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2018-2019 FAFSA... Here we go
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Replies to: 2018-2019 FAFSA... Here we go
And they have to use different emails (so can't use the one email set up just for the college search, for example)
Yes, if you want loans or any aid. If his merit aid requires a FAFSA, then do it again. (my daughter's does require it).
I'm not sure what you're asking?
1. Parents' 2016 info was transferred from DRT
2. Child had no 2016 return, and amounts for income and saving were very small.
3. All manually entered amounts (i.e. not from DRT), were in whole $, with 0 in the cents field.
If you used the DRT, it could still be wrong but you can't tell.
All you can do is go through every line, and then call FAFSA to see what the problem is.
Oh, and remember to include the value for ALL tuition plans under parents' assets, including those of children you are not filing the FAFSA for. I didn't realize that at first.
Any chance you did a retirement rollover in 2016?
There is no cents field. If by the above words you mean that you entered two zeros for cents to represent whole dollars, you did it wrong.
Let's say that the actual income figure on a W-2 for parent 1 is $53,415,38. The proper amount to enter on FAFSA is 53,415. Not 53,415.00 or 5341500. Round to the nearest whole dollar and do not enter any digits for cents.
For a prepaid tuition plan, the amount to report on FAFSA is the refund value. From the FAFSA instructions:
Investments also include qualified educational benefits or education savings accounts (e.g., Coverdell savings accounts, 529 college savings plans and the refund value of 529 prepaid tuition plans). For a student who does not report parental information, the accounts owned by the student (and/or the student’s spouse) are reported as student investments in question 42. For a student who must report parental information, the accounts are reported as parental investments in question 91, including all accounts owned by the student and all accounts owned by the parents for any member of the household.
https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1819/pdf/PdfFafsa18-19.pdf
Can someone please explain this further? DS will be applying to more than 10 schools, as well. If we list the first 10 and submit, how do we then go back and delete those and add the others? And if we do that, will the first 10 schools still get the FAFSA data they need?
Thanks!
Also, DRT did not work for me yesterday -- just kept re showing the same screens.
You hit the nail on the head! You wrote:
"Any chance you did a retirement rollover in 2016?"
I have been in touch with FAFSA support, and this is indeed the issue. It is actually a painful issue, as I'll describe.
I did have a rollover from my former employer's 401(k) to a rollover IRA. On my 1040, it was correctly reported on line 16a, and since it was a rollover, line 16b showed a value of 0.
I seem to have run afoul of a quirk of the FAFSA/DRT. When you run DRT, it populates FAFSA line 94f (Parents' Untaxed Portions of Pensions) with the value from 1040 line 16a. Not 16b.
Then ... and this is key ... you are apparently prompted with a checkbox on FAFSA below line 94f to indicate if this was a rollover. Clearly, my daughter and I missed that.
But worst of all - you CANNOT correct this by going through a Make Corrections flow on the FAFSA website!! Once submitted, that rollover checkbox never reappears.
So the next step for us is to wait until the school shows they have received the FAFSA, and then visit the OFA and request them to correct it. This probably means letters, supporting docs, etc.
All of this could have been avoided by ticking a checkbox. Ironic, huh!
So my advice - double and triple check every line on your FAFSA before submitting. Not everything can be corrected on the website.
Live and learn.
At least you know what the issue is...and it should be easy to document.
And I'm betting a week's pay you aren't the only one who has had this issue!
What is even more insidious is that now you don't see DRT values. Only the words "Transferred from IRS." So you can tell which values are non-zero that you need to pay attention to!