FAFSA question

[mefordis]

What is the purpose of filling out FAFSA if you know without a doubt you will not be getting financial aide, and are prepared to pay cash with no loans? I'm new to all of this and I'm getting ready to do the common app and FAFSA today, but wondering if I should just save time by skipping FAFSA.

 

[mom2rtk]

I believe some schools require FAFSA to accept scholarship money. Even if it's merit money.

 

[Avery&Todd]

I believe some schools require FAFSA to accept scholarship money. Even if it's merit money.

Yes - this is true - we're paying cash for our son's in-state college tuition and we know we don't qualify for any free federal money, but are required to fill out the FASFA - it is also required when he applies for program specific funds.

So far he's gotten zero, but that's fine....

filling it out the first time is a pain but you can have it pull in your taxes from the year before and that really helps -I knock it out every Oct 1st so I dont forget!

 

[Southernmiss]

Some colleges require it for merit aid.

I've been completing it since 2012 for our 4 kids. 2 different colleges have required it.

I have to put it on the to do list for this year.

 

[cvjw]

Our sons did not get any federal aid or scholarships, so we never filled out a FAFSA.

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

We also don't qualify for anything - except - her college requires it to be eligible for any merit money. She receives one small grant for completing the various enrollment paperwork early every year, for example. So, we complete the FAFSA.

 

[soccerdad72]

Like others have said, it's often required in order to qualify for merit aid.

After the first year, however, we haven't completed it again. The merit scholarships haven't gone away.

 

[kdonnel]

Georgia has the HOPE scholarship that for many kids pays all or most of tuition. To get it you either need to fill out the FAFSA every year or GSFAPPS once.

I go through the motions filling out FAFSA each year because I never know if I will have a job during the entire school year. I believe having filled out the FAFSA would make it quicker to get unsubsidized loans should I lose my job during the school year.

 

[rwdavis2]

In our experience there is no such thing as merit money. There almost is always some income evaluation or other scholarship dollars in the equation.

But we always filled out the FASFA. Finally paid off when my wife went out on disability.

 

[bjscheel]

You probably wouldn't have to, but check with your college to be sure. I've filed it every year just because, even though we never got any aid or loans, and the merit wasn't dependent on it.

The only thing is that over the last two school years, the school has handed out CARES Act money to students, and has tiers based on EFC. If a student hasn't filed FAFSA, they get the smallest amount. I know that for 2019-2020 school year, our EFC put DD in the middle tier, so she got a couple hundred extra for having filed FAFSA. That might not be a thing in future school years though.

 

[mom2rtk]

In our experience there is no such thing as merit money. There almost is always some income evaluation or other scholarship dollars in the equation.

But we always filled out the FASFA. Finally paid off when my wife went out on disability.

That's not true. DD's University offers bright flight and a several other levels of additional scholarship money based solely on ACT/SAT scores.

 

[robinb]

Eligibility for federal student loans is also tied to the FAFSA. We filled it out one year, saw that our DD was only eligible for unsubsidized loans and didn’t bother to fill it out again.

 

[AussieFan8]

That's not true. DD's University offers bright flight and a several other levels of additional scholarship money based solely on ACT/SAT scores.

Definitely! My daughter has several merit scholarships (based on ACT, GPA, essays - not income-based) that add up to a full scholarship. (I think she goes to the same college as yours.) We have never had to fill out FAFSA.

 

[design_mom]

We also haven't received any subsidized loans from the FAFSA.

1) Some schools require it to be on file for school-granted merit money. My niece's school does. My son's does not.
2) Many (but not all) outside scholarships ask you to submit a copy of your EFC report if financial need is considered as part of the scholarship criteria. (We have several local scholarships that are not given SOLEY based on need, but need is considered as one of the potential criteria.)
3) When my son's school distributed money from CARES for COVID relief. Every student who had filed a FAFSA got some. Students with more need got more than students without demonstrated need... but students without a FAFSA on file did not receive any.
4) I have been told that having it on file makes it easier to change/update if you should have a change of financial circumstances during the year. However, we have not had that situation, so I don't have personal experience with that.

I've filled it out for the last 4 years... and we've only gotten a benefit one time (COVID money), but... it's not THAT hard (although it is a chore I do not look forward to), so I do it "just in case."

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

What is the purpose of filling out FAFSA if you know without a doubt you will not be getting financial aide, and are prepared to pay cash with no loans? I'm new to all of this and I'm getting ready to do the common app and FAFSA today, but wondering if I should just save time by skipping FAFSA.

Fill it out anyway. You never know when your financial situation may change and you'll need to apply for aid. Also, you never know when a government grant your kids are eligible for will come along. It's a lot easier if you've already filled it out.

 

[robinb]

3) When my son's school distributed money from CARES for COVID relief. Every student who had filed a FAFSA got some. Students with more need got more than students without demonstrated need... but students without a FAFSA on file did not receive any.

We did not fill out a FAFSA for 2019 or 2020 and my DD did not receive any CARES money at her university. She could have applied for it, but she would have shown some kind of need and we paid 100% of her education/room and board. Some parents on my DD's university's parents FB page bragged about their kids getting money even though they were not eligible for financial aid. I figured I would leave it for kids who really needed it.

 

[tvguy]

I filled it out for both kids. Oldest got $10,000 grant from his private University per year because of it. Youngest went to a state university and got nothing, but the tuition was like $2,500 a year.
I know way back in 1975 my mom looked at the FAFSA forms for me and said "this information is none of their business, I will pay for your college"

 

[mrodgers]

Speaking of scholarships, where do you look to find available scholarships? I'm clueless about this.

My oldest went to community college and now since totaling mom's car, she bought her own car and now has to work. So through FAFSA she has grants that paid for her community college.

The other one wants to go away to college for 4 years. She is battling NOT wanting to be #1 in her class right now because she doesn't want to give a speech at commencement. We have no idea how to go about all this, meanwhile a coworker's kid gets a full free ride because she's skinny and can run and kick a ball. So one of my kids had to quit college and the other one who has been #1 for nearly all of her 6 years of the high school I don't know how to get her to college.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Fill it out. Our DD18 attends the local college, literally 3 miles up the road. She got a "Love where you live" scholarship to live on campus. She never applied for it, and we were planning on having her live on campus, anyway. Go figure. It's not huge--$1500 a year--but who am I to turn down free money?

 

[AussieFan8]

Speaking of scholarships, where do you look to find available scholarships? I'm clueless about this.

Have her fill out the college's scholarship applications for everything she thinks she might be eligible for, even if it means writing essays, etc. My daughter's university had several specific scholarship apps she filled out and then they had a generic one that qualifies you for a bunch of different things, which is great. My daughter at first didn't want to write the multiple essays required, but I encouraged her to do so as we were not going to qualify for need-based scholarships. She had a very high ACT and GPA but was not top of her class and she was able to get all her costs paid through scholarships with some left over. I don't know if we just got very lucky or what but it is still possible to get academic scholarships. I think it helped that my daughter applied for and was accepted into the honors college as one of her scholarships is specifically for honors students in her major.