Q. Does my financial aid application have any bearing on my application for admission?
A. No. The Admission Officers do not know an applicant's need or even that the student has applied for aid when they make an Early or Regular Decision.

Q. Do my grades, activities, or other personal attributes gathered as part of the admission application process have any bearing on the aid decision made by the Financial Aid Office?
A. No. All Financial Aid Office decisions are made solely according to the need-based allocation formula developed by the College. The College does not have any aid programs which are not based on need.

Q. What forms are Early Decision students required to file to apply for financial aid?
A. Complete information on Early Decision financial aid forms and deadlines is available at Dates and Deadlines.

Q. When do I file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)?
A. The information we provide on our filing deadlines and applications procedures do not require Early Decision students to file the FAFSA before January 1st. Students who are admitted under our Early Decision plan should file the FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1st. Students who are told by the Admission Office that their decision on admission to the College has been deferred to Regular Decision should follow the Regular Decision filing deadline and application procedures.

Q. When do I receive information on financial aid?
A. Financial aid decisions for those who have complete applications are released within a few days of the time the student receives the admission decision.

Q. What kind of a decision on financial aid does an Early Decision applicant receive?
A. Your financial aid decision will be the same as one we would give you in April if you had applied for regular decision except that we will adjust your aid for the following information when it becomes available:
(1) Actual Tuition and Self-Help-We will estimate tuition (and, of course, all other costs) and the loan, job and summer savings expectations which will be set as part of the budget process for the next year and adjust your aid for the actual amounts once they are known. That means if we guess too low on tuition, we will increase your College Grant aid for the higher tuition figure. If we guess too high on the loan, job and summer savings expectations, we will increase your College Grant for the lower expectations.
(2) Final Income, Assets and Other Figures from the FAFSA and Tax Returns-We will compare the information you filed on the Profile Application for Early Decision with the information you file with Federal Government on the FAFSA and the figures on final tax returns and adjust your aid to reflect the level of assistance you would have received had we known these final figures when we made your original decision.

Q. Do I have a better or worse chance of receiving financial aid from Haverford when I apply under Early Decision?
A. It makes no difference whether you apply Early Decision or Regular Decision. The financial aid decisions are the same. The amounts and types of aid are the same. The chances of receiving or not receiving aid are the same. We use the same procedures to determine the parental contributions for Early Decision students, Regular Decision students, and returning students who reapply for aid.

Q. Must I apply for aid in my first year before I am admitted to be eligible to apply for aid in a subsequent academic year?
A. No. You may apply for aid in any year whether you applied for aid in your first year or not and without regard to the outcome of any previous aid application.

Q. What kind of guarantee can you give us that aid will be consistent year to year?
A. Aid is reassessed each year according to the procedures outlined in the "Policies and Procedures" section of this website. It is vitally important that you and your parents read and understand all of the policies and procedures covering our financial aid program before you apply to the College. Our policies are consistent year to year. For example, if you should submit an application for your second year which shows the same income, assets, family size, number in college, etc. as this year, we will have the same parental contribution. If your application shows an increase in income or assets or a decrease in the number in college for instance, you can expect an increase in the parental contribution. Student's assets will be evaluated according to our procedures each year based on the amount of assets you report on each year's application. Self-help expectations generally go up each year (i.e. the loan, job and summer savings expectations made of all students applying for College aid-starting with the Class of 2012, there is no loan expectation) and these increases will reduce Haverford Grant aid since they are subtracted from need. The expectations in effect for each class at the time we published the Admission application are printed in the "Policies and Procedures" section of this website. Costs go up each year and increase aid since they increase need. Outside aid can reduce Haverford College Grant according to the procedures outlined in "Financial Aid at Haverford." All of these items (family contribution, self-help, costs, outside aid) are used to determine the final amount of the College Grant according to the following formula: Total Costs minus Family Contribution minus Self-Help minus Outside Aid according to our formula EQUALS Need.