We didn't - HHI around 800k. DD received plenty of merit offers.

DS got merit awards and/or scholarships at 5 schools (range $20K - $85K over 4 years) and none required FAFSA. We did not fill it out.

Anonymous wrote:California now requires high school seniors to fill out FASFA. Does anyone know the reasoning behind this?

It's not actually required. The law just says that you need to EITHER fill out the FAFSA OR have both the students and parents sign a form saying that you are opting out and aware that you are doing so.

The purpose of this is to raise awareness of financial aid sources so nobody who really needs it (Especially first-gen kids or kids whose families aren't as aware of financial aid systems in the USA) "falls between the cracks" because nobody told them about the FAFSA.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:California now requires high school seniors to fill out FASFA. Does anyone know the reasoning behind this?

I’m in California and this is not true.

Why do you say it’s not true? It is. For those applying to colleges, it’s true. Anyway, other states do it as well. I’m just curious the reasoning.

Here’s information on it, https://www.csac.ca.gov/sites/main/files/file-attachments/gsa_2022-33.pdf?1653072593

Anonymous wrote:I’m talking people making 7 figure salaries and have lots in assets. Do they bother filling out the FAFSA? Just curious…

Sometimes. My friend had to fill out one for merit scholarships (although we couldn't figure out why that was needed if it was all merit based). Anyway, she asked me what to do on the income block because there aren't enough spaces for income, so I told her just to put in all 9s across the board, they'd get the idea.

We never filled one out, but i'm guessing there are only 6 blanks for income, not 7.