Two reasons:

First, don’t count yourself out quite yet. The financial aid application process relies on several dozen different variables, income being only one. It’s not unusual for families with incomes approaching $2000,000per year to qualify for need-based financial aid. Avoid aid disqualification through self-selecting yourself. You’re paying a lot of money for college, which includes putting the school’s financial aid office to work. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Second, the financial aid review process is inherently complex, time consuming, and requires the submission of multiple tax documents and applications such as the FAFSA or Profile (or both). In the event of an unfortunate or sudden change of family circumstances, including the loss of a job, a divorce or separation, or even the death of a parent, an absence of an aid application can cause significant stress and delay during a time when both should be avoided. In more than 30 years of experience with a variety of financial aid offices, we've seen these unfortunate instances occur by the score, every year. Even in an event where a financial aid office would like to assist, very strict federal guidelines prohibit any action until the needed financial aid forms (e.g., FAFSA or Profile) have been filed, received by the school, and reviewed. This process can, and often does, take weeks, even months.

Filing an aid application should be considered an insurance policy, often a free one, where your family and an aid office can immediately begin a review (or re-review) of a student’s aid application when time is of the essence.

So, should you apply for aid, even if you don't think you'll qualify. Yes! The aid application process is a moderately long walk. Don't remove yourself from the journey by not taking that first step.