Fafsa

[h00d314]

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Hey everybody, I've never filled out a FAFSA and I have some questions about it. First, when should it be filled out and sent in? Since I am going to be doing this on my own, do they need my parents information? Any other relative information would help out quite a bit. Thanks a lot.

 

[Spankete87]

Hey everybody, I've never filled out a FAFSA and I have some questions about it. First, when should it be filled out and sent in? Since I am going to be doing this on my own, do they need my parents information? Any other relative information would help out quite a bit. Thanks a lot.

Send in your FAFSA as soon as you can. IF you're not sure what school you will be attending, just put all the schools that you are still active at (up to 6 schools). If you haven't done your taxes, do them now. There are questions on your FAFSA that require info from that and your school won't process your financial aid until you have them done anyway. If you haven't applied for your PIN #, do that now. It will take a few days to get that number and you have to have the number to fill out your FAFSA. Ask your school about the parental info. Most require it if you are applying for scholarships from the school. And most schools have mostly need based scholarships, so if your parents make too much (like mine do) you will have a hard time getting those. I have heard somewhere on this thread, however, that you can write to your school and tell them why your parents information should not be included. Hope this helps!

~LD~

 

[Jamers]

Send in your FAFSA as soon as you can. IF you're not sure what school you will be attending, just put all the schools that you are still active at (up to 6 schools). If you haven't done your taxes, do them now. There are questions on your FAFSA that require info from that and your school won't process your financial aid until you have them done anyway. If you haven't applied for your PIN #, do that now. It will take a few days to get that number and you have to have the number to fill out your FAFSA. Ask your school about the parental info. Most require it if you are applying for scholarships from the school. And most schools have mostly need based scholarships, so if your parents make too much (like mine do) you will have a hard time getting those. I have heard somewhere on this thread, however, that you can write to your school and tell them why your parents information should not be included. Hope this helps!

~LD~

I was told by medical schools that you are considered independent when applying to graduate/medical school. That being said, your parents info doesnt have to be considered.

 

[Spankete87]

I was told by medical schools that you are considered independent when applying to graduate/medical school. That being said, your parents info doesnt have to be considered.

You are considered independent as far as financial aid from the federal government is concerned, however, when it comes to scholarships from the school, they base it off of your parents income. Or at least it is this way for the schools I've talked to. We have to write a letter to the financial aid people at our school telling them why our parents should not be considered. *shrugs* It seems kind of strange to me.

 

[Dr.BBasket]

This is the way it was explained to me. If you look at solely a student's income, just about ALL med students would be considered financially needy.
Because of this, there must be a way to separate the truly needy ( ie neither the student, nor the parent has the means to pay for medical school), from other students, so the schools require parents to submit tax info in order for students to have access to the med schools additional funding (aside from Stafford loans).

I see where the schools are coming from. There has to be a way to separate the two extremes. Some students will need more financial help than others, and submitting parent info helps distinguish this. That's all that's behind it 🙂

 

[scpod]

This is the way it was explained to me. If you look at solely a student's income, just about ALL med students would be considered financially needy.
Because of this, there must be a way to separate the truly needy ( ie neither the student, nor the parent has the means to pay for medical school), from other students, so the schools require parents to submit tax info in order for students to have access to the med schools additional funding (aside from Stafford loans).

I see where the schools are coming from. There has to be a way to separate the two extremes. Some students will need more financial help than others, and submitting parent info helps distinguish this. That's all that's behind it 🙂

Federal Primary Care Loans (PCL) also require parental information, but they are only available to the very "neediest" of people. Even though your parents may not be paying directly for school, they may buy you a plane ticket home, for instance, if they can afford it. They want to make sure that only the people whose parents won't even be able to do that get the additional funds.