<p>ive heard mixed reviews on this question, should we submit fafsa now and edit it later? or submit fafsa when taxes are done? some people say more aid is availible to thoes who finish early, others say just wait... any opinion guys? thanks</p>
<p>file it earlier than later with best guestimate on income section, if you cannot file your taxes early and adjust later when you actually file. Even today, you can sign in and complete most information, save it for up to 45 days, and return to complete income portion and then submit using the pin you must apply for.</p>
<p>It seems that more and more schools are requiring students to use the tool that links your tax filings directly to the fafsa, which of course, you can’t do until a little after you have filed taxes. Without the “Data retrieval tool” being used, my D’s college would not accept the FAFSA, so doing it too early didn’t seem to pay off at all. Gather all tax documents, ecourage your parents to file very early in Feb. Most colleges have due dates that accommodate filing in very early Feb and filing the FAFSA by mid Feb. Check each school’s website for dates.</p>
<p>alot of my schools have feb 1st deadlines… hmm should i just submit now?</p>
<p>Yes, if your schools have a Feb. 1st deadline, file a good estimated fafsa before then. The data retrieval tool being discussed won’t be available until Feb. 3. Still file taxes as soon as possible and use the tool at that point.</p>
<p>Many places say to file FAFSA as early in January as possible since some federal student aid is available on a first come first-served basis. But does this work? Does the federal government use the date of the original FAFSA filing (let’s say Jan 3rd, 2013) as a date-stamp when granting federal aid such as Pell grants and Work-study? Does the college use this date stamp also for granting federal aid or institutional aid or is the date stamp just what the federal government uses in granting federal aid? Also, if I go back on Feb 7th, 2013 to make edits to the FAFSA based on my actual filing of 2012 tax return, will my original Jan 3rd, 2013 date stamp be retained or is my date stamp now Feb 7th, 2013?</p>
<p>Thanks very much!</p>
<p>Pell funds aren’t limited so anyone who qualifies will get their Pell. Direct loans aren’t limited either. Work study and a few other programs are or may be limited. Each school gets a block of money for these programs and the schools divide it up among qualified students as the school sees fit. These funds can run out, so it’s better to get your fafsa in with estimates sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>The general thinking is the first date of filing fafsa will be used by schools even after updating it with final numbers.</p>
<p>It varies by school. My daughter did actually miss out on some limited funds (SEOG, WS,) one year because she was verified and by the time we sent the documents (very quickly) they had awarded the funds. It was really annoying as we filed FAFSA very early. She asked them why she did not get the awards as she had previously, and when they looked at her papers they said it was because she was selected for verification and they then ran out of funds.</p>
<p>But I would still suggest filing early and doing your taxes as early as possible.</p>