<p>Your parents have just told you that they will withhold information pertaining to their estimated income/assets and such with the intent of preventing you from applying for FAFSA.
You have been a good student throughout all of high school, in the top 10 of the class, a potential National Merit Scholar, plus the mandatory list of decently impressive ECs, good essays, and somesuch.</p>
<p>How much would this scenario affect your (plural) college quest?
Settle for ED at a state school with guaranteed finad or shoot for the stars with the hopes of landing 1 of 4 full scholarships at a bigger (read: prestigious) school?</p>
<p>I do not think you will get “guaranteed finaid” at most schools if you don’t submit the FAFSA.
Maybe your parents think that you will not qualify for aid but at many schools you need to submit the FAFSA even to be considered for merit aid.</p>
<p>You aren’t going to get need-based aid from any colleges without a FAFSA, and the lack of this also will prevent your getting some merit aid from colleges that require such info before awarding merit aid.</p>
<p>What is your state and stats including PSAT? </p>
<p>I don’t understand why you’re considering applying ED for your state school. Will the school not give merit aid to nonED applicants?</p>
<p>I doubt that top schools will offer you generous aid even without your filing FAFSA. Try using Google and checking the merit aid threads on CC boards to find this info. Some excellent merit aid info is in Parents Forum here. Other resources are pinned to the top of this board. Also check the financial aid and merit scholarship web pages of colleges that interest you. You also can find excellent merit aid info on various colleges by checking CC’s boards on the individual colleges and then seeing the ECs and stats of students who got excellent merit aid.</p>
<p>I agree with Northstarmom. The top schools will NOT give you need-based aid without filling out the Fafsa, as most of the top schools are starting to use the 100% need-based aid program, where financial ability to pay is not considered when a student applies. They give all money where they determine it needed. However, you are required to fill out the Fafsa and the CSS Profile by a certain date to even be considered.</p>
<p>There are many parents who do not wish to disclose their financial affairs to strangers (even their kids). Either due to privacy reasons or they think they would not get any aid.</p>
<p>Ask them bluntly: Are they going to pay for the college or not?</p>
<p>Actually NO school will give you need based aid without filling out the proper forms. These include the FAFSA for all schools, the Profile for most private schools (and that includes most of those which meet full need), and in some cases a finaid form from the college itself. Without the financial information the schools will NOT award need based aid. Period. Some schools award merit aid based on your application. This is to the top top candidates in their applicant pool. The most significant response to your “query” is that the student MUST find out from their family just what amount the family will pay annually for college expenses. If the family is able and willing to pay the full cost of attendance, then there is no restriction on the application process. If there are monetary restrictions and the parents are anticipating financial aid without disclosing financial information, the family and student will likely be very disappointed.</p>
<p>I suppose I’ll start talking again, and drop the whole ‘query’ thing.</p>
<p>I live in Florida. Bright Futures covers 100% of public institution tuition in Florida, and is entirely merit based. My parents pulled the FAFSA ploy as an attempt to box me into only choosing from Florida schools where it seems that I will have tuition paid for by the state. Also they’re afraid that they will get in trouble with the IRS, and no, they are not willing to put forth money of their own for my college expenses.</p>
<p>My ‘query’ was an attempt to see how other people in this forum would react to such a ploy (i.e. change college choices), as it seems that most are striving for major institutions with a hefty pricetag. Guess it didn’t work.</p>
<p>I was dead set on Swarthmore before my parents dropped the bomb, and since then I’ve attempted to put things more in perspective. The school I am considering going to in state (UF) has a scholarship program that is only available for ED applicants, 8 are selected a year, and it’s an additional $2,700 a year plus free study abroad each summer and you’re paired up with a professor of your major to do research/study with.</p>
<p>Contrary to how it might feel on this forum, there are many, many kids whose parents can not or will not pay anything towards their college education. So you are not alone!</p>
<p>If your parents will not pay anything, at least they have been honest at this point with you. Better now, than after your acceptances are all in. </p>
<p>You should be investigating alternative scenarios to the UF ED idea; it sounds very selective and if you don’t get it, then what?</p>
<p>Keep making plans that will enable you to go to college as inexpensively as possible. Avoid loans. Work hard once you get there. Send your kids to Swarthmore.</p>
<p>Filling out the FAFSA honestly will not get you in trouble with the IRS (assuming you have been honest when completing your tax returns). However, having said that…at least you HAVE the Bright Futures option for college. Your state, at least for higher education, has been forward thinking about this. Where we live, no such option exists at all. </p>
<p>Weenie…I LOVED your post “send your kids to Swat”. I’m going to think of that each time I pay the hefty price tag for my daughters private LAC…I’m a state school grad (and proud of it).</p>