<p>I recently just discovered that one college I am applying to will only let me apply for financial aid in my freshman year--I cannot apply for aid later on without applying for aid in my first year. Is this a common procedure in most colleges? This really worries me, as my family was not planning on applying for financial aid until I am in college/unless circumstances change. </p>
<p>I could list every college I applied to here, if that helps.</p>
<p>Last time I checked you apply for the fasfa before college to compare aid options</p>
<p>that’s not what he/she is asking…every school is different, you have to check.</p>
<p>Pinkle, some colleges will not allow you to apply for need based institutional aid in subsequent years if you do not apply as an incoming freshman. You need to ask each college you are applying to for their policy as it does vary.</p>
<p>There are a number of colleges and universities that have this policy. I recommend that you do apply for aid this year. You won’t be awarded any aid if you don’t qualify, and applying for aid will not put you on some kind of “applicant blacklist”. All it will do is assure that you have a file in the financial aid office and if anything does happen and you need aid in the future, you will be able to be considered for it.</p>
<p>as my family was not planning on applying for financial aid until I am in college/unless circumstances change.</p>
<p>Was your family planning on applying for aid once you’re in college? if so, some schools don’t like that because it looks like you tried to “game the system” by pretending that you don’t need aid to get an admissions boost, and then later apply for aid.</p>
<p>Agree you need to ask each college. If your parents are confident they can be full pay for all 4 years then they probably don’t need to file, but there is no downside to filing this year and only potential upside. Some colleges want families to file for distribution of merit money so do ask every college where you have applications</p>
<p>My family is afraid that the potential downside to filing for financial aid is that colleges will find out how many schools/where else I applied to. </p>
<p>As of now, we feel secure in our ability to pay, but things could change very quickly, as in almost any situation.</p>
<p>Also, we don’t feel like we’d get any financial aid at all based on our income and the different savings we have.</p>
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<p>While this comes up regularly as a concern, I can’t say I’ve ever seen any evidence that it actually manifests as a problem.</p>
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<p>Then, as many have recommended, you should check websites/call/email schools to find out their policies. And for any that require you to apply for FA as a fr in order to be considered for future years, you should apply this year.</p>
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<p>You do realize that colleges KNOW that students apply to more than one place.</p>
<p>For the FAFSA, you can file and send it to College A, wait a couple of days to receive your SAR which indicates that it has been sent to A, enter the system again, delete A and put in the code for University B, send it off, and repeat as needed.</p>
<p>I’ve never filed the Profile, but I expect pretty much the same thing can be done there too.</p>
<p>To the OP and others…</p>
<p>The VAST majority of schools…the admissions office has virtually NO CONTACT with the financial aid office. It’s not like admissions is going to pick up the phone, and call financial aid and say “what other colleges were on Student A’s FAFSA and Profile?”…sorry…not going to happen.</p>
<p>There are thousands of kids applying for admission to most schools. Can you imagine if the admissions officers made those calls about all the students? Sorry…I think this is an unfounded worry.</p>
<p>No haha I feel better if it’s an unfounded worry.</p>
<p>I’m currently in the process of emailing every school to see if they will allow me to apply for financial aid later on. Again, the only reason we wouldn’t apply this year is because we feel secure RIGHT NOW (things could change!) and we have a good amount of savings.</p>
<p>I’ll be interested to hear what you learn. It seems like such an odd policy to me. I find it hard to imagine that a college could say to you, “Gee, no, I’m sorry your previously-gainfully-employed parents both died after long and costly illnesses, but we can’t help you because you didn’t need help two years ago. But, hey, if they’d been struggling then and you’d needed financial aid then, we’d up the amount we give you now because of this tragedy.”</p>
<p>* I find it hard to imagine that a college could say to you, “Gee, no, I’m sorry your previously-gainfully-employed parents both died after long and costly illnesses, but we can’t help you because you didn’t need help two years ago. But, hey, if they’d been struggling then and you’d needed financial aid then, we’d up the amount we give you now because of this tragedy.” *</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s ever been a post where someone didn’t apply for FA for their frosh year, and then a huge tragedy occured a year or two later (major breadwinner died, etc) and the school refused to allow them to apply for FA. Schools must have some kind of caveat for those drastic situations.</p>
<p>DeskPotato -</p>
<p>Perhaps not in the specific case that you describe, but yes indeed, there are places that restrict aid to those students who apply for freshman year. In fact within the past couple of months a student posted here in Financial Aid that due to an unexpected reversal of parental financial fortunes he/she was going to have to find outside scholarships and/or leave his/her college because that college subscribes to this type of policy.</p>
<p>Which is why we’ve advised pinkelemonade222 to check out the places on his/her list. Better safe, than sorry.</p>
<p>I have received a lot of responses. While the majority of the colleges I emailed said they would allow me to apply for aid in later years, there are a few colleges that have specific rules. </p>
<p>I’m glad I asked!</p>