<p>Well, part of the process of “applying to a lot of different schools” means that the student (or their parent) needs to check and track each and every school’s different requirements. </p>
<p>I understand that it’s confusing. A spreadsheet can help. </p>
<p>The problem is that students sometimes do miss out on aid because of late filed documents. I think the Barnard financial aid staff is great – they have been very tolerant and flexible with me over the years and the issue of compliance from the non-custodial parent. (It’s been tough getting the required documents from him at all, impossible to get them anything close to on-time). </p>
<p>But other schools may not be – I have heard of many cases of students being entirely shut out of the process because they didn’t get their paperwork in time, usually at the type of schools that have limited financial aid budgets and don’t promise to meet full need of all comers. So part of the process of getting money means to be as pro-active as possible. This is especially important if the student wants to be able to compare financial aid awards – its quite possible to be admitted to a college but then be told that a financial aid award is not ready because of missing paperwork.</p>