Welcome back bloggers and happy New Year!

Today I’m going to address a very common question we start to get this time of year: Does WHEN I file the FAFSA effect how much financial aid I get?

Now, I’m not sure if you’ve caught on to any trends in the financial aid world as of yet, but my answer to this question is something we repeat a lot, and it is: yes AND no.

BUT before we delve into more of the specifics behind this answer, I want to stress that filing your FAFSA as soon as possible is always the best choice.

First, let’s talk about the scenarios where your filing date DOES NOT affect your aid package, because it’s short and sweet.

Direct Loans: For the most part, no matter when you file your FAFSA, you will always be eligible for your Direct Loans.

Pell Grant: If you have a Pell eligible EFC, your filing date will not affect your eligibility.

And maybe surprisingly for you, that’s really it.  This is essentially the only funding that is currently guaranteed to you (assuming you meet all other eligibility requirements i.e. citizenship status, under max lifetime limits, etc.) regardless of application date.

The reality for many schools, as it is with many families, is that there just isn’t enough money to go around to all of the students who demonstrate some sort of need for it.  This goes for both the federal grant and loan money that is allotted to the school to spend (i.e. SEOG, Perkins) as well as the institutional need-based grant aid (for Keene, that’s our Keene Tuition Scholarship). So to meet those kinds of budgetary constraints, schools either have to decide to set a steadfast application cutoff date that commits them to spending a certain amount for all students who file “on-time,” or to set up a budget and then just award students by filing date until the funding is gone.

The bottom line for today’s entry is very simple: filing your FAFSA early and before your school’s filing deadline is always the number one recommendation. 

I hope all of this information provides a little more insight into how filing deadlines can be used and looked at by the schools you might be applying to.  Remember, the FAFSA can always be done with estimates if you haven’t filed your 2010 tax returns in time to meet a filing deadline – your “filing date” will always be the date that you first submitted your FAFSA, even if it was with estimates, and even if you do 10 corrections after that initial submission (but please don’t do 10 corrections…).

Enjoy  : )

Amanda