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Post by maryland on Feb 5, 2015 15:16:58 GMT
OK, I am going to sound really dumb here, and I have been putting off this question for a few days. I am quite embarrassed to be so clueless about FAFSA!
Can you use last year's taxes to complete the form, then update once you get taxes done? Some schools have a priority deadline of Feb. 15th, and with my husbands work schedule, there is no way we can get our taxes and fafsa done by then. We have also heard that it's extremely hard to get financial aid. So is there even a point in filling out the form?
Sorry to sound clueless (I am!), but I don't even know how to word what I want to ask. So any advice would be appreciated.
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Post by pretzels on Feb 5, 2015 15:24:42 GMT
We tell our students to estimate (I work at a college). You will get an opportunity to make corrections later, and there's a box somewhere you check to indicate that you will be filing taxes at a later date or something like that. Basically it just asks for income, which shouldn't be a huge issue to estimate. You can use your DH's last pay stub if you don't have a W-2 yet.
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Kerri W
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,769 
Location: Kentucky
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Post by Kerri W on Feb 5, 2015 15:29:27 GMT
Some schools have a priority deadline of Feb. 15th, and with my husbands work schedule, there is no way we can get our taxes and fafsa done by then. We have also heard that it's extremely hard to get financial aid. So is there even a point in filling out the form?
Sorry to sound clueless (I am!), but I don't even know how to word what I want to ask. So any advice would be appreciated.
I can't answer your first question and there are several people here more knowledgable than me, so I'll leave that one. The second question I have firsthand experience with. YES. You really do need to fill it out. Some colleges make it mandatory, whether you will qualify for FA or not. FA isn't necessarily "extremely hard to get" as there are many people who simply don't qualify. We were in that category. I asked a similar question on 2Ps and lots of people jumped on me with what if something catastrophic happened and your circumstances change?!?! Yeah...still not going to qualify. Our assets are in no way going to allow for that and even if there was a death or job loss or xyz happen, we have enough assets that we are NOT going to qualify for FA. In our case it was a mandatory requirement from the college. And it really irritated me so I get your frustration! |
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Post by maryland on Feb 5, 2015 15:35:01 GMT
We tell our students to estimate (I work at a college). You will get an opportunity to make corrections later, and there's a box somewhere you check to indicate that you will be filing taxes at a later date or something like that. Basically it just asks for income, which shouldn't be a huge issue to estimate. You can use your DH's last pay stub if you don't have a W-2 yet. Thanks! I didn't want to give my husband the wrong info (he does the taxes) and tell him you could do last years if that was wrong. It will make it so much easier to do last years and fix it soon after. Unfortunately my husband has had to work 14 hr. days all week, and travels this weekend, and I worried that he would not have time to do taxes and fafsa before the 2-15-15 priority deadline. And the fact that he has had a good couple of years at work, we probably wouldn't get any aid, so it's hard to justify my nagging to get it done!
So fafsa doesn't take hours to do? Again so sorry for all the questions! I am so stressed about this I have had a headache all week. I can honestly say that for me, senior year/college stuff has been by far the most stressful thing in my years of parenting!
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Post by maryland on Feb 5, 2015 15:39:24 GMT
Some schools have a priority deadline of Feb. 15th, and with my husbands work schedule, there is no way we can get our taxes and fafsa done by then. We have also heard that it's extremely hard to get financial aid. So is there even a point in filling out the form?
Sorry to sound clueless (I am!), but I don't even know how to word what I want to ask. So any advice would be appreciated.
I can't answer your first question and there are several people here more knowledgable than me, so I'll leave that one. The second question I have firsthand experience with. YES. You really do need to fill it out. Some colleges make it mandatory, whether you will qualify for FA or not. FA isn't necessarily "extremely hard to get" as there are many people who simply don't qualify. We were in that category. I asked a similar question on 2Ps and lots of people jumped on me with what if something catastrophic happened and your circumstances change?!?! Yeah...still not going to qualify. Our assets are in no way going to allow for that and even if there was a death or job loss or xyz happen, we have enough assets that we are NOT going to qualify for FA. In our case it was a mandatory requirement from the college. And it really irritated me so I get your frustration! Thanks so much for your understanding response! I didn't know how to phrase my question. We don't consider ourselves "rich" by any means! But colleges probably would. I hope that makes sense! I like the way you phrased it about "not qualifying" because that is what I should have said instead of saying it's hard to get. Yes, it's so frustrating. I was worried that I would get jumped on here too with my question. Yes, we will for sure fill it out, but I didn't know if it would hurt by not doing the priority deadline since we probably wouldn't qualify, and because my husband is so stressed with work, that I don't know how he will get it done in time. And if he doesn't get his work done, he could lose his job. Thanks for your kind words of advice! |
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Post by pretzels on Feb 5, 2015 15:40:50 GMT
I don't think it takes hours, but I could be wrong. If you do something wrong, you are given a chance to correct it. Or the financial aid staff at the college will contact you in some way. It seems scary, but it really isn't. I do know that we require our students to fill out a FAFSA for all college-related scholarships, so it is worth filling out. You never know.
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Post by sugarmama on Feb 5, 2015 15:43:20 GMT
I have already sent 2 kids to college and have never filled out FAFSA. About to send a 3rd and have not filled one out for that child either.
Kerri W, I guess we are in the same situation as you, but no college has every told me we had to fill it out.
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Deleted
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May 18, 2024 5:14:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 15:43:25 GMT
It's really easy to amend the forms later. Use last year's numbers if you think they'll be somewhat close to this years. The FAFSA doesn't take all that long -- it's the private one (through the college board) that takes a lot of time.
The college my daughter goes to requires FAFSA, and she wouldn't even be eligible for merit money or work/study if we didn't fill it out.
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Deleted
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May 18, 2024 5:14:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 15:45:37 GMT
If you filed electronically last year filling out the FAFSA takes about 15 minutes. If you have to enter everything manually it will take longer but I'd guess less than an hour even doing it the "hard" way of typing in everything.
Use last years tax form and check the box that you will be updating later. Easy peasy.
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Post by mikewozowski on Feb 5, 2015 15:47:28 GMT
some require you to fill it out. some don't.
yes, you can use last years and update it later.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 15:54:36 GMT
and because my husband is so stressed with work, that I don't know how he will get it done in time. And if he doesn't get his work done, he could lose his job. Thanks for your kind words of advice! You or your student can do it. You just need a copy of last year's tax return. If you filed electronically last year the fafsa will auto-populate if you check the box to allow it to cross reference with the irs. If you didn't file electronically the fafsa form will tell you where to look on the tax forms for the required information. No need to wait for an overworked h to get around to it. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 16:02:45 GMT
If you do get started, decide it is taking too long and you need to leave you can close it. The information will "stick" until you come back to it later to finish.
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Deleted
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May 18, 2024 5:14:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 16:06:44 GMT
It's not lengthy. Go ahead and fill it out and update it with your 2014 taxes after you get them done. Definitely worth doing.
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Deleted
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May 18, 2024 5:14:33 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 16:07:09 GMT
Our 2 colleges require it --- 1 DD won't get her merit aid if we don't fill it out, even though we get no actual financial aid.
I wish it were a choice to not fill it out personally if you know you don't need/want/qualify for financial aid.
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Kerri W
Pearl Clutcher
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Location: Kentucky
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Post by Kerri W on Feb 5, 2015 16:23:56 GMT
You can do it!! I know it's intimidating to begin with, but the system really honestly will walk you through EXACTLY what you need to do. And if you need to stop just save and go back to it later.
Me too. I know it doesn't take a huge amount of effort I just feel like I should be able to make the choice of whether or not to share my financial information.
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Post by maryland on Feb 5, 2015 16:28:59 GMT
Thank you all so so much for helping me out! I feel much better about things now that I know we can do last year's taxes and update, and make corrections. Also happy to know it's not too time consuming.
I have been so stressed about it, and worried about the responses I would get. But everyone has been so kind and wonderful! I truly appreciate the advice from everyone. I hope that after this year, we will be much better equipped when our next one starts college. It's been such a learning experience with this first one.
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Post by Patter on Feb 5, 2015 16:35:37 GMT
I have 3 girls in college, and we have never filled them out for any of them. We asked the school to waive them for us.
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Post by mtscrapper on Feb 5, 2015 16:36:57 GMT
We also don't qualify for aid as far as grants, etc. are concerned. However, we also don't have the money to pay for our kids to go to school, so they have had to take out a few loans. We have to fill out the FAFSA before any offer of a loan is made. Thank you for starting this thread to remind me to get my son to fill out his FAFSA. Hopefully he will make enough money at his summer job to not need a loan, but it will be there if he needs it.
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Post by tuva42 on Feb 5, 2015 18:50:27 GMT
If you get any kind of financial aid, whether it is a scholarship, grant or loan, most colleges will require a FAFSA. We don't qualify for any aid, but my DD gets two different merit scholarships. Because of those, she has to fill out the FAFSA.
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back to *pea*ality
Pearl Clutcher
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Jun 25, 2014 19:51:11 GMT
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Post by back to *pea*ality on Feb 5, 2015 19:58:22 GMT
If you get any kind of financial aid, whether it is a scholarship, grant or loan, most colleges will require a FAFSA. We don't qualify for any aid, but my DD gets two different merit scholarships. Because of those, she has to fill out the FAFSA.  I filled out my last freakin' FAFSA in 2014 - YAY! Our income/taxes don't fluctuate much from year to year, so yes I used estimates and updated the FAFSA when I finalized my return. If you do not fill it out, you run the risk of missing out on any financial aid that your student may be eligible from the college/university even if you don't qualify for government aid. So, yeah fill it out. |
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Post by maryland on Feb 5, 2015 20:00:22 GMT
I see many mentioned merit scholarships. Is that based on PSAT performance? I haven't heard much about merit scholarships. The schools she was accepted at are very competitive, and she has an extremely high GPA, but her SAT/ACT scores were in the low-average range for those schools.
If you did receive a merit scholarship, would you have received that information with your acceptance letter? I just want to have my info straight as cost will be a part of our decision on which college she goes to.
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back to *pea*ality
Pearl Clutcher
Not my circus, not my monkeys ~refugee pea #59
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Jun 25, 2014 19:51:11 GMT
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Post by back to *pea*ality on Feb 5, 2015 20:18:23 GMT
I see many mentioned merit scholarships. Is that based on PSAT performance? I haven't heard much about merit scholarships. The schools she was accepted at are very competitive, and she has an extremely high GPA, but her SAT/ACT scores were in the low-average range for those schools. If you did receive a merit scholarship, would you have received that information with your acceptance letter? I just want to have my info straight as cost will be a part of our decision on which college she goes to. This is what happened for DS who is graduating from college this year. He received his acceptance letters first and then shortly after financial aid packages. That is why it is important to fill out the FAFSA. The scholarships are based on PSAT, SAT or ACT scores, academic records, activity, volunteer work. We hired a SAT coach who came to our house. Often it is not the lack of knowledge that results in low test scores for good students but the test taking strategies. We paid about $1,000 to the SAT coach we hired though Princeton Review. The return was a $90,000 merit scholarship for the University DS goes to. Another University offered in-state tuition rates as an incentive. I can't recall the specifics of other offers - those were the highest. One University offered him the change to compete with other students for a full-boat ride. Again, so long ago I forget exactly what he had to submit. |
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Post by maryland on Feb 5, 2015 20:41:10 GMT
I see many mentioned merit scholarships. Is that based on PSAT performance? I haven't heard much about merit scholarships. The schools she was accepted at are very competitive, and she has an extremely high GPA, but her SAT/ACT scores were in the low-average range for those schools. If you did receive a merit scholarship, would you have received that information with your acceptance letter? I just want to have my info straight as cost will be a part of our decision on which college she goes to. This is what happened for DS who is graduating from college this year. He received his acceptance letters first and then shortly after financial aid packages. That is why it is important to fill out the FAFSA. The scholarships are based on PSAT, SAT or ACT scores, academic records, activity, volunteer work. We hired a SAT coach who came to our house. Often it is not the lack of knowledge that results in low test scores for good students but the test taking strategies. We paid about $1,000 to the SAT coach we hired though Princeton Review. The return was a $90,000 merit scholarship for the University DS goes to. Another University offered in-state tuition rates as an incentive. I can't recall the specifics of other offers - those were the highest. One University offered him the change to compete with other students for a full-boat ride. Again, so long ago I forget exactly what he had to submit. Wow, that's great! My daughter got a $44,000 scholarship to a smaller private college, but that college cost more than her out of state tuition at the other schools. We haven't received anything from the large state universities. We will see what happens with fafsa. Thanks for the information! My daughter didn't take the psats as a junior (again, we are learning on this oldest child!).
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2015 21:03:20 GMT
I see many mentioned merit scholarships. Is that based on PSAT performance? I haven't heard much about merit scholarships. The schools she was accepted at are very competitive, and she has an extremely high GPA, but her SAT/ACT scores were in the low-average range for those schools. If you did receive a merit scholarship, would you have received that information with your acceptance letter? I just want to have my info straight as cost will be a part of our decision on which college she goes to.
Each merit scholarship has its own criteria for what defines "merit" it may be SAT scores, it may be overall gpa, it may be any number of things determined by the agency/person who funds the scholarship.
We do not send scholarship awards out with acceptance letters. They are two different entities with different deadlines and different letters of award.
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Post by maryland on Feb 5, 2015 21:51:02 GMT
I see many mentioned merit scholarships. Is that based on PSAT performance? I haven't heard much about merit scholarships. The schools she was accepted at are very competitive, and she has an extremely high GPA, but her SAT/ACT scores were in the low-average range for those schools. If you did receive a merit scholarship, would you have received that information with your acceptance letter? I just want to have my info straight as cost will be a part of our decision on which college she goes to.
Each merit scholarship has its own criteria for what defines "merit" it may be SAT scores, it may be overall gpa, it may be any number of things determined by the agency/person who funds the scholarship.
We do not send scholarship awards out with acceptance letters. They are two different entities with different deadlines and different letters of award.
Thanks! I am learning a lot today! I didn't realize that they were different entities. |
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ellen
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Post by ellen on Feb 6, 2015 0:14:54 GMT
It's really easy to amend the forms later. Use last year's numbers if you think they'll be somewhat close to this years. The FAFSA doesn't take all that long -- it's the private one (through the college board) that takes a lot of time. The college my daughter goes to requires FAFSA, and she wouldn't even be eligible for merit money or work/study if we didn't fill it out. We filled out the FAFSA early in January. We can't do our taxes until the end of February, so we used our info from last year to fill it out. It took about 15 minutes to do it. We'll update it as soon as our taxes are done. We just filled out the form from the college board. It wasn't difficult, but it took a long time. Only one school she applied to requires it. This is our first kid going to college. We decided we'd do everything and view it as a learning process. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2015 0:35:31 GMT
DD#1's merit money was based upon a university wide scholarship chart that charted SAT/ACT score against an unweighted GPA. Where you fall on the chart is what you will receive over 4 years. However, she also got a 4 year award for early decision(committing in October of her SR year of HS) and then gets marching band scholarship money. I call all that merit, because none was based on financial need but on other factors. Each amount was given from a separate entity, but we received one letter close to the beginning of her Freshman year from Financial Aid that had it all outlined. This is a private out of state university.
DD#2's university (an arts based school) gives no scholarships or merit aid, just financial. Any donors' money given to the university is put into the pot to keep tuition low for all students. Which is nice for all students -- especially those that don't quality for financial aid. In the end her annual cost is lower than #1. This is a very small public in-state university.
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Post by maryland on Feb 6, 2015 15:28:23 GMT
Thanks again, to everyone for all their tips and sharing their experiences! It really means a lot to me, and has eased my stress about getting taxes done before next weekend. You all are great!
And I wanted to say, the peas have some really smart kids!
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Post by genny on Feb 6, 2015 15:37:12 GMT
I am dealing with this right now too - I haven't read the responses yet so forgive me if I repeat something that's already been said… when we had our financial aid meeting at the school two weeks ago the lady told us if we hadn't filed our taxes yet to estimate and then when we got them done go in an update the form. There is supposedly a way to link to the IRS website directly to your return. If you don't do it that way, you have to file a request of some kind with the IRS to get a copy (almost like a transcript request) and have the IRS send it to FASFA, which slows up the process a lot.
Good luck OP I am pulling my hair out right now over all these forms and deadlines. Hopefully when DD is a senior in 2 years I'll have all the kinks figured out, but for now I'm slogging though.
Genny
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Post by maryland on Feb 6, 2015 19:41:30 GMT
I am dealing with this right now too - I haven't read the responses yet so forgive me if I repeat something that's already been said… when we had our financial aid meeting at the school two weeks ago the lady told us if we hadn't filed our taxes yet to estimate and then when we got them done go in an update the form. There is supposedly a way to link to the IRS website directly to your return. If you don't do it that way, you have to file a request of some kind with the IRS to get a copy (almost like a transcript request) and have the IRS send it to FASFA, which slows up the process a lot. Good luck OP I am pulling my hair out right now over all these forms and deadlines. Hopefully when DD is a senior in 2 years I'll have all the kinks figured out, but for now I'm slogging though. Genny Good for you for starting to learn this stuff early! Or do you have a senior as well? I also have a senior, sophomore and 6th grader. I hope to be an expert by the time the 6th grader is a senior! Thanks for the info you learned at the meeting! |
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