So now that we have heard back about decisions, when should we be expecting a decision about financial aid or scholarships?
Good question. Did you get an answer anywhere?
When both of my kids were entering Freshman, we received the FinAid Letter around mid-April. However, both were selected for FAFSA verification, which means additional paperwork, and may have prolonged a final decision by NCSU.
If the FAFSA has been submitted with “final” IRS numbers using the IRS data retrieval tool, and all requested documents mailed to the FinAid office, I have found in years past that you usually hear within 2-3 weeks (assuming we’re past the priority filing deadline of March 1st).
For what it’s worth, in the last 5 years of helping my kids navigate financial aid at NCSU, I’ll mention a few tips for those whose FAFSA is selected for verification:
- Complete your Federal Taxes as soon as possible, and file electronically. I cannot emphasize this enough. Your tax filing will take much longer to be processed otherwise.
- Certainly complete the FAFSA by NCSU’s priority-filing deadline of March 1, even if you are only using projected figures while waiting on the IRS, which leads to #3.
- About 2-3 weeks after filing Fed taxes, log back into FAFSA and use the Data Retrieval tool to import all your final IRS numbers. Waiting on the IRS to process your tax return is the the time-killer. I have found if you are getting a refund, they process faster. If you owe money, they process much slower. All this to say, using the data retrieval tool is key, since no FAFSA is final until actual figures are imported (at least for those selected for verification). Then after the data is imported, it was another 2-3 weeks for a letter from the FinAid office.
Again, this is coming from two at NCSU who were selected for verification. I have another child at a different UNC system campus who has not been selected for verification. She always gets her results faster. However, her school’s awards have not been near as generous as NCSU’s. Good luck!
I was also wondering the same. I called last week and was told letters would go out with scholarships/financial aid info. “mid April”. I was hoping he would have already made a decision by then.
@klinger I sent the FAFSA during February to NCSU and I was selected for the verification as well Even if I send all the paperwork really late, will I get my aid letter by mid-April, but only with estimates, right? Or they won’t send me anything, not even estimates, until I send the verification paperwork?
@ypn217, I’ve never heard of NCSU giving estimates. In the past 5 years, I have not received any Financial Aid Award Letter until all requested verification paperwork was submitted. And, of course, that required filing my taxes and using the IRS data import tool to finalize the FAFSA. Sorry I can’t be more encouraging, but I just plug away and got the paperwork done as soon as possible. Also, I communicate with the FinAid office as needed to assure them it has my full attention. Fortunately, things relax a bit after Freshman year, since there is no “big decision” to be made about which school or which offer to accept.
May 1st is usually the date for awarding financial aid.
If they wait till May 1st for incoming Freshmen, they might as well expect their yield to be be very low.
Freshmen have to commit on May 1st, so waiting until the day you have to commit is not going to work out well for many.
I don’t understand why schools can’t have their act together and give the details by third week in March.
I contacted the financial aid office and they told me that they are beginning to release scholarship decisions this month and then award packages next month…kinda disappointed because I was hoping to have all my FA and admissions decisions by april
@tx2016 and @fflmaster, agreed. We are operating similarly, expecting to choose final destination by end of April or 2 weeks into it at the latest. Now it sounds like we may need to adjust. It never hurts to call. One scbool my son applied to via CA had an error to his gpa calculation that was significant. If we hadnt called he never would’ve received auto academic schol, invite for Honors or consid for competitive. We have had to call multiple times, so it is good to keep in touch and develop relationships. You need allies.