<p>I started a similar thread last year and got some wonderful inputs. Here's a link to that discussion. Hope it helps.</p>
<p>Sybbie -- Unless I am misunderstanding you, Brown's policy seems to make it clear that there is no need to fill out the FAFSA before the loss of job or other significant change in circumstances.</p>
<p>According to Brown's statement, the change of circumstance (loss of income) must occur after the FA deadline in order to be considered for FA due to a change of circumstance. </p>
<p>For example: Brown's FA deadline is Februay 1. If you did not apply for FA your change of circumstance must happen after Feb 1 for them to consider you for FA. I think if you have other kids coming down the pike to attend college, and your current child is considering Brown, then you should apply for FA in the admissions process since they do not take additional children attending college into the equation as a change in circumstance.</p>
<p>I would think unless you are 100% sure that there will be no fluxuation in your income; you are definitely not losing your job, your investments assets have not lost any money, no other children lined up to attend college, grad or professional school, you can guarantee that there will be no unforseen medical /elderly parents expenses (and with this current economy, who can say?) than you should feel free not to apply. However, I do feel that this can be a situation while a little time consuming can put in the category of an ounce of prevention...</p>
<p>Momofteen, thank you for starting this thread, and mountains, thank you for the link to your earlier thread. Very helpful.</p>
<p>if your S/D wants to apply for unsub federal loans - which are not need based- then fill out the form. If there is no need for a loan, then I wouldn't bother unless the school has some mandatory "must file as a freshman" clause.</p>
<p>My 2 cents.... You never know what might happen..... 6 months ago we would NEVER have filled out the FAFSA. Today, job loss, high $ mortgage....let's just say you never know what the future holds.....</p>
<p>Emeraldkity4 is correct. We complete both the FAFSA and CSS each year as it is required by S private college. We do not received aid from the school but by completing these forms. S still gets his subsidized loan (which is his investment in his college education)</p>
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<blockquote> <p>We do not received aid from the school but by completing these forms. S still gets his subsidized loan >></p> </blockquote>
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<p>For students without financial need, the stafford loan would be UNsubsidized...meaning that interest would begin accruing when the loan is dispersed.</p>
<p>If subsidized (when there is need), there is not interest until the student graduates or leaves college.</p>
<p>I mentioned it on another thread, FASFA is reguired by D's school to "receive full range of MERIT scholarships" We followed the rule with great success. D is a sophomore and continues getting more and more Merit scholarships from her college. She got additional $4000 for returning students for her 2nd year and just a week ago, school informed her that she got another $2,500 for this year, she did not even apply for it. Obviously she met qualifications, but what if (hypothetically) there were 3 people meeting qualifications the same scholarship and she was the only one with FASFA readily available? I strongly advise to file FASFA and other documents if reguired. We are nowhere close to any kind of need based FA, but we will continue filing for the rest of D. college year.</p>
<p>*For students without financial need, the stafford loan would be UNsubsidized...meaning that interest would begin accruing when the loan is dispersed.</p>
<p>If subsidized (when there is need), there is not interest until the student graduates or leaves college.*</p>
<p>That is a good point- I wonder if some families don't really realize that interest is accruing- since student loans aren't paid back until they leave school.</p>
<p>If you have high liquid assets and the school doesn't require the form for merit scholarships, don't bother. A job loss isn't going to make a big difference with high liquid assets.</p>
<p>Financial aid officers at private schools have a good deal of latitude in giving aid. The most generous of them have made it clear that you are in better shape to get money if the forms are initially on file if things change in the family finance scene. That is one reason to fill out the forms. Also if you want your child to take a Stafford loan which is an easy way for him to get a loan on his own, you need FAFSA completed. Also there schools that do have merit money that need FAFSA or school financial forms for eligibility.</p>
<p>The problem is that you don't know if you are missing out on money or if there is truly nothing in the pot for you unless you go through the process. We do not qualify for aid at all according EFCs of any sort. However, our older son did get some nice grants for a program when we completed the forms, and this year our third son got some money for which you had to have forms completed. They did not even look at the forms, from what I gather; they just used the clearinghouse feature of FAFSA to screen for loan eligibility, so you had to fill it out. $5K renewable is not chump change. We had completed the forms dragging our feet mainly to get the STafford loans for son who wanted to borrow about $5K.</p>
<p>Your household financial information has value and the only truly secure computer system is the one that's been smashed to bits. We've had well publicized cases of government workers and contractors looking up personal information on people. We've had loads of companies lose large numbers of customer and employer information. And we have a major drug provider that's being blackmailed with the blackmailers threatening to release millions of patient records if they aren't paid.</p>
<p>I've held huge amounts of personal data in my hands and in my file cabinets as part of a previous job that entrusted me with large amounts of personal data for diagnostic purposes. Of course I destroyed it when it was no longer needed. But there are large numbers of people with access to personal and private data that don't necessarily make that much and there is always temptation.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reminder--sometimes we need to just weigh our options & figure out what makes the most sense as a family.</p>
<p>HImom - My advice is to check the specific school requirements. We won't qualify for need-based aid, but D's first choice school requires the CSS profile for merit aid. To my knowledge, that is not common and I might have missed it looking at their fin aid web site; luckily they emphasized it at the on-campus info session. H and I debated long and hard about submitting so much detailed personal financial info, but finally decided to go ahead.</p>
<p>If a school uses Profile or FAFSA to figure out their financial aid for need based aid, it stands to reason that they also may want it for merit aid. We found that to be true for both FAFSA and Profile schools and my poor husband had to fill out both one year. Our kids (one attended a profile school, the other a FAFSA school) both got merit aid but it was required that they fill out the FAFSA or Profile to get it. Since both need to be done pretty early in the process, certainly before a decision is needed, it made sense for us just to do the forms.</p>
<p>The school my kids attend (D will be joining S) do NOT require any paperwork for merit aid, other than a 1-page renewal form every year. S received significant merit aid & we have never done any paperwork regarding our assets. Thanks for your suggestions--I found that some schools did require financial forms for merit aid, but it does vary greatly among schools.</p>
<p>Isn't the bottom line that it just depends on what the individual has? If you have a million or more in assets not including your primary home, and according to statistics many of the upper middle class do, even a job loss won't get you aid.</p>
<p>It's clear that if you're borderline and a job loss would throw you over the line you should do the paperwork. But is anyone suggesting you should do it if you have significant assets?</p>
<p>My error his loan is subsidized He did not receive the full amount available as a sophmore but we were glad he got something. This loan is his responsbility once he completes college.</p>
<p>The only time we filled out a FAFSA was for 1st child, when I mistakenly thought it was necessary for merit aid from her likely college. </p>
<p>She got the scholarship, the FAFSA wasn't necessary, and I never told DH we filled out that aggravating form for nothing. (Shhhhhhh....)</p>