Hi everyone , I won’t be able to get the necessary documents until Saturday and my priority deadline ends this Friday. Will my fafsa still count? Will it affect my decision process ?

TLDR: I'm from a shithole third-world country where nobody files their taxes properly.

I am applying to the US for the fall 2025 ED and EA cycle and I rely heavily on financial aid. So I need to submit the CSS profile by tomorrow, but I found out that my parents commit tax evasion by not mentioning accurate income and expense information. Now the numbers on tax return don't match my actual financial situation.

Just to give you some perspective as to how cooked the books are, my brothers actual university fee for last year was greater than the income we had declared. Also the declared expenses make it seem like we are living out of a car.

Im scared to lie because I know that colleges often request tax returns and financial documentation after admission but I also don't want to risk missing out on admission and aid.

Also, something notable to mention is that my mother is shown as a teacher in the tax returns, but shes actually a housewife so there is no income slip etc.

If anyone has gone through something similar then please help me out cause I feel like all my effort is going to go to waste. Should I submit what I have now and cross that bridge if/when it comes up, or is there a better approach?

basically the VA pay's for my tuition, but i also receive FAFSA and loans that ive been squirreling away, i switched schools and there telling me financial aid is 12 weeks processing time and i should expect my money in January ?

can anyone explain this ?

just seems weird that i don't get my money till after the semester is over. i usually got it before the semester started until i moved to WA

I'm a College freshman, and a while into the semester I realized i hadnt gotten any financial aid yet. It turns out I need to do a Parent Spouse Non-Filer, but my step-dad hasn't done his taxes however, and the deadline to do them is gone. My parents status is seperated and my stepfather didn't provide anything for us on 2022, however he was still living with us. I don't see a clear solution to this and I honestly have no idea why he has to be included if he isnt my biological dad, and didn't provide anything the year of 2022. So I don't know what to do at this point, is there a solution or another way I can recieve help to pay my College tuition?

I'm wanting to return to community college to get an associate's paralegal degree, but my SAP status is "over max timeframe" so I'm having to file a financial aid appeal. I actually did attempt this program once before (at this same school) in the fall of 2022, but had to withdraw that same semester because my mother's health was bad and the stress of worrying about what she was going through and the classes were too much.

It took me a few tries and a skipped semester or two to get my first associate's degree due to a surgery and spinal stenosis diagnosis, but I managed to complete it. It was in general studies because I had planned to use it as a path to a bachelor's and then law school, but then I decided against law school because of the debt that comes with it.

I've bounced between a couple of majors since withdrawing from the paralegal program, but my heart still belongs to this field. I literally cannot see myself doing anything else. But I have to write a detailed letter addressing specific semesters where I experienced academic problems or withdrawals, include what efforts I took to meet my academic responsibilities during those semesters, and how my circumstances have improved. I'm stressing and drawing a blank on how to word this the right way.

I still struggle with my diagnosis everyday, so I'm not sure how to handle the "how circumstances have improved" section. The efforts I took to meet my academic responsibilities was just to buckle down as hard as I could to pass the classes I was taking, which I always did (As and Bs). From my degree works audit, I could complete the paralegal program in about 2.5 semesters and I have a list of the specific classes I need to take to complete it.

Any advice or suggestions about how I can tackle this letter in the right way?

I know there are rules that any single MPN expires after 10 years or 1 year without being utilized. If I load the document in the FSA portal, does it clearly state whether that MPN is active or expired?

Does anybody know if pell or excelsior can cover cross registration. For example, pell will pay for all my classes for Spring 2025 at my home school, but what if i cross registered for another class at a different public school?

I started classes on October 14th and add/drop period ended Monday. My fees were posted on Monday 10/28, but no disbursement date as of yet. How long does the process typically take? I called the financial aid office and they just say, "soon".. I need these funds for supplies for school and other emergency expenses. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi everyone! Recently I moved home and I’m considering going to school (online.) I also recently started a full-time job, making $17/hr. I would most likely file as an independent (I haven’t lived with my mom majority of my life, I don’t talk to my dad) so I know I’d get a good chunk of financial aid. My question is, if I dropped down to part-time at work, say 25-30 hours, would I get more financial aid, compared to the typical 40 I work? What would the difference be? I do plan to drop to part-time once I start school, I’m curious if I should start now though and use my “part-time income” as the income I make rather than my “full-time income” (difference would be a few thousand)

I only have to worry about paying for a car and insurance, other than that my boyfriend and I are just saving money. I get health insurance from work but I’m sure I would qualify for state insurance if I dropped my hours.

Thanks in advance!

So l'm going to be starting cosmetology school soon at Paul Mitchell. I got approved for subsidized and unsubsidized direct loans, but my question is what third party loan servicer should I look into? I applied to the parent plus loan with my dad but he didn't qualify for it. The remaining balance I have for school is 11k. They've given me two options of their own, pay directly to the school 1k a month at a 7 month repayment plan and 889 a month at a 13 month plan.These are just not doable for me so anyone just let me know what third party loan services I should look into. None of my family has gone to college so any advice is appreciated.

Here’s the rundown. FAFSA and CSS profile use tax data from 2 years prior, so 2023, right?

My mom’s household made roughly $550,000 in gross income in 2023. $96,000 from mom and the rest was stepdad. My stepdad, however, lost his job in 2024, and now we are paying the expenses that a $400,000/yr wealthier family would have while only making ~90-100k per year. The financial situation is to the point we are living on credit cards and taking money out of retirement funds. I’m trying to get my application fees waived, because we can hardly afford it. We also have a brother in a 4-year public college at this household. This is the household that puts me on taxes. I kinda live at this household more often, since it’s closer to school and this household probably financially supports me a little bit more, not anything crazy but probably enough that colleges would think they support me more.

My dad’s household made roughly $114,000 in gross income in 2023. He is a single income and made all his money self-employed doing real estate. This household has a sister at a 4-year public college.

I probably live at the houses exactly 50/50. I spend three or four weeks at one house, three or four weeks at the other. They split my car, car insurance, school fees, health insurance, all that jazz very roughly even. Dad paid child support for a while but then paid it all in one lump sum to account for quite a few years and so hasn’t paid yearly in probably 6 years, but since I’m at moms more often she usually just pays for slightly more.

I know there is professional judgement I can go to each college and request a re-evaluation of my financial situation in order to show that it has changed in 2024, but with this in mind:

Who do I submit in the fafsa and css profile? Do I submit mom’s house, and hope that my professional judgement gets accepted at each of the schools I apply to? Or do I submit dad’s house even though mom pays slightly more and hope everything goes alright?

My school disbursement was on Friday, 10/25 but was sent to a closed checking account I previously had with Chase. I’ve since changed my account preferences to my new checking account. But i was wondering if anyone had any experience with this and what is the average someone has waited until they received their financial aid money. I have read online that it will be sent via. Mail but I wanted some reassurance as it’s a little stressing. TYIA

So I went to SDI (trade school) and got full financial aid for the whole program (associates degree). Now I'm enrolling in my local community college for a history bachelor's and I can't get FAFSA unless I get my GED. Why was the first school funded but my second school is causing issues? Is it the school? Or is our government just retarded?

I am in my final semester of my bachelor degree at BYU. However, I have decided that I do NOT want to pursue a job in this field and want to get an Associates of Nursing degree from a local community college. This nursing degree has many prerequisites that would take about a 1 or 1.5 years to complete before I can apply to the program. I had a full ride scholarship up until this semester, so this is the first semester I have received Pell Grant money.

My question is, can I simply not graduate from BYU, enroll at the community college, and still received Pell Grant money while doing the nursing prereqs (and potentially even receive it during the nursing program itself, considering I have another 11 semesters of eligibility)?

Or if that is not allowed, could I potentially just take the equivalent prereqs at BYU while still being covered by the Pell Grant, and then transfer those credits to the nursing program?

Or if THAT is not allowed, could I drop an easy class this semester so that I'm not technically eligible for graduation anymore so I don't lose Pell eligibility?

Thanks

Can somebody help me understand cal grant c? I’m helping my friend and it says she doesn’t qualify for b but may qualify for c

Cal Grant C awards are offered to students pursuing an Associate Degree or Certificate in a vocational, occupational, or technical program of at least four months in length. For further award consideration you must complete the 2024-25 Cal Grant C Supplement Form.

She was recently awarded cal grant c after finishing the supplement form. I contacted the school and they said a psychology degree doesn’t qualify for cal grant c, if that’s the case, why would they award her? Also, would it help if her major was in an accelerated career training or ACT? She switched her major to that as it was something she was considering previously? Any help is appreciated :)

In California, the only grant a master’s student can receive is the State University Grant. When I apply for Fafsa and it asks me my assets, is there a limit for how many assets I can have to get the state university grant? Meaning, how much would be too much money in my banl account and would prevent me from getting the state university grant?

Im just confused because im positive I used up my grace period. Once I take my last class, I won’t be part time so I would enter my grace period . But since I used it, doesn’t that mean I’m expected to start paying soon. My loans say due in 2027 though, will that change. I’m very confused

My loan status says in school

Hi, I start school spring 2025. Will it too early to apply for scholarships or loans?

Thank you

UPDATE: thanks to everyone in the comments for tolerating me being stupid and helping me out, I’ve been running on minimal sleep and the stress has been so bad I haven’t been eating/showering/etc properly. The long story short is that my uni did award me enough to cover my tuition, but seemingly changed their minds (they never confirmed this directly, you can find extra info in the replies), and as people confirmed in the comments, FAFSA doesn’t have any input on what schools ultimately do, so I’m probably screwed. I can’t even view my old FAFSA form at all (there used to be a work around to find them), but it sounds like it doesn’t matter anyways. The $17k referenced below was my estimated cost of attendance, sorry for royally fucking up the numbers, my memory is getting worse by the week. I’m going to try to talk to them today, 10/29, but I don’t think there’s anything I can do. Will probably drop out tbh

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. (Sorry for typos, I can only use Reddit on my phone for now. I double checked the latter and my title is incorrect but for some reason I can't change it, sorry about that. They're not going to change my benefits, I'm just really underslept.)

I've been googling stuff and can't find another post on here or another site with the same situation.

I applied for financial aid late because I've been hanging on by a thread and was afraid it was going to be a huge mess like it had been when I tried in junior college. To my relief it was much easier this time around, no letters from other people required, and I quickly heard back from FAFSA that I was approved for about 17,000. It said to wait for a response from my university, but that never came. I called they were like "well yeah you applied kind of late" but didn't give me any concrete detail as to why they wouldn't give me any aid at all. They didn't vote on anything, I never got a message that they approved or denied it. Does anyone know how this works? Again I tried researching some things but not everything I googled got a direct answer. If FAFSA, run by the literal government, approves me for around $17,000 for just one semester, how can a state university ignore that altogether and say they don't feel like giving me a cent of the aid? Is the government not giving them the money for exactly that? I read something that says universities can run out of aid so they award it to whomever applies first. I feel like that directly conflicts with the concept of FAFSA though, and, not to mention, enrollment at the university has been down during and post covid. To my understanding, FAFSA approves me for 17k, do they not send this aid to the university to give to the students? Why else would the website and messaging from them say to check in with our university about getting these funds dispersed?

I got a letter saying that they are going to deduct what I owe to the bursars office from my tax returns and unclaimed property being overseen by the state controller.

When I talk to my financial aid office, they really didn't seem to care when I tried to ask them about what was going on and told me to "just take out a loan". I have several health conditions including a life long disability and multiple of these give me a life span of around 40. I am not taking out a loan for my parents out of state to pay when I die probably a couple years before they do. It's asinine. Why do colleges intentionally make this so difficult?

I was recently approved for the Cal Grant C. Now I'm wondering a couple of things and hopefully you can share your experiences.

1. Now that CSAC will send my information to the school, in about how long will I know how much my school will give me? Will it appear in my award letter?

2. At this time I'm already mid fall semester, would I still get money for this semester or would it be only for Spring?

3. I know I also qualified for the C Grant because my HS GPA was below a 2.0. Let's say my GPA changes after the fall semester to above a 3.0 and I qualify for the Cal Grant A, would I still qualify to receive any money next year or would I be placed on hold until I transfer to a CSU?

So I am currently enrolled in two colleges and I know that I can take FAFSA at only one of them but now what has happened is that I have removed one of the classes at college B as my primary college is college A.I want the FAFSA at college A. Due to this I was waiting for dropping my class and had NOT selected any of the offers. But now college B says that you already received FAFSA over here and now you can't take it up at college A. On top of that I dropped the class and became a part time student and hence my aid is also going to drop.

What do I do? If my father finds out that he has to pay then I'll be doomed.

Hello there! I need your help. I am a black(African) Woman and I want to study Software/Computer engineering in the USA. I applied to schools in the USA for the fall intake 2024 and was accepted with partial scholarships. However, the remaining cost of attendance was still so high for my parents to afford. I then had to reapply to the USA for the Winter intake though I heard that there are less scholarships during the Spring/Winter intake. Please tell me where I can find sponsors or external scholarships that I am eligible for.🙏🏾

So I heard they passed a law on July 1st 2024 that they can no longer hold college transcript, well how would I go about getting my transcript from the school do I email them saying hey a law had been passed give me my documents or do I email someone how would I go about that? If that makes sense

I wanted to know if I got granted a cal b grant goes towards my tuition or is it a reimbursement?

I need help and options if anybody could reply I'd be very grateful! My friend is a freshman in college and the tutiom changed on her just recently! She's a student athlete and they reduced the signed scholarship money and her fasfa was already done so now she has a bill left to pay by the end of the semster! how would she go about paying it, if she already used fasfa and her scholarship!! I want to help as much as possible! Already used fasfa Scholarship money Still has a heafty amount left that she has to pay or cant return !