My son is crossed between Georgia Tech and Rensselaer Polytechnic. We are broke and we understand that early decision will increase his acceptance rate potential for whichever he chooses. I explained that I may not be able to afford either so we will have to wait till we get an idea of what financial aid will cover. He won’t do more than 2k for student loans.
I know that I can fill my fafsa early, even as early as Oct. 1 which was a few days ago but here’s where it gets complicated.
I owned a rental house in 2014 and sold it that year. I made a small profit and it showed up in my income tax when I filed in 2015. Both 2014 and 2015 have very complicated issues which will SKEW the numbers for fafsa so I’d really prefer to use this coming year’s incometax instead but that means I’d have to wait till January to file and miss EARLY DECISION.
I realize that they say we can use approximate numbers but I don’t have a degree in economics and the whole thing is over my head. My prime concern here is getting him the ability to E/D the school that offers the best financial aid but finding that out requires my filling fafsa and css early but I don’t know which year to use.
I sent a contact message to the school but they haven’t responded yet.
If you know you cannot afford those schools with out almost full aid do not apply ED. See if they have a non binding EA application.
You must use 2015 for your FAFSA - so might as well file it now. If you are requesting professional judgment, that is between you and the school (it happens outside of doing the FAFSA). Do your FAFSA, then contact the school to ask them if they will review your situation, and if so, what documentation they want.
- You can not CHOOSE which years’ taxes/incomes you report. The FAFSA for the 2017-18 school year uses the tax filing from 2015. The forms ask specifically for 2015 income (using 2015 tax forms), and estimates of 2016 and 2017 income. You can contact Financial Aid offices at schools of interest and ask the best way to go about explaining any unusual financial circumstances, so that they will consider that. The CSS Profile has a space at the end to explain anything that the form itself can not capture.
- If you need to compare financial aid, your son should not be applying ED.
If you sold the rental house in 2014, that would show up on 2014 taxes, which play no part in financial aid for the 2017-2018 academic year.
FAFSA does not ask for income estimates. FAFSA for academic year 2017-2018 only asks about 2015 income and taxes, and assets as of the day the form is completed.
Profile may ask for income estimates (but not FAFSA, as BelknapPoint said above).
ok I read somewhere that you could use either of two incometax years for this latest fafsa. I may have misunderstood it. Thanks
No, for school year 2017-2018, you must use your taxes from 2015.
Did you run net price calculators on both colleges’ websites?
What aid do they predict?