FAFSA info: before acceptance?

[spillsomepaint]

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One of the schools I am applying to requires you to fill out a FAFSA with their school code while you are applying. I'm on fin. aid for undergrad, and will of course be on it for grad school, but I was wondering if this was standard?

 

[paramour]

I can only speak for the umpteen schools that I have applied to in the past, but I never completed the FAFSA until after I was accepted into a program. And, then, I still waited a bit before I got around to actually doing it.

 

[Ollie123]

I had to for some reason or another after I arrived but before classes started. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think most people don't get true financial aid for grad school, so its just if you want to take out the federal loans. I don't need/want any at this point, so I'm not the person to ask about that.

Think filling it out before applying is a little unusual, but I don't really know.

 

[spillsomepaint]

okay, i just really want to make sure i'm okay here, because I want to be considered for ALL types of aid. On the application to one of the schools I'm applying to it says this:


If you are a U.S. citizen or Permanent Resident and are interested in applying for Federal Work-Study or a Federal
Perkins Loan, in addition to the Application for Financial Aid and Scholarship Support for New Students, you must submit
a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is available in the Student Financial Services Office and
online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. The New School Title IV code is 002780. The FAFSA must be postmarked by January 15 to
allow sufficient processing time. A processed FAFSA is called a Student Aid Report (SAR). In order to be considered for
need-based aid, you must include the TitleIV code on your FAFSA to ensure that your SAR information is electronically
transferred to the university by March 1.


I read this as, fill out a FAFSA now. I'm not sure how I would do that, since the site only has them for this academic year, and I've already filled it out for my tuition at my undergrad university. any thoughts?

 

[NYCPsych]

I've also been looking into this for programs I'm applying to, and yeah, it seems many have you apply for aid AFTER acceptance unless you want special fellowships, etc. So is this standard?

(although my list includes some PsyDs, and yes, they are at research institutions and have high APA match rates, for pete's sake let's not start another thread on that topic! 😛)

 

[KillerDiller]

At the school I am at now, grad students are eligible for work study money and we had to fill out a FAFSA before April in the year we applied if we wanted it for our first year. All other fellowships either were either given by the department automatically or had a separate application process.

I don't think there's any real rush to fill out the FAFSA immediately (I'm not even sure it's available for '09 yet). Nevertheless, because the school has that on the website you will probably want to fill it out in the spring as soon as you know about an interview or acceptance (if they don't offer full funding, that is).

Filling out a FAFSA and then not going to the school isn't going to hurt. Also, you will have to fill it out anyway if you are taking out loans at any school.

 

[LM02]

Honestly, I would call the office of financial aid at the New School and ask. After all, you don't want to screw up your current undergrad loans by doing this.

From the way I read what you posted, it seems as though they are saying that you need to submit the FAFSA by 1/15 only if you want work study status or Perkins Loan support. My understanding is that most grad school loans are Stafford Loans (NOT Perkins), so you could be eligible to apply for loans later on - when you find out whether you will matriculate there or not.

But again, I'd just call the financial aid office to figure out what their deal is. I took out a small loan in my 4th and 5th years of grad school to supplement my living costs and pay for all of my internship application travel. I didn't even submit my FAFSA until the August before the academic year. Yes, that delayed my payment, but I think I still got my disbursement sometime toward the end of September/early October.

 

[spillsomepaint]

thanks everyone for your input. i'm just going to go ahead and email the fin. aid dept. and see what protocol is.