just curious - what kind of scholarship is this? might apply for my kid next year lol

Congratulations on your daughter's scholarship! As someone new to this process, I'm finding all this information incredibly helpful. I had no idea that schools had such different policies for handling outside scholarships. My son is a junior and we're just starting to think about college financing - should I be researching these displacement policies now for the schools on his list? Also, is there a good resource for finding local community foundation scholarships like the one your daughter received? It sounds like those might be less competitive than the big national ones everyone applies for.

the whole college process is SO STRESSFUL!!! our fafsa got flagged for verification last year and we nearly lost our deposit window too. glad they gave u an extension!

That's fantastic news about getting the extension! You made absolutely the right call waiting for the complete financial aid package. With your SAI of 432, there's a real possibility of significant additional aid that could save you thousands over four years. Your son might be anxious now, but he'll thank you later when he graduates debt-free or with minimal loans. The 10-day extension should give you plenty of time to make an informed decision with all the financial information in hand.

Welcome to the financial aid world! I went through this exact same confusion with my twins last year. Just wanted to add one more thing that helped us - create a simple spreadsheet to track all the important dates and requirements for each school. Include columns for award letter deadlines, loan counseling completion dates, and FAFSA renewal reminders. Also, if your daughter applied to multiple schools, you'll likely get different award packages from each one, which can make comparing options really tricky. Don't just look at the total dollar amount - focus on how much is grants/scholarships versus loans. The learning curve is steep but you're asking all the right questions! Your daughter is lucky to have such an engaged parent helping navigate this process.

Just wanted to chime in as another parent who went through this exact same confusion! The financial aid award letter is definitely separate from FAFSA - think of FAFSA as the application that tells schools your financial situation, and the award letter as the school's response with what they're offering based on that information. One thing I wish someone had told me: keep copies of EVERYTHING! Save the award letter, your FAFSA confirmation, and any correspondence from the school. You'll need to reference these documents throughout the year, especially if there are any questions or changes to your aid. Also, don't be afraid to call the school's financial aid office if you have questions about the award letter. They're usually pretty helpful in explaining what each component means and can walk you through the acceptance process. Much easier than trying to navigate the federal websites sometimes! Sounds like you're doing great advocating for your daughter - the fact that you're asking these questions early means you'll be well prepared for the process.

Thank you everyone for all your helpful responses! I feel much better knowing we didn't make a mistake with his dependency status. We'll focus on looking for scholarships and making sure the FAFSA is processed correctly. I'm still disappointed that living separately and supporting himself doesn't qualify him as independent, but at least now I understand the rules better.

You're definitely not alone in feeling confused about this! I went through the exact same thing with my daughter two years ago. She was working part-time, living off-campus, and I kept thinking there had to be a way to get her classified as independent since she was barely scraping by on her own income. But like everyone else has explained, the federal rules are really strict - it's basically age 24, marriage, military service, or having your own dependents. One thing that helped us was meeting with the financial aid office at her school. They walked us through exactly how our EFC was calculated and explained some school-specific aid programs we hadn't heard about. Also, don't forget about work-study programs if his school offers them - the income from those jobs doesn't count against financial aid eligibility the same way regular employment does. It's not a huge game-changer, but every little bit helps when you're trying to minimize loans!

Coming at this from a parent who just survived the 2024-25 FAFSA nightmare with twins! We filed in early November last year (after waiting for the bugs to get worked out) and it was still a mess, but manageable. Here's what I learned: 1) The "simplified" process still requires the SAME documents as before, so don't let that fool you into being unprepared. 2) Screenshot EVERYTHING as you go - we had our application mysteriously reset twice and having screenshots saved us hours of re-entering data. 3) If you have divorced parents, start gathering those documents NOW because the contributor determination process was the biggest source of delays last year. 4) Consider filing a practice run on the FAFSA simulator first to catch any weird situations with your family's finances. My twins got into their top choices and we didn't miss out on institutional aid by filing in November, but I'd probably aim for late October this year just to be safe. The anxiety is real, but you've got this!

First-time FAFSA parent here and honestly feeling overwhelmed by all the horror stories! My daughter is a junior now so we have one more year to prepare, but reading through everyone's experiences is both terrifying and incredibly helpful. A few questions for the group: 1) For those who mentioned printing everything - are you literally printing every single page as you fill it out, or just the final submission confirmation? 2) Has anyone tried calling their state's financial aid agency for guidance, or is it better to stick with the federal resources? 3) I keep seeing mentions of "verification" - is this something that happens to everyone or only certain applications? Really appreciate this community sharing real experiences rather than just the official government guidance that makes it sound so simple!