<p>So, I read that I will receive my EFC and Student Aid Report roughly 3-4 weeks after submitting the FAFSA...And that is regardless of when I submit the FAFSA, right? If I submit it on January 3rd or something, I'll get it near the end of January or early February? </p>
<p>Will I need to look specifically at each college as to when I shall receive an aid package, or will the colleges start sending me the packages shortly after I receive my FAFSA reports? Also, my family accumulates large medical bills and the colleges are at least to an extent, aware of this. When would be the appropriate time to send them the receipts and any necessary forms to have that considered when evaluating my EFC? Any answers would be wonderful.</p>
<p>If you sign your FAFSA electronically, you will get your SAR and efc in a few days, as long as you provide an email address. Most schools(not all) provide financial aid letters with decisions beginning the last week of march no later than april 1st, which gives you a month to make a decision. It really depends on the school. As far as documentation of your medical bills, the financial aid office will let you know if it needs additional documentation. Some schools give scholarships before your actual admission letter arrives. For example my daughter, has already been given scholarship money from two universities. I made her apply to all schools by 12/1, which is typically the cut off to be considered for merit/institutional scholarships.</p>
<p>It has been a couple of years since we filed FAFSA, but we always got the EFC almost instantaneously once it was submitted and the SAR was available within days, not weeks.</p>
<p>Contact your school about when/how/what to submit your medical bills for a possible adjustment, but I would ***not ***wait until you receive the financial aid offer to submit data for a special circumstances adjustment. Some aid has limited funding and if it has already all been awarded to others by the time you submit the data, it can not be offered to you no matter what your adjusted EFC is. Submit it as early as possible. </p>
<p>We did one my daughter’s first year of college because of medical expenses. We had a thick stack of medical bills and statements - I included a summary page on the front - not something the school asked for but it was useful for me and I think they found it helpful. Be sure to ask about and include everything they will consider. In addition to the main hospital bills, we sent everything including out of pocket prescriptions, dental etc as they said they would look at it all. The way it worked was that the school reduced our income to reflect the approved out of pocket medical expenses (less an amount already included for medical expenses in the FAFSA income protection allowances - I think it was a couple of thousand dollars). Then they reran the data through the FAFSA formula producing a new EFC.</p>
<p>If OP’s parent(s) are unable to get a PIN #(not being a citizen or permanent resident), it can take approximately 3/4 weeks because everything is done snail mail (including all changes as a new signature page has to be printed, signed and mailed).</p>
<p>Op, if your parents are eligible to get a PIN, they should do everything electronically because it does speed up the process.</p>