I just received my financial aid award letter and realized that I have to pay pretty much the full cost. When I looked at my FAFSA to see why, I realized that I made a major mistake. I fixed the mistake and contacted the Financial Aid Office. Is there a chance that I can receive a revised Financial Aid Award Letter or is it too late?
You need to ask the school.
What was the error? If it is going to make a HUGE difference In your aid, the school might request documentation to prove that your revised number is accurate.
I accidentally put the income that my parent made into both the student and the parent category, resulting in it seeming as if I made the same amount of money as my parent. Do I still need documentation even if it is shown that I receive free/reduced lunch and I was eligible for a fee waiver, showing that I am in need of financial aid?
Amend that fafsa today! Like now…and resubmit it to your colleges.
Then contact the financial aid office at the school where you received the award letter. Explain that you have resubmitted, and you had mistakenly included parent income in the student section as well. This. Unfortunately, is a common error. But they need to KNOW you have made that correction.
Ask them when you will get a corrected financial aid award letter.
ETA…did you link your parent tax return to the fafsa using the IRS data retrieval tool? Did you work on 2015? You can link your return if you filed as well!
I corrected it and contacted them right after I found out. I was worried sick. So does that mean it is not too late for them to revise the financial aid award letter? If so, would I be at a disadvantage in receiving grants and money for financial aid since it is so late?
I did not work on 2015. I was on the way home from school when I fixed the mistake so I was unable to link my parent’s tax return using the IRS data retrieval tool. I believe I would have to wait until my FAFSA is accepted before I can link my parent’s tax return and I believe that would make me have to wait another 3-5 business days.
It’s not really that late. Until this year, many people were just filing FAFSA about now.
What may surprise you is that although your EFC should really go down now that your income (if any) is correct), your financial aid will still be heavily dependent on your parents’ income and assets. If the EFC generated from the incorrect FAFSA numbers was $40k, and correcting it takes it down to $15k, it may not change things that much. You’d still qualify for the federal loans (which may now be partially subsidized), but there would probably be no additional federal aid. Whether the school has its own need based grants and whether you qualify is up to the school.
At first I had an EFC of $12k but after fixing the mistake it dropped down to 0. I live with only my mother and if I didn’t fix the mistake, my mother would have had to pay to the school about 1/3 of her yearly income.
The student says he qualified for free/reduced lunch and fee waivers. I’m wondering if he would,have qualified for a Pell Grant without this error.
To @imdemiztake how much aid did you get…and how much do,you need? Does your college meet full need for all?
I received a tuition grant for about $1k, EFC was around $12k, and I needed about $23.5k
You really corrected fafsa has an EFC of $12,000?
With the mistake the EFC was around $12,000. After I fixed the mistake the EFC dropped down to $0.
With a $0 EFC, you will be entitled to the full Pell Grant which is in the $5800 a year range. You will also get a $5500 Direct Loan.
Does your state have college grants for low income students?
Yes it does.
If your state grants are based on your EFC, and are guaranteed, you should,get them…if you have met the application deadlines.
If you got the state grant, the Pell, and the Direct Loan, would that enable you to attend this college?
Yes it would enable me to attend the college. So does making this correction mean that I have not reached the deadline?
I have no idea what the deadline is.
But you submitted originally on time…you needed to make a correction.
Call the colleges on Monday…and ask them.
You have NOT missed a deadline for the Pell Grant or Direct Loan for the 2017-2018 school year!
That’s great! Thank you so much for all the help! I’ll let you know what happens.
Once the FAFSA processes and you can go back in, link your mom’s 2015 tax return to the FAFSA, that might be enough to verify the income for them.
You said you qualify for free lunch, did your mom have an income of under $25,000? Then you should have an automatic $0 EFC.
Then assets, and student income would not be considered.
Watch your email closely in case any of the colleges need extra information from you.
For state aid, there might be a deadline. It should go by when you first submitted your FAFSA.