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Post by genny on Feb 9, 2015 20:05:10 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! maryland DS is a senior this year so I'm trying to figure it all out as well. (DD is a sophomore) We don't get our taxes done until March 5, so I'm in the same boat. I'm praying for any little bit of financial aid we can get (Pell Grant or whatever else) I truly do NOT want to get any loans, but I guess that will depend on Pell and HOPE. And while HOPE is not determined by anything at all on the fasfa form (HOPE is our lottery funded scholarship program in GA, it is dictated purely by GPA and rigor class requirements being met), the fasfa form is the gateway to HOPE. So basically I don't have a choice but to do the whole thing. I am cautiously optimistic that DS will be award the Zell Miller Scholarship, which is like HOPE but the requirements are a lot more strict, but it pays 100% instead of just partial. We won't know until May when the final grades are in. DS is going to do at least 2 years at the university here in town, so we won't have to worry about living expenses for awhile yet. It is really all very overwhelming!
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Post by tanyab on Feb 9, 2015 20:08:44 GMT
I just submitted my son's FAFSA last night. I also did our taxes and waited until they were done to submit. I am crossing my fingers that I did everything right! This is all somewhat stressful since I'm going at it on my own (my husband is not good at this stuff). I did attend a FAFSA meeting and they stressed how important it is that you make sure you have a pin for your student AND the parents. It takes a day or two for the SS admin. to send your pin, so just a FYI for those who haven't done theirs yet. It honestly wasn't that difficult to fill out, but that's why I'm a little scared I have done something wrong.
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Post by maryland on Feb 9, 2015 22:06:51 GMT
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! maryland DS is a senior this year so I'm trying to figure it all out as well. (DD is a sophomore) We don't get our taxes done until March 5, so I'm in the same boat. I'm praying for any little bit of financial aid we can get (Pell Grant or whatever else) I truly do NOT want to get any loans, but I guess that will depend on Pell and HOPE. And while HOPE is not determined by anything at all on the fasfa form (HOPE is our lottery funded scholarship program in GA, it is dictated purely by GPA and rigor class requirements being met), the fasfa form is the gateway to HOPE. So basically I don't have a choice but to do the whole thing. I am cautiously optimistic that DS will be award the Zell Miller Scholarship, which is like HOPE but the requirements are a lot more strict, but it pays 100% instead of just partial. We won't know until May when the final grades are in. DS is going to do at least 2 years at the university here in town, so we won't have to worry about living expenses for awhile yet. It is really all very overwhelming! It's very overwhelming. I am so relieved because my husband got it done yesterday! I told him that he can just do it on last years taxes and update later, but he insists that won't work. Not sure why he thinks that. So he got our taxes done and the fafsa. That's good, I was just hoping to make it easier on him.
That's interesting that you live in GA. My husband got a job offer in Duluth, GA 18 months ago, and he decided to stay at current job. Then later, he heard that if you meet grade/SAT requirements, college could be "free". Not sure if we got that right, but it would be a good deal. We are regretting our decision since we have three kids to put through college! I have a senior and sophomore as well! Good luck to you in getting it done.
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oaksong
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,164
Location: LA Suburbia
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Jun 27, 2014 6:24:29 GMT
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Post by oaksong on Feb 9, 2015 22:07:34 GMT
DD just received her second college acceptance (she did not apply early decision anywhere). Both acceptances, one public and one private university, came with merit scholarship letters included. The private school amount was significantly higher and brings her tuition there to a point that it is competitive with any of the in-state or out-of-state public schools where she also applied. It's also her first choice school, so she was very happy! They stated in the letter that financial aid would also be considered based on need, and would be in addition to the merit scholarship if awarded.
When DS applied (he's a college junior now), his acceptances all came in about March. They all had the merit scholarship and financial aid information with the acceptance, or they were received shortly after.
I just finished our FAFSA last week. There is a link that lets you upload your tax return to the FAFSA. I plan on having tax returns done this week so I can get it all out of the way. We also need to do the CCS profile, which is required by a lot of private colleges. DD has her part done, and I'll be glad when my part is done also!
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Post by maryland on Feb 9, 2015 22:09:28 GMT
I just submitted my son's FAFSA last night. I also did our taxes and waited until they were done to submit. I am crossing my fingers that I did everything right! This is all somewhat stressful since I'm going at it on my own (my husband is not good at this stuff). I did attend a FAFSA meeting and they stressed how important it is that you make sure you have a pin for your student AND the parents. It takes a day or two for the SS admin. to send your pin, so just a FYI for those who haven't done theirs yet. It honestly wasn't that difficult to fill out, but that's why I'm a little scared I have done something wrong. My husband did it all yesterday too! Taxes and fafsa. Then he had to do something for PA aid as well. He says we won't get anything, but one of the colleges just sent us an email saying we would be surprised that many levels of income may be eligible for something.
My husband also said it wasn't that hard, but I hope it's all correct too. He is the financial expert in our house, I am the one no good at that stuff!
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Post by maryland on Feb 9, 2015 22:10:53 GMT
DD just received her second college acceptance (she did not apply early decision anywhere). Both acceptances, one public and one private university, came with merit scholarship letters included. The private school amount was significantly higher and brings her tuition there to a point that it is competitive with any of the in-state or out-of-state public schools where she also applied. It's also her first choice school, so she was very happy! They stated in the letter that financial aid would also be considered based on need, and would be in addition to the merit scholarship if awarded. When DS applied (he's a college junior now), his acceptances all came in about March. They all had the merit scholarship and financial aid information with the acceptance, or they were received shortly after. I just finished our FAFSA last week. There is a link that lets you upload your tax return to the FAFSA. I plan on having tax returns done this week so I can get it all out of the way. We also need to do the CCS profile, which is required by a lot of private colleges. DD has her part done, and I'll be glad when my part is done also! Congratulations to your daughter! How exciting to get into your first choice and get a scholarship on top of that! Thanks for the information.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
May 18, 2024 4:36:37 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 9, 2015 22:32:01 GMT
DS is a senior this year so I'm trying to figure it all out as well. (DD is a sophomore) We don't get our taxes done until March 5, so I'm in the same boat. I'm praying for any little bit of financial aid we can get (Pell Grant or whatever else) I truly do NOT want to get any loans, but I guess that will depend on Pell and HOPE. And while HOPE is not determined by anything at all on the fasfa form (HOPE is our lottery funded scholarship program in GA, it is dictated purely by GPA and rigor class requirements being met), the fasfa form is the gateway to HOPE. So basically I don't have a choice but to do the whole thing. I am cautiously optimistic that DS will be award the Zell Miller Scholarship, which is like HOPE but the requirements are a lot more strict, but it pays 100% instead of just partial. We won't know until May when the final grades are in. DS is going to do at least 2 years at the university here in town, so we won't have to worry about living expenses for awhile yet. It is really all very overwhelming! I'm so jealous! My daughter is at Georgia Tech paying out-of-state tuition. I wish our state had something like those programs. I think it's wonderful that they support their state higher education system.
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weaser714
Junior Member
Posts: 67
Jul 2, 2014 18:55:50 GMT
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Post by weaser714 on Feb 10, 2015 6:52:16 GMT
Maryland- sounds like you got your fafsa questions answered. I am also working on the fafsa this week. Just got taxes done today. So the fafsa should be done tomorrow. I have a freshman in college, and a junior and a freshman in high school. The first one is definitely a huge learning curve!
Something I learned today, you will have to complete a fafsa for each student in college (if your school requires it). And it is something that needs to be done every year. Joy! We've got at least 8 years of fafsa forms!
As for merit scholarships on acceptance letters - my ds did have his merit scholarship included in his acceptance letter. Maybe different schools handle this differently.
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