Update for anyone following this thread: My daughter just received her award letter from Auburn today (April 26th) - exactly when they said they would send it. It came to her university email address as promised. They gave a breakdown of all federal aid, state scholarships, and Auburn-specific grants. There's a deadline of May 15th to accept the package through their portal. Just wanted to let everyone know they're keeping to their timeline!

This is such helpful information, thank you for sharing! I'm new to this whole financial aid process and had no idea that universities send award letters to student email accounts rather than personal ones. My daughter is still waiting to hear back from a few schools and I've been frantically checking our mailbox every day. It's reassuring to know that Auburn is sticking to their timeline - gives me hope that other schools will too. The waiting game is absolutely nerve-wracking when you're trying to plan for such a huge financial commitment!

Thanks everyone for the helpful responses! This community is amazing. So it sounds like colleges get a detailed data report (the ISIR) with all our financial information, not just the SAI score. I'm going to look into the special circumstances forms at each school to explain our inheritance situation. And I'll pay extra attention to the CSS Profile requirements for the private schools. This clears up a lot of my confusion!

As someone new to this whole FAFSA process, this thread has been incredibly eye-opening! I had no idea that colleges receive such detailed financial information beyond just the SAI number. My family also has some unusual circumstances (dad's small business had a really good year in 2023 but struggled in 2024) and I was worried about how to explain that to schools. It sounds like the special circumstances forms that Jake mentioned might be exactly what we need. Does anyone know if there's a standard timeline for when these forms need to be submitted, or does it vary by school?

Just wanted to add - if you're still unsure about the tax implications, you might want to run the numbers both ways (claiming vs not claiming your son) to see which gives you the better overall financial outcome. The American Opportunity Tax Credit can be worth up to $2,500, but depending on your income level, you might phase out of it anyway. Also, your son might be able to claim his own education credits if he has earned income and you don't claim him. A tax professional can help you figure out the optimal strategy that considers both your tax situation AND his financial aid eligibility!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! As someone who just started working in college financial aid, I see this confusion constantly. One thing I'd add is that the FAFSA4caster tool on studentaid.gov can help you estimate your SAI both ways (with and without claiming him as a tax dependent) so you can see how different scenarios might affect aid eligibility before you make your final tax decisions. Also, remember that some state aid programs have different dependency criteria than federal aid, so if your state has need-based grants, it's worth checking their specific requirements too. The good news is that you're asking these questions early - so many families don't realize the disconnect between tax and FAFSA dependency until they're already deep in the application process!

btw look for emails from random addresses sometimes. my aid package came from noreply@financialaid.universityname.edu not from my regular admissions contact person

Great advice from everyone here! Just want to add that if you're really anxious about timing, many schools have a "Financial Aid Estimator" or "Net Price Calculator" on their websites that can give you a rough idea of what to expect while you wait for the official packages. It's not exact, but it might help with your planning and stress levels! Also, some schools send a preliminary award notification pretty quickly (like within 2-3 weeks of your FAFSA being processed) and then a more detailed official package later. Don't be surprised if you get multiple communications from the same school as they finalize everything.

Thank you all so much for the helpful responses! I'm definitely going to start setting reminders now for FAFSA reapplication each year. I'll also contact each school's financial aid office to ask specifically about their policies on maintaining aid levels across all four years. Seems like I need to be careful about front-loaded packages that might decrease after freshman year. This has been eye-opening!

Great question and you're smart to ask this now! As everyone has mentioned, FAFSA is definitely annual, but here's one more tip: when you're comparing those aid packages, ask each school's financial aid office about their "net price calculator" projections for all four years. Many schools can give you estimates of what your aid might look like in years 2-4 based on typical scenarios (assuming no major changes in family income). This won't be a guarantee, but it can help you make a more informed decision about which school is truly the most affordable option over the long term. Also, some schools have "aid commitment" programs where they pledge to meet your full demonstrated need for all four years - definitely worth asking about!