I was told by a high school counselor that in order to accept any sort of scholarship I would have apply for FAFSA. However I haven’t heard anything from the University I will be attending on a full ride scholarship. The high school counselor told me that I would hear from the University soon but I haven’t heard anything so far and I will be attending the University in the fall. I am a senior and have already signed the NLI as well as the scholarship agreement. Any insight would be helpful.
The NCAA doesns’t require the FAFSA, but the school can require anything it wants to before giving out its money, and the Athletic Grant-in-Aid is the school’s money. The high school counselor really knows nothing about your school, but it is common for colleges not to process any aid until the FAFSA is filed. They kind of assume everyone will file the FAFSA so wait until they receive it. If you aren’t going to file, tell them.
You can ask the school if you need to file the FAFSA or you can just file it. You MAY qualify for more money. Why not? If the school is giving you a stipend as well as the full tuition/R&B/Books, it may require you to file the FAFSA to make sure you don’t qualify for a Pell grant. You can take the stipend or the Pell grant, not both, and of course the school would rather you get the Pell (and sometimes the Pell is more).
If you signed the Grant-In-Aid, you HAVE heard from your school. That’s the amount of your scholarship. My daughter never had any other correspondence and it appeared on her tuition bill with the other credits she received around Aug 1 just before she started school.
I also think the school can’t award the grant-in-aid until you are processed through the clearinghouse, and that doesn’t happen until you graduate and your final transcript is received.
My older daughter is on a 4-year academic full ride+ scholarship and we stopped filling out the FAFSA for her after that first year. My younger one is on a partial athletic scholarship and we were told we still had to fill out FAFSA for her…so I would definitely ask the school directly. Can’t hurt, right?