<p>what would happen if i missed the deadline for a certain colllege? will they not give me money or will they just give me less?</p>
<p>It truly depends on the college. Some colleges say the financial aid ‘deadline’ is more of a guideline and in fact, if you get in your finaid info around that time, you’d be fine. Other colleges deem the finaid deadline as just that- a deadline. Complete cutoff, with your financial aid package post-deadline consisting majorly of loans and work-study with limited grants and scholarships (which were given to those who applied on time). </p>
<p>It worries me your asking this on March 3, considering the finaid deadline for most was yesterday…</p>
<p>Get the financial aid applications done immediately and submit them to the schools. The reality is schools have deadlines for a reason. Most schools want to give students their financial aid awards in time to make an enrollment decision by May 1. This means that many schools send the financial aid awards WHEN or very shortly after they send your admission letters. For schools sending the letters by April 1…doing an application at the beginning of March (or later) doesn’t give the schools much time to process your financial aid application. GET IT DONE. You might want to call each school and see what the ramifications are.</p>
<p>Some schools will be lenient with those deadlines…but not too many. Some schools award money on a first come/first served basis. Some AWARDS (e.g. Perkins loans) are on a first come/first served as the money is limited at each school. </p>
<p>Your school(s) will tell you what issues you might have.</p>
<p>My understanding is that for schools that DO NOT meet full need…late applications are processed AFTER the ones that were submitted ON TIME. This, of course, could vary by school.</p>