FAFSA..do we need to fill out if paying out of pocket?

[HeatherC]

We filled out FAFSA last year when Dd was a senior. She is now commuting to a local university and we are paying out of pocket with no loans. She is going to, however, apply for some scholarships through the university that are available for the fall semester.

With this in mind, do we have to fill out FAFSA?

Thanks!

 

[tvguy]

That would be a question for the financial aid office at the University she is going to. I am almost certain the answer will be yes. FAFSA pretty much is a requirement of every University and College before they will even consider you for any kind of scholarship, grant, loan or work study.

 

[DisneyOma]

Yes, for any kind of money from the school, you have to do the FAFSA. At least, we did for both girls at their private schools. I know my friends with kids at public university had to do it as well. Check to see if they have any other requirements too. We had to fill out the CSS for one daughter.

 

[jen73]

Our Dd just graduated a couple of weeks ago from a private university and while she received a huge scholarship, we paid the balance out of pocket. We only filled out the FASFA her senior year in high school. I'd definitely call the school to ask.

 

[Pooh2]

We filled it out the first year, did not receive any financial help and did not bother with it after that. Our kids did get small academic scholarships for each year based on high school grade point average and SATs, we did not need to fill out FAFSA for that money each year.

 

[cvjw]

DS receives the Zell Miller Scholarship in the state of Georgia for free tuition.

Filling out the FAFSA is not required for this scholarship.

We pay out of pocket for everything else.

We have never filled out the FAFSA.

 

[dina444444]

Check with the school. Some schools still require it for merit based scholarships.

 

[sk!mom]

DH just said at dinner that he would be doing the FAFSA tomorrow.

DD19 is a sophomore at a state Uni. Her University requires it for any aid. She receives an academic scholarship. We pay everything else out of pocket but we still fill it out. She just declines the loans when the aid offer comes.

 

[mom2boys]

In addition to being used for scholarships, it establishes that college costs were being incurred. Our financial aid office told us that if students need aid in later years, the fact that prior education expenses were paid out of pocket will qualify the student for additional aid.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

At our daughter's college, the FAFSA was necessary to release awards she already received that were not based on financial need. I would check with your school.

 

[nkereina]

Aside from it being an annoying form, is there an advantage to NOT filling it out? Just wondering. I filled it out every year for undergrad and grad. I had no undergrad loans, but did for grad. I did get grants and awards throughout both undergrad and grad, and suspected it was a result of the info from my FAFSA. If it wasn't, still no harm in filling it out from what I could tell.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We filled out FAFSA last year when Dd was a senior. She is now commuting to a local university and we are paying out of pocket with no loans. She is going to, however, apply for some scholarships through the university that are available for the fall semester.

With this in mind, do we have to fill out FAFSA?

Thanks!

Better safe than sorry if she is applying for scholarships. My dd had merit scholarships which required you to fill out FAFSA.

 

[ez]

FAFSA is so annoying. As an adult I was taking 2 classes at the local college paying out of pocket, I knew I wouldnt be getting any aid. But then I kept getting emails hounding me to fill out the FAFSA, so I did because I guess I am a rule follower and compliant type of person. Then I get an email later on that I have to go thru some kind of audit and go down to the main campus cause the FAFSA and school records didnt match up or some odd thing. This was really inconvenient to me as the main office wasnt the local one where I would attend classes. In the end I guess they concluded I had done nothing criminal in my application but of course got no aid which I never expected to begin with. So annoying!!!!

 

[deedeetoo]

I just checked the schools that my daughter is looking at and not one of them require Fafsa for merit based scholarships. This is definitely a school specific thing.

 

[Sadie22]

Scholarships offered through my husband's employer require FAFSA. My children's colleges required FAFSA as well as institution-specific forms. State programs through which they received funding required FAFSA. National programs to which they applied as upperclassmen required FAFSA. Graduate programs required FAFSA from the student, but I don't think parental information was used. I recommend that everyone file it so the information is there when needed.

I remember attending a parent financial aid meeting at a university when attending an open house with one child which happened to occur the day before the university's financial aid application deadline. There were parents there who had no idea they should have previously filed any information in order for their children to be eligible for financial aid at that institution.

 

[gwynne]

Aside from it being an annoying form, is there an advantage to NOT filling it out? Just wondering. I filled it out every year for undergrad and grad. I had no undergrad loans, but did for grad. I did get grants and awards throughout both undergrad and grad, and suspected it was a result of the info from my FAFSA. If it wasn't, still no harm in filling it out from what I could tell.

Some parents prefer to keep their Financials secret from their kids. I do know of a situation where the parents felt that way.I tend to think keeping options open is generally better. Might as well fill it out.

 

[scrapquitler]

We filled out FAFSA last year when Dd was a senior. She is now commuting to a local university and we are paying out of pocket with no loans. She is going to, however, apply for some scholarships through the university that are available for the fall semester.

With this in mind, do we have to fill out FAFSA?

Thanks!

We filled it out when our daughter was a senior in high school (for her freshman year). She was admitted to one school with a four year merit based scholarship covering full tuition and fees, and the amount that we were expected to pay out of pocket far exceeded the cost of her books and room/board payment, so because we knew we'd be paying out of pocket for those items, we did not fill it out for this year (her sophomore year), nor do we intend to fill it out for her remaining two years.

Having said that: check with the school, some schools may require it anyway.

 

[Sadie22]

We filled it out when our daughter was a senior in high school (for her freshman year). She was admitted to one school with a four year merit based scholarship covering full tuition and fees, and the amount that we were expected to pay out of pocket far exceeded the cost of her books and room/board payment, so because we knew we'd be paying out of pocket for those items, we did not fill it out for this year (her sophomore year), nor do we intend to fill it out for her remaining two years.

Having said that: check with the school, some schools may require it anyway.

From experience of additional merit funds being awarded to upperclassmen, I recommend filling out the FAFSA every year.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

From experience of additional merit funds being awarded to upperclassmen, I recommend filling out the FAFSA every year.

Yep. You never know what could be offered.

 

[crjack]

We filled out FAFSA last year when Dd was a senior. She is now commuting to a local university and we are paying out of pocket with no loans. She is going to, however, apply for some scholarships through the university that are available for the fall semester.

With this in mind, do we have to fill out FAFSA?

Thanks!

We have not had to do the FAFSA for our daughter to receive her merit scholarship money......as long as we pay the balance due each semester her school doesn't require it. (She also attends college here in MA). We know we will not qualify for any aid so we don't bother with it.

If she needs to take any loans prior to graduation we will have to do one but for now we have not. Definitely not a requirement across the board so I would check with her school.