FAFSA loan acceptance deadline while waiting for scholarship results - need urgently!

The short answer is that federal loans don't have a universal acceptance deadline - each school sets their own deadlines for accepting financial aid. While May 1st is a common college decision day, the financial aid acceptance deadline could be different. Have your daughter check her award letter or log into her student portal - there should be specific instructions and deadlines for accepting each type of aid. Many schools have separate deadlines for grants/scholarships vs. loans. One important thing: accepting the loans NOW doesn't mean she has to take them all. She can reduce or cancel the loans later if she gets those scholarships (usually up until about 10 days before disbursement). So there's often no advantage to delaying acceptance.

waitng is always risky with this stuff!! we almost lost my sons loans last yr bc we didnt accept in time. each school has different deadlines and some are SUPER early. call the financial aid ofc ASAP and ask!!!

There are a few nuances here worth knowing: 1. Each school sets their own deadline for accepting financial aid, including federal loans. This isn't controlled by FAFSA or Federal Student Aid directly. 2. Subsidized loans are particularly important to secure because they don't accrue interest while your daughter is in school. These are allocated from a limited pool of funds, so accepting them sooner rather than later is generally wise. 3. For most schools, you can accept the aid now but then adjust downward later if scholarships come through. The important thing is meeting that initial acceptance deadline. 4. If your daughter is considering multiple schools, be aware each may have different deadlines for accepting financial aid. I recommend accepting the full aid package by the school's deadline, then contacting the financial aid office directly if scholarships come through to reduce the loan amounts. This protects your options.

I've been through this exact situation with both my kids! The financial aid offices don't make this clear AT ALL which is so frustrating. For my son's school, we had to accept the loans by June 1, even though we were still waiting on external scholarships. When he got a $3000 scholarship in July, we just contacted the financial aid office and they reduced his unsubsidized loan amount automatically. For my daughter's school, they actually had us indicate "accept" "decline" or "accept with changes" - and we could note that we were waiting on scholarship results. Definitely call your specific school's financial aid office. Their websites are usually terrible but the actual advisors can be really helpful when you get one on the phone.

Another thing to consider is that you can always pay back loans early without penalty. So even if your daughter accepts the full loan amount and then gets scholarships, she could immediately pay back the portion covered by scholarships once the funds disburse. Just make sure to specify that the extra payment goes to principal, not future payments. But as others have said, most schools will let you reduce the loan amount before disbursement if other aid comes in. The most important thing is to not miss that initial acceptance deadline, which sounds like June 15th in your case.

Everyone's advice has been so helpful! I just called the financial aid office and got confirmation. Here's what they told me: 1. We DO need to accept/decline by June 15th 2. We CAN reduce loan amounts later if scholarships come through by submitting a Loan Adjustment Form 3. The subsidized loan IS best to accept now since those funds are limited We're going to accept the full package now and then adjust when we hear about the scholarships. Such a relief to have a clear plan!

Has anyone calculated their SAI from FAFSA yet? My daughter's SAI was way higher than we expected and we're appealing it. Just wondering if anyone else here has gone through the appeal process for better loan offers?