The financial aid deadline is not the application deadline
They're two different dates, and the aid one usually comes first. This is the single most common way students leave money on the table, so it's worth ten minutes now.
Two dates, not one
Your application deadline is when the school needs your application. Your financial aid deadline is when it needs your aid paperwork, the FAFSA and, at some schools, the CSS Profile.
At a lot of schools the aid deadline lands weeks before you even apply. Notre Dame, for one, wants aid paperwork in November while the application isn't due until January.
What happens if you miss the aid date
You can still be admitted. What you lose is the school's own money: institutional grants and scholarships are often first come, first served, and the students who file late are the ones who find out the funds ran out.
Federal aid has its own, later cutoff, but the school's aid is the bigger prize and the earlier one.
How to not miss it
For every school on your list, write down both dates. File the FAFSA as early as you can, and check whether the school also wants the CSS Profile.
We track both dates for every school and email you before each one, so you don't have to keep two calendars in your head.
The short version. Look up the aid deadline for every school on your list today. It's usually earlier than you think.
Track every one of these dates
Add your schools and we'll email you 30, 14, and 3 days before each deadline. Look up any school first, no sign-up needed.