I have a question about financial aid

U.S.A. Illinois

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i'm working on applying for financial aid and i've got a question about it. i'm not for sure if financial aid is the same in all of the states. i was wondering how long does it take if you apply online to find out if you'll be getting it? and how long does it take if you apply by hand and mail it in? so i guess you can say i'm wanting to know which is quicker? i'm trying to apply for the fall semester for the lpn pre-requiste classes the semester starts august 21st.:confused:

I would think it would be faster to do it online at the FAFSA site. If it works like it does with WI schools. They then send the info. to the school you have applied to and you will get info. from the school. We needed to send in taxes from last year and a verification sheet also. My son and I are both going to be in college starting this fall and that is how it worked at a UW scool and a technical school. Good Luck

Jeni

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho.

Yes depending on the school the FAFSA may be all you need to fill out for financial aide. You need to check with the finacial aide office at the school you are going to and have them help you. I applied each year online with FAFSA and weve had no problems. Just dont lose your PIN number, youll need it each year and to electronically sign your form.

Specializes in Transgender Medicine.

Online, definitely online. A friend of mine and myself were curious about this when we first began school, so we did an experiment. Besides us two, we enlisted two others to try this with us. Two of us did it online, and the other two mailed it in. We did this our freshman year and our sophomore year. The first year, the online app got it done in 4 days (this does not count the four days it took to apply for a pin number online and get it in the mail before we could complete the online application.) Once you have your pin number, it's quicker. The mailed apps got their results in barely over three weeks. It should be noted, however, that it is faster the next year when you mail it because your basic info will already be in the system for the financial aid people to pull up.

The second year, online apps got results in three days (with no down time to get the pin number because it stays the same unless you change it.) The mailed apps got results in just shy of two weeks. I think it was 12 days (not just business days.) We've since not been going to the same college and lost touch, but I still do mine online with my pin number, and I always get results within three to four days. Your designated school is automatically sent the results, so you don't have to worry about that. But, the school is the one that reads/interprets the results to determine whether or not you get anything. What I mean is, the web results you see are not going to say, "You get the Pell Grant." It may say you're eligible, but your school has the final decision on that.

Hope this helped some.

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