Should I send the FAFSA to schools before knowing whether or not I got accepted??
Or should I send it only after I’ve been accepted? Will sending it after my acceptance hurt my chances of receiving a nice amount of aid?
I’ll be applying to some schools this upcoming fall (Class of 2018) and your help would be appreciated!!
You need to submit FAFSA early, and well-before deadlines. that is often before acceptances.
Where are you applying? Many schools give lousy aid no matter what.
Some/all of those schools require CSS Profile as well. And Vandy will expect CSS Profile and FAFSA to be filed in the fall so that if your accepted, they can give you an aid pkg.
Do you have a non-custodial parent? If so, some of those schools may require NCP income/assets info
NYU usually gives LOUSY aid, so try to pick another school if you need aid.
If you are applying for 2018 this fall, the earliest you will be able to do 2018/19 FAFSA and CSS profile is October.
But if any applications from colleges or common app asks if you are applying for financial aid, put “yes”.
The fafsa and Profile for 2018-2019 school year will,be available for completion and submission on October 1. They will use 2016 tax return information.
Get your forms submitted ASAP after October 1.
@mommdc @thumper1 thanks you all!
@mom2collegekids I do not have a non-custodial parent. Both of my parents are married (I live with them) but we have very low income (less thank 35k a year) so financial aid will be vital in my college decision.
Are you getting free/reduced lunch at school?
If you do, you can ask your GC for up to 2 SAT fee waivers and then subsequently you will have 4 application fee waivers from collegeboard. Also the fee of up to 8 CSS profiles can be waived I believe.
If your GC verifies your eligibility, you can also apply to all common app schools for free.
https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/get-in/applying-101/college-application-fee-waivers
https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/register/fees/fee-waivers
also check with the colleges, some have (suggested) deadlines for completing fafsa. From what I checked, they were not hard deadlines, however,the timeline will give you time to provide documents for verification before May 1.
@annamom I most definitely will do that!
@mommdc yes, I qualify for free lunch. Will the FAFSA also provide waivers for sending it to schools? I’ve researched and saw something once about there being a charge of $16.50 for each school added. Is it actually “free” or is there a charge?
The fafsa is FREE. Make sure younare using the fafsa.gov website to file it. If you are asked to pay for filing a fafsa, you are not in the right place.
You probably can get fee waivers for sending the Profile.
because of your low income status, I’m going to strongly suggest you look at your school list VERY carefully, AND reconsider apply early decision anywhere.
Before you apply, you should go to each college website and complete their net price calculator. This will give you an estimate of your net cost at that school. Do each one…because they will give different results. You need to have a sense of what the schools will expect your family to contribute. The NPC will not be accurate if your parents are self employed or own real estate other than your primary residence.
If you apply ED to Vandy, you will have ONLY the financial aid offer from Vandy…and won’t be able,to,compare the net cost of that school with any other. You will be given a very short window to accept or decline that acceptance. Here is the issue…Vandy might be giving you the best offer out there…or the worst…you won’t ever know.
Please reconsider NYU. The school does NOT guarantee to meet full need for all, and it doesn’t. Cost of attendance is MORE than $70,000 a year. The school is very well known for giving financial aid that doesn’t cover the costs.
In any event…apply for financial aid early. You are low income…and some forms of aid are limited and are offered on a first come, first served basis. So…send that fafsa as close to October 1 as possible.
No FAFSA is for federal and state aid and is free to file.
CSS profile is used by some schools and costs $25 for the first school and $16 for subsequent ones.
Yes, I agree, you will have to apply smartly to have several affordable options.
In the College selection forum you can post with your stats to get some suggestions of schools you might get into that give merit and need based aid at a level to make the schools affordable.
I tried to run the EFC calculator above for a family of three with $35,000 income and means tested benefit. The federal EFC was about $2,000.
So that means you might qualify for a Pell grant of around $3,900 and a student loan of $5,500. The rest of aid will have to come from the college in form of merit or need based aid.
Depending on your state, they might also offer grants to lower income students.
@thumper1 @mommdc Vanderbilt meets 100% need and I have the opportunity to compare my financial aid offers of other schools only if I don’t like my financial aid package. Thanks for informing me on NYU, I’ll definitely reconsider.
We have a family of 5 (including myself) and my 2 other siblings (who are dependents of my parents) will still be in college once I enter. We’re from MS also.
With that being said, I’ll also be applying to our best in state schools that we can afford. The schools I listed above were only my top choice, out of state schools, but I will be completely comfortable with going to my #1 state school (Ole Miss) if I can’t afford the others.
I wish we had some type of reputation system on CC. 1,000000+ positive reps for you guys. I can’t thank you all enough for your help.
you will NOT be able to compare your Vandynoffer ED to others…because you won’t HAVE the others.
If you decline your ED offer to Vandy…you are DONE with Vandy. Done. You certainly can do so because your financial aid is insufficient…but that will take Vandy right off of the table for you.
If you accept your ED offer from Vandy…all of your other applications MUST be withdrawn. MUST…so,that would take all of the other schools off the table.
It is highly likely you will need to give a ED matriculation decision to Vandy well before you have ANY other financial aid offers to compare it to…and that is the way it’s supposed to be for ED.
Simply put…Vandy might be your least expensive option…and it might not be. You will never know.
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Vanderbilt meets 100% need and I have the opportunity to compare my financial aid offers of other schools only if I don’t like my financial aid package. Thanks for informing me on NYU, I’ll definitely reconsider.
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Not true! Vandy is ED…it’s not EA.
You can reject Vandy if you don’t like your FA pkg, but you CANNOT delay in Dec so that you can compare other offers that will come in March and April. (Only with EA can you do this)
Do you understand?? You would get accepted to Vandy in Dec and see the FA offer at THAT point. If it’s not enough, you can quickly appeal, but you will be required to ACCEPT or REJECT by about mid-January at the latest. You will NOT be given the opportunity to compare to other schools since you will not have THOSE offers until SPRING.
You are misunderstanding the ED rules. You are allowed to REJECT or APPEAL and ED FA offer in Dec, but you CANNOT wait until spring to compare.
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got the same composite score from the last test. To be honest with myself, my study habits were subpar. I also feel down and pressured knowing that June is likely my last chance to score a 30 if I want to apply ED and Early Action
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Ok…right now, you don’t have scores to be competitive for Vandy or Emory, but with studying and retesting perhaps you’ll get there. Take the SAT as well.
What is your composite?
It appears that you’re premed, is that correct?
If you’re low income, then Ole Miss may not be affordable. Run the NPC on the website and check. Ole Miss gives lousy aid. How would you PAY for Ole Miss? Instate COA is probably about $25k per year.
How much can your family contribute each year?
Are you AA? If so, then target schools that want more diversity AND will give aid.
Apply to all the BS/MD programs, particularly ones at HBCUs.
Your FAFSA EFC is not what Vandy will use to determine your need. They will base the aid calculation on the CSS profile. It will look at income and assets, maybe home equity. When you have more siblings in college the aid might be better, but it will get worse once they graduate.
You can apply to Vandy, but in your situation, with low income and several in college, it is not a good idea to apply ED.
Like I said, a lot will depend on your stats, major, etc. It’s good that you have some affordable instate choices.
Yeah I know that I’m not competitive for Vandy or Emory right now, but I hope so by November. (I can dream right? lol)
Ole Miss is IN STATE (I’m from Mississippi) My brother got a full ride to Ole Miss with a lower ACT score than me. They offer a guaranteed full tuition scholarship to in state AA’s who meet a certain income bracket.
Yes I’m pre-med and African American. My parents told me they can contribute approximately $2,000 per year. I’m applying to 3 HBCU BS/MD programs so far.