<p>I’m planning on getting married next December. Both my wife to be and myself are full time students, I file for the FAFSA and she does not. I’m planning on filing for the 2010-2011 year this January, where as she will not file until the day we get married this December. From what I understand since I will file the Fafsa as not being married that is how my aid is calculated, and since she will file as being married that is how her aid is calculated. My question is since she will not file the fafsa until way after the priority deadline and after her first semester is over what aid is she guaranteed to get with an efc of 0? I want to say she can recieve a Pell Grant and a SMART grant (she is in a major that qualifies for the SMART) but I am not certain about if it is guaranteed that she can get them if she qualifies. Also since she is filing so late will she get aid for the previous semester (fall 2010) even though she won’t file until the end of the semester?
Thanks</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>You are correct that you will file single & she will file married if you do what you propose to do. Remember that she will have to use both of your incomes on her FAFSA.</p>
<p>If she waits until the end of the term, or if she is selected for verification & doesn’t complete the requirements before the end of the term, she will be able to get Pell for the prior term, but it is based on completed hours. That is, she won’t get paid for any hours from which she withdrew, even after the financial aid lock date. SMART follows similar rules. She might have to ask for SMART … her late filing might possibly mean she doesn’t end up on the review list. She can also receive loans for the prior term, if she will be borrowing. She would have to have to be enrolled at least half time in both semesters to be eligible for loans for both semesters. </p>
<p>A caution for SMART: Cumulative gpa must be at least 3.0 at the beginning of each term in which a student can potentially receive the SMART. If it is below, the student is not eligible for payment that term.</p>
<p>She will most likely miss out on the limited campus based federal funds, such as SEOG & work study. She will probably miss out on any institutional grants, but that varies by school. If she wouldn’t get them anyway as a dependent student, it won’t make any difference if she waits.</p>
<p>Do make sure that your school will allow a student who gets married while in school to receive institutional grants as an independent student. They have to pay federal aid that way, but some choose not to lower the EFC for their own aid when students marry. I don’t personally know of any schools that do this, but we have had reports of that on CC for some schools (generally those with really great aid).</p>
<p>thank you very much. this is very helpful</p>