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PSA: Submit FAFSA 2019-2020 on 01 October 2018


Lanny
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If you have a student who is a Senior now, the FAFSA for the 2019-2020 school year will be available on 01 October 2018.  The student and one parent need to get an FSA ID before they can sign the form.

Whether you have a low income or a high income, submit the FAFSA form!   I  watched a YouTube video this afternoon that said approximately 40 or 50% of families do not submit a FAFSA, assuming their income is too high to qualify for Financial Aid, but that many of those families would receive it, especially from schools with large Endowment Funds. 

ETA and Correction:   I watched that video again. He said that between 40 and 53% "of eligible" families do not file the FAFSA.  Those families would receive some benefits, if they had filed the FAFSA.

 

Edited by Lanny
ETA and Correction
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35 minutes ago, Jen500 said:

Does anyone know, if your student was selected for verification last year, does that mean they have to verify every year? Or is it 'fresh' every year, and they're selected either randomly or because of a possible issue?

I had to do verification only one year of my undergraduate. I did not the following year. From what I was told, it's randomly generated. 

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DD and I will, hopefully, do the FAFSA for 2019-2020, later this morning, after Breakfast.   Yes, it is NOT due today. today is the first day it is available. However, the earlier one submits the FAFSA and other documentation  the schools require, the more money is available to them. It is not an endless pool of money.  

I watched several videos about filling out the FAFSA form and mistakes people make when doing that. The most interesting comment was that the students should check with the Financial Aid Office of  each school they specified the FAFSA be sent to, to verify that they received it. And. to ask if they need additional information. I suggested to my DD that she do that on October 10th.  An email to each one.   Most of the schools DD will apply to also require the CSS Profile, so she will include in her emails to those schools that she knows they need the CSS Profile and that she will submit that,  ASAP.

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DD submitted the 2019-2020 FAFSA approximately 70 minutes ago.  I think it took us approximately 1 3/4 hours to provide all of the information.  We had no problems with the web site, although at the end I did see a message that they were experiencing some intermittent issues.

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5 hours ago, Lanny said:

DD and I will, hopefully, do the FAFSA for 2019-2020, later this morning, after Breakfast.   Yes, it is NOT due today. today is the first day it is available. However, the earlier one submits the FAFSA and other documentation  the schools require, the more money is available to them. It is not an endless pool of money. 

That is not necessarily the case.

Federal aid does not depend on the date of filing the FAFSA.

Many schools give fixed amounts of aid for meeting specific criteria (GPA, test scores) and have fixed formulas that calculate need based aid based on parental income.

Also, schools do not usually calculate an aid amount before the student has been admitted. For many schools, that is spring. So, if they are not making their admissions decisions until March, you have plenty of time with the FAFSA.

ETA: certain states disburse state fin aid based on FAFSA date. But even then, you won't get aid before you have been accepted.

 

Edited by regentrude
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9 hours ago, Jen500 said:

Does anyone know, if your student was selected for verification last year, does that mean they have to verify every year? Or is it 'fresh' every year, and they're selected either randomly or because of a possible issue?

 

Random. Both of my kids' were selected once (one of those times, both kids were at the same school & one was selected but the other wasn't.)

 

1 hour ago, regentrude said:

ETA: certain states disburse state fin aid based on FAFSA date. But even then, you won't get aid before you have been accepted.

 

We're in a state like that, and if the FAFSA isn't submitted within the first month or two, no funds are left. You have to submit the FAFSA even if you have no idea where you'll be accepted (and you can amend later and change the school you listed if needed). The funds aren't actually disbursed for another year or more! but eligibility is based on that submission date, so one can't wait. 

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17 hours ago, regentrude said:

That is not necessarily the case.

Federal aid does not depend on the date of filing the FAFSA.

Many schools give fixed amounts of aid for meeting specific criteria (GPA, test scores) and have fixed formulas that calculate need based aid based on parental income.

Also, schools do not usually calculate an aid amount before the student has been admitted. For many schools, that is spring. So, if they are not making their admissions decisions until March, you have plenty of time with the FAFSA.

ETA: certain states disburse state fin aid based on FAFSA date. But even then, you won't get aid before you have been accepted.

 

 

Yes.  I was referring to aid from the schools.  But the FAFSA is the first step on the road to getting the Financial Aid Packages next Spring.

However, what I have read, and in the videos I have watched, they all strongly suggest that the sooner one applies, the more $ the schools have available. It is not an endless pile of money.

And, yes, some things are automatic. Both from the Federal government and from the individual schools.

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On 10/1/2018 at 5:24 PM, MerryAtHope said:

We're in a state like that, and if the FAFSA isn't submitted within the first month or two, no funds are left. You have to submit the FAFSA even if you have no idea where you'll be accepted (and you can amend later and change the school you listed if needed). The funds aren't actually disbursed for another year or more! but eligibility is based on that submission date, so one can't wait. 

 

We aren't 100% sure about colleges yet, but have submitted the FAFSA. Should it be amended each time she adds a school to her list or just if she decides for certain on a school not on the list?

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1 hour ago, Woodland Mist Academy said:

 

We aren't 100% sure about colleges yet, but have submitted the FAFSA. Should it be amended each time she adds a school to her list or just if she decides for certain on a school not on the list?

 

That probably depends on how serious she is about a school and whether their financial aid package would make the difference in whether she would attend there. If it's a serious contender and you need to see their financial aid package, then you'll want to add the school on to the FAFSA--they can't put together a package until they have access to that. Is there a date by which she'll have most of her applications in though? I'd think she'd have most of them in this fall--maybe you can just go in once to add in any additional schools?

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