future months. Will that cause a "refresh?" As in, would it count like they had never submitted in January and submitted it much later?
Of course all of the FAFSA is based on EFC and college. However I am assuming that applicants get "locked" into a priority based on date, with the most tardy receiving less than the earliest even with the same circumstances. Am I wrong about this whole thing?
What they are talking about is ‘extra’ federal money like a SEOG or work study award. Those are for those who have need. The school might also have some grant money that the school may choose to award first come, first served. There is no hard date when the money ‘runs out’ (and Pell money and loan money never run out) but I know people who stay up on NYE to file ASAP because they feel that’s their best change to get those extra, need based awards at their schools…
One daughter received some of those extra funds last year from her private school, the other did not and I filed very late (not freshmen, sophomores).
Everyone has to ‘refresh’ to get the tax info. It doesn’t take you out of line.
Ok thank you. This makes more sense. Already filed, although it’s not the earliest date its not too late either. Now that I know this I’ll file earlier next year.
FAFSA doesn’t give you money. It is a financial aid application form that is used primarily to determine your eligibility for federally funded need based aid. Some schools also use it to figure out institutional need based aid.
Some forms of federally funded aid have limited funding over campus, so it’s goo to get the fafsa completed ASAP if you might be eligible for these…federal work study, and SEOG if your college has it.
Each college and state has deadlines for their aid. Apply later and you have less chance on receiving aid other than Pell and Fed student loan, if you would otherwise qualify.
I believe for FAFSA it counts when it is first submitted. Nobody has their 2015 tax return finished on Jan 1, 2016.
The IRS just started accepting returns on the 19th.
So people that want to file earlier make an estimate based on the last paystub from 2015 or 2014 income if it is similar, and then updates after taxes are filed and processed.