Thank you all for your input. We very much appreciate it.
Just to follow up on a few of your questions/comments, the last year for which we have a return, 2018, we had an AGI of over $110,000. This year (2019), it will be right around that again - possibly less. BUT that was before understanding that any retirement contributions made will be added back in. I guess I’m still not clear for which year, though, those contributions are added back in…? Is it the year we apply (which will be this Fall) or is it for contributions made during the proverbial “year before the year before” (2019)? Because we did contribute around $6,000 in 2019. But we haven’t yet this year.
As for the advisor, he is part of a “company” that our school recommended (amongst others) as an option to seek out advice on College Financial Planning.
And between his input, and what we’ve read on the FAFSA form itself, it seems clear that our businesses should be not “assessed” (or that we won’t have to give valuations for them), given we each own them solely and neither has more than one employee. The truth is it would be extremely difficult/challenging for us to put a value on either of our businesses; though I surely understand we’ll have to if we apply to any PROFILE schools.
But the rental home is another matter. And I guess I do need to find out more definitively from the advisor why he suggests that putting that asset in an LLC might be beneficial as far as FAFSA is concerned (clearly not for the CSS). It would clearly be defined (by the IRS anyway) as a business. But it obviously wouldn’t be our primary business. And I’m not clear if that distinction would matter to those reviewing a FAFSA form.
Lastly, our daughter is doing quite well academically, but it’s not clear that she has separated herself to the point that she would qualify for most merit based scholarships. Obviously, we can’t yet know that. The bigger challenge for us is going to be finding a school that might be more willing to give merit based aid and that she is INTERESTED in attending. And that is a problem/battle that no amount of forum input can remedy. We’re on our own with that…