Financial Aid/FASFA question

cptofthehouse
Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:11:10 +0000

If you are absolutely certain that you are not going to be qualifying for any aid and that there are no merit awards that require FAFSA in the works, then, no, you don’t have to fill out FAFSA. The money isn’t coming from any of the schools anyway. You don’t have to file until the very last minute, June, in fact, to get the loans for that school year just ending. Last year, I filed FAFSA about this time of the year to get the loans needed. By paying the first term out of pocket and taking out the loan second term, the interest did not start accruing until the money was received, so saved about 3% that way. The way Stafford loans for the students work is that you can only get half of what you request first term with the other half set aside for the second, but you can get the full amount for the second term. Yeah, crazy, isn’t it? But if your EFC is even slightly below the COA of the school, things like work study and maybe some grant or other may come into play, and that money can run out early. But if you are taking out only unsub loans, then you can wait until you need the money as long as it’s by the end of the school year.