<p>I submitted my FAFSA Thursday, February 28. </p>
<p>What happens next? Do I receive something from my colleges? How long does that take?</p>
<p>You will receive from FAFSA your SAR (Student Aid Report) which will have the EFC (Estimated Family Contribution) at the top corner. Lots of alphabet soup! You might then have to send to your schools some other financial documentation, such as parent tax returns, your tax returns, if you had to file them, non-filer statement if you didn’t have to file them. You should contact your schools’ financial aid offices, or look on the web sites to see what else you may need to do. If you have submitted all of the paper work that the various schools require, then just sit back and wait until they give you the news, either good or bad, about Financial Aid.</p>
<p>How long does it usually take to receive the SAR?</p>
<p>About 2-4 days.</p>
<p>Usually a couple of days. You can check online also. Go back to FAFSA site and click on the part that says “Check on the status of a submitted FAFSA.” Or something like that. You will need to input your PIN or your password. It might already be up there. When I submitted my D’s renewal, it was there in one day, and it took a couple of days to get the email that it was processed.</p>
<p>Is a SAR different for each school?</p>
<p>No. The FAFSA has nothing to do with the schools’ ability to give aid. The SAR comes from the Feds, and is basically your families Estimated contribution based on the info you gave FAFSA. You will probably find that the Financial Aid packages that you may be offered vary widely, and may in reality seem to have little to do with the SAR’s numbers. It’s kind of weird, and seems to be random.</p>
<p>" Based on the information we have on record for you, your EFC is A HUGE NUMBER. You are not eligible for a Federal Pell Grant but you may be eligible for other aid. Your school will use your EFC to determine your financial aid eligibility
for other federal grants, loans, and work study, and possible funding from your
state and school.</p>
<p>Bad News, I guess. :[</p>
<p>How long does it usually take for schools to send there own Financial Aid Letter?</p>
<p>They often send their letter of aid together with the acceptance letter, or it could come shortly after that. Depends on the school.</p>
<p>I was accepted to most of my school in November and December because of Early Decision.</p>
<p>Each school has there own COA (Cost Of Attendance) which you should be able to find on the schools website.</p>
<p>The financial aid department takes your EFC away from their COA - the difference is your ‘need’. The financial aid package is based on your ‘need’.</p>
<p>So say your EFC is 3100 and the school’s COA is 18560 - your perceived ‘need’ would be $15,460 (18560-3100). The financial aid would be made up of grants (if you qualify for any) which could be Federal, State and/or institutional, loans, work study. Many schools do not meet full need so you may have a gap - ie your need may be 15460 but you may only get 11,000 in aid.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure my EFC is higher than my schools COAx2. But my parents are only willing to give me 10k of the 33k needed. I also have a 10k scholarship from them. </p>
<p>Maybe I will write them a letter to see if there is something they can do</p>
<p>Oh - ouch. Good luck with that.</p>
<p>Do you have a financial safety? I hope you do.</p>
<p>Yes, I do. I’m not going to say the name of the school because if I do, then people will think it’s absurd that I’m wanting to go to the school I want to go to. </p>
<p>The school I need to find 10k for is a better fit for me.</p>
<p>“…The school I need to find 10k for is a better fit for me…”</p>
<p>33k cost of attendance minus 10k from parents minus 10k from scholarship equals 13k for first year (likely more each subsequent year as tuition rates increase) for a minimum of 52k for four years. So, you actually need to find over 50k.</p>
<p>Sorry I meant to put 12.5 from parents a year. so roughly 10.5 a year. I figure I can work each summer and apply for scholarships each year as well.</p>