Financial Aid talking points
As you know, the Tulane University Financial Aid Office has a team of professional financial aid counselors ready to work with incoming applicants and answer questions concerning federal and need-based institutional aid, so please do not hesitate to direct potential and/or admitted students to contact the financial aid office (1-800-335-3210 OR finaid@tulane.edu).
We recommend that admission counselors avoid trying to explain detailed financial aid questions (such as what FAFSA simplification changes will mean for families specifically); however, with the goal that we are all delivering a common message, we offer these “financial aid talking points” to assist with communications. Remember that the best answer to all financial aid queries is “It depends”, so feel free to use this response, direct folks to our staff, and let us know of new questions/talking points you would like to see us address.
Thanks for all you do!
Mike Goodman
Associate Vice President, Tulane University Financial Aid
How will the simplification of the FAFSA impact financial aid offers at Tulane?
The quick answer: We expect the simplification of the FAFSA to have no impact on Tulane’s financial aid offers.
The 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) will initiate the changes set forth under the FAFSA Simplification Act, seeking to make the federal student aid application process easier and hopefully result in a higher number of students qualifying for Federal Pell Grants (for details read more here). Tulane uses FAFSA data to determine a student’s eligibility for all federal student aid resources (such as Federal Pell grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity grants, Federal Work Study funding, and various federal student loan options).
Due to the volume of changes (not only to the FAFSA but also the underlying federal methodology used in determining eligibility for federal aid), the 2024-2025 FAFSA will NOT be available on October 1, 2023, but instead is scheduled to be available sometime during December 2023. Therefore, we encourage students seeking admission via our Early Decision I or Early Action options to complete the 2024-2025 College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile application by the recommended deadlines. Details on the aid application process are available here: https://financialaid.tulane.edu/apply/aid ). Tulane will use the CSS Profile data to provide initial tentative federal aid offers and identify if a student qualifies for our institutional need-based scholarship. Aid applicants will need to follow-up with the completion of the 2024-2025 FAFSA (once it becomes available), to finalize our initial tentative projections of federal aid.
While the FAFSA simplification is requiring a whole host of technical and operational challenges for our Financial Aid colleagues, we still expect to release financial aid offers on a similar timeline for Early Decision, Early Action, Early Decision II, Regular Decision, and Transfer Admission as we did last year. Most importantly, we will not expect admitted Early Decision students to commit to Tulane without reviewing their financial aid offers, which will be delivered before their enrollment deposit deadlines. You can review deadlines here.
Finally, please counsel students completing the 2024-2205 CSS Profile that their parent must provide directly to Tulane copies of their 2022 federal income tax returns (including all schedules and appropriate W-2 forms). A student’s aid application is considered incomplete until this necessary documentation is received.
Should I fill out an aid application?
When in doubt…fill it out!
Remember: No CSS Profile = No Financial Aid Offer!
Often students and families believe that their financial situation will disqualify them from receipt of aid. Possibly that is true, however since there are many variables in play in determining aid eligibility, we encourage students to take the time and make the effort to apply, as the results might indicate eligibility for federal and/or institutional aid.
Updated: 09/28/2023