<p>I have special circumstances that should affect my financial aid decisions (loss of income & disabling illness) that will not be reflected in the FAFSA & CSS because they happened late in the year. </p>
<p>I applied to 13 schools and obviously, I expect to be rejected from some of them. </p>
<p>Should I just appeal the aid decisions form the schools that accept me, saving myself and the other schools a lot of trouble?
Or should I start contacting all the offices after I send the FAFSA & CSS?
Should I contact all of them right now? </p>
<p>I'm not sure what the usual procedures for this are, and I can't find any info on their websites.</p>
<p>(in my title it should say "notifying colleges"...that's embarrassing lol)</p>
<p>Gather up the details of your situation and draft a general letter. That’s step One. </p>
<p>Then go ahead and pick a college that is not your most favorite (of your list of thirteen) and do a “practice run” of contacting their financial aid office by email and saying that you do have some significant changes in your life and do they want the details at this time?</p>
<p>If they do, then tidy up your draft of dates/circumstances and send it in (by email or snail mail according to their preferences). </p>
<p>Now that you’ve done this once, it is going to just get easier. Rinse and repeat the process with four colleges on your list. Take a couple days off from obsessing and then take a breath and do four more. Again, take a break of a day or so. Finally, now you are down to your last four – take a deep breath and go through the process one last time. </p>
<p>Now you’ve done your best – and in a timely manner. Give yourself GREAT credit for dealing with a tough hand to the best of your ability and be kind to yourself until March.
Good luck. This may be a very hard spring – but hang in there.</p>
<p>Don’t send a letter until AFTER you complete the financial aid stuff. They can’t do anything with that until they process your original aid package.</p>
<p>It would definitely help if you waited to find out which schools have offered you admission. It does take a bit of work and it’s possible that each school will ask for more than a letter - supplementary docs, tax returns, etc. When I used Professional Review, we had to submit a pile of papers. That only went to one school and it was a hassle to make sure everything they needed was in there. </p>
<p>Nothing to be embarrassed about. They handle this all the time - in fact, in the last few years, more often, due to a terrible economy. It’s called Professional Review. You do need to get the forms complete before they can do anything, however. </p>
<p>Your aid package might be delayed.</p>
<p>Are there any need-aware schools you are applying to? If so, it’s possible that could hurt your chances somewhat for admissions. Need blind schools won’t care.</p>
<p>I ended up doing pretty much what olymom said. (thanks!) I e-mailed a general description of my situation and questions to all the schools. I’ve gotten extremely varied responses like:</p>
<p>-it would be in my best interest to submit a letter of special circumstance and supporting documents asap (signed and through snail mail) </p>
<p>-full out their special form, then add the letter & documents </p>
<p>-just to describe my situation in the comment part of the FAFSA & CSS and do not send any documents to their office (this one is kind of weird, how would they be able to take it into account without documentation???) </p>
<p>-wait until I get my aid package and if that’s not adequate they’ll have special froms available then </p>
<p>If someone is in a similar situation to mine, it is very important that you contact each and every school separately and ask them. They all seem to prefer a different process for this sort of thing.</p>
<p>*just to describe my situation in the comment part of the FAFSA & CSS and do not send any documents to their office (this one is kind of weird, how would they be able to take it into account without documentation???) *</p>
<p>I expect they will not adjust #'s for 2011 much, but may when they are more evident in 2012.</p>
<p>Make sure you have applied to a financial safety school you are willing to attend. As emeraldkitty points out some colleges will not adjust until the following year as aid is determined by the previous year. You are not going to know until spring how each college handles your situation.</p>