<p>So when my daughter filled a renewal FAFSA, she used estimated data because we were having some difficulties with our taxes.</p>
<p>The deadline was in February. The school states that in order for her to receive priority funding, she had to submit her FAFSA by that deadline (even if using estimated data).</p>
<p>We finally got our taxes squared away and realized my daughter's EFC should about 1500 higher. She gave her a copy of our tax documents ASAP and she gave them to the office yesterday. The FA office requires any changes to FAFSA after aid has been awarded to be supported by documentation.</p>
<p>While I am glad we did the right thing, I'm worried that we might have messed up our daughters financial aid package beyond repair because we made these corrections so late. Did we submit our corrections too late? (Corrections I assume leads to the FA office throwing away the old package and making a new one based on remaining funds)</p>
<p>Maybe I am asking the wrong question. Maybe what I mean is when a college awards the student aid, will they literally adjust (i.e in my case reduce) aid after recalculating the student’s eligibility, or start fresh with an empty package?</p>
<p>When you amend the FAFSA to reflect the numbers on our tax return, the college will (if there are changes to income /assets) make changes to your financial aid package to reflect the accurate figures. Any financial aid package you get BEFORE you amend to reflect your tax returns would be an ESTIMATE.</p>
<p>So had there been no change to income, the estimated package would have been the finalized package?</p>
<p>If there is a change, then they’ll adjust the estimate (say for example, my daughter’s EFC went up 1000, and my daughter’s aid package included a $1000 grant, they would most likely remove the grant to make sure they weren’t giving her too much money) and make that the final package?</p>
<p>Every school handles these changes to the final FAFSA differently. When DD was an entering freshman, we did her FAFSA in January using estimates. We did our taxes on February 15 and also amended the FAFSA that day to reflect the accurate numbers. Our daughter had received three financial aid packages based on the estimates (she was accepted EA to two schools and rolling to one and these schools all sent early estimated financial aid packages). When the FAFSA was changed…ONE school reduced her grant aid by $6000. The other schools didn’t change her package AT ALL. So…it all depends on your kiddo’s school.</p>
<p>I see. I understand now.</p>
<p>I just wanted to make sure my daughter isn’t stripped of her entire financial aid package because we made corrections so late.</p>