I have a few questions about the fafsa form and seems to get different answers from different people.

1. Is the fafsa form required for students entering college in fall of 2021? What happens to the student if we don't fill out the form?

2. Can we fill out the fafsa form and choose to not include the parents income and assets? I realize that this would preclude the student from getting any need based awards, but would it also prevent the student from getting any potential merit based awards?

Long story short, I want to ensure that my student receives any potential merit based awards as he will not be eligible for need based awards.

From my experience as both a parent in your situation and as someone "in the business", FAFSA is required even for many merit-based scholarships. They want every one who is eligible to get the "free gubment money" first. But they don't/can't trust you to make that determination because too many think they won't qualify (for whatever reason) but do.

It's all but impossible to not include parents' income when filling it out. The historical details are unimportant, but suffice it to say as soon as folks smart enough to game the system started doing so the hoops to jump through became a whole lot smaller, a whole lot higher, were set on fire, then suspended above a tank full of sharks with laser beams attached to their heads.

Edit: FAFSA isn't an Admission requirement, so they can't withhold enrollment but can make it difficult to get Financial Aid of any sort, even third party. It's treated like an Admission ticket to the FA Office.

2nd edit: I'm not 100% sure, but I think ISDs get funding points based on graduating students completing FAFSA, so there may be some pressure from the HS to get it done, too.

I administer the scholarships for my engineering department on campus. We give out tons of awards to students who don't include their parents' income on their scholarship application.

Do you require a fafsa be submitted for scholarships for engineering? Or is there another scholarship form to be submitted?

And or do you know how to submit the fafsa without parent income as it seems to be a requirement

kyle field 94 said:

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Do you require a fafsa be submitted for scholarships for engineering? Or is there another scholarship form to be submitted?

And or do you know how to submit the fafsa without parent income as it seems to be a requirement

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Freshmen aren't in departments, so I'm unsure on their requirements. For upperclassmen, we use the University Scholarship Application (USA), which is administered by the Financial Aid Department. Students complete this one app and are eligible for tons of different scholarships. They are not required to include their parents' financial info. I would encourage you to reach out to the Financial Aid Office for more information on how your student can be eligible for aid without disclosing your finances.