bijou3owl

Thanks. I did and no one answered. You have been very helpful and are very knowledgeable so I thought you might know. Sorry for using the thread incorrectly.

SLUMOM

Kalman Chany of Princeton Review "Paying for College Without Going Broke 2009" recommends doing the EFC worksheets in the back of his book, then reducing the EFC you come up with by 20%. His point was that if you put in a much higher figure than what your EFC actually is, the college may use that higher figure. I have been using this book since 2002 & it has saved my family thousands of dollars.

lindz126

slumom can you explain that further? I plan to check Chany's book and do the worksheets, just trying to get what you mean about the college may use the higher figure--thanks

SLUMOM

Yes, on page 177 of "Paying for College without Going Broke, 2009 Edition" Kalman Chany writes that it is best to do his worksheets in the back of the book for the instititutional ethod or the (IM) & come up with your EFC. In answering this quesion SR-160 on the CSS Profile for School Year 2009-2010 asking for contribution from students' parents, use the EFC you have calculated, but reduce it by 20%. He writes that in the past parents who put down a higher number than what the Profile calculated, were "deemed responsible to pay the higher figure." This advice is for a dependent student. An independent student should put down a minimal figure (if he gets outside help) or list "zero."

I have always followed this method of listing my calculated EFC less 20%. I have always sent in a letter with the tax returns stating our state & local taxes paid, copies of our medical expenses & any other factors that I feel the FA office should know about.

This 2009 Edition does now have charts for calculating state & local income taxes. Parents will now be able to see if what they actually paid in state & local income taxes exceeds what the FAFSA and or CSS Profile will come up with. In our household, our state & local income taxes have always exceeded what the needs analysis companies come up with.

amother

Hi, should I list my car monthly payment as expenses too?

Also , do I need to fill both fafsa and css ?

SLUMOM

The FAFSA does not usually ask about your car payment. Schools that require the CSS Profile have their own supplements & each college may ask specific questions about your cars, the market value of them, and WHAT is owed on them. I have had to put this information down on the CSS Profile before.

You only need to fill out a CSS Profile if the college (usually a private college) asks you to do so. I usually sign up for it in November of the child's high school senior year, and then use estimates. For example with D#3 right now, I know that she wants to apply to Bennington College, which has a deadline of January 3rd for the CSS Profile. I will do the CSS Profile in December with estimated income figures & taxes for all the schools she is applying to who require it.

The CSS Profile does not allow you to correct your income figures & taxes etc. YOU will have to send a letter to each Profile school with the corrected numbers yourself, once your income tax returns are completed. Try to get your income tax returns done ASAP in early February. It is in your best interests to do so.

The earliest the FAFSA can be done is January 2nd, 2009. You can use estimates on the FAFSA & then go in & make corrections with the FAFSA once your tax returns are completed. All the corrections will then be forwarded electronically to the colleges.

I have found over the years that doing the CSS Profile in December is a good idea. In February the College Board website seems to be very busy & you can have trouble getting your CSS Profile processed.

I hope this helps!

arabrab

I understand that for both FAFSA and Profile that any deductions for charitable donations are added back and considered as part of the family resources. Is this also true for non-cash charitable donations?

thumper1

>>I understand that for both FAFSA and Profile that any deductions for charitable donations are added back and considered as part of the family resources.>>

Where did you read this?

Also, I'm going to start a new thread with this topic.

Carousel Lullaby

Yeah, I haven't filled out my FAFSA, and have honestly never heard of this CSS profile thing. I'm a little nervous and I'm going to do it asap. but what am I expecting, I'm completely...confused? and have no idea of what to expect. Anyone have words of wisdom?

shugg

I remembered that several universities (including Harvard, Yale, MIT and many others) made anouncement in early 2007 that they will provide full package to their students using the return on endowment fund. This year, their funds suffered big loss. Would those univeristies change their financial aid policy according?

JerseyShoreMom

If I file the FAFSA today with my 2007 figures, can I go back later (how late?) to edit those figures with the final 2008 figures once we file our tax returns. I don't want to estimate, this is the first time we've ver filled out FAFSA forms. We plan on going to the accountant in February to have our taxes done but I wanted to fill out FAFSA now. Can I do that and make the official changes in February? My daughter's school's deadline is March 1st for FAFSA. Do I need to make those official changes before March or can I wait until after March.

Also, I don't plan on submitting my taxes until April (we will most likely have to pay this year). Is it ok to finalize FAFSA but submit taxes to the IRS in April?

mymagicword

I'm not an expert, but what the school financial aid people have told me is that they want real figures before March 1. Giving them "fluffy figures" on Feb 1 doesn't do them any good; they'll likely just put them in a "hold" file and wait for the real deal. As long as you meet the deadline of March 1, you're good-to-go. That's when they start processing in earnest.

To my knowledge, you can't use your 2007 returns. The best you can do is estimate your 2008 returns and submit those. (Accountants are used to requests to meet 3/1 deadlines from parents of collegians. Don't be shy about telling them WHY you need them early.)

You can complete/submit the FAFSA and wait to file your taxes until April. That's not a problem. The FAFSA aks whether you're filing with "completed" tax figures or not. There's where you have a little "play:" As long as your forms are completed (and the figures will remain the same), you can answer "YES." You don't need to FILE them with the IRS until April if you don't want to. What they care about is that the numbers remain the same.

Good luck!

JerseyShoreMom

Thank you so much mymagicword. That's what I needed to hear, especially the April filing.


But shouldn't I at least put in figures and "get in line" now with FAFSA?

thumper1

Jerseymom...yes you "can" finalize your FAFSA with current figures from 2008 in April BUT you need to realize that until you do this, any financial aid award you receive will be an ESTIMATED award. Your child's financial aid award will not be finalized until you amend your finaid applications with numbers from your 2008 tax returns. If you wait until April, you will likely NOT have a finalized number in time to make an enrollment decision by May 1st. AND YES...those numbers CAN change. We did the estimates when DD was a freshman and one school DECREASED her school grant by $6000...yep. The other schools didn't change the award at all. We finalized EVERYTHING by the end of February. This is NOT the year to wait until April to file your taxes.

JerseyShoreMom

I plan on having my 2008 numbers in February and submitting her FAFSA at that time but will not submit my tax return to the IRS until April. The school has a March 1st deadline, is that ok?