From what I remember the budget emails were sent toward the end of March. Like aepafrica said above, the procedures were strange last year and not as standard as the years before.
I don't think that you should worry too much about the letter of affiliation considering that it wasn't required. Unless of course your advisor indicated that it was important. I didn't include a letter of affiliation and don't believe it will weigh heavily on your application mostly because during the webinars IIE staff made it seem like it wasn't a decisive factor. I could be wrong of course.
Either way good luck! I'm glad this thread has been revitalized. I applied renegade style without the help of an advisor. It would be nice to hear if campus advisors were any help and also any tips or inside info they gave applicants.