We were happy that S’s U didn’t require us to complete any FAid forms for his merit awards. We REALLY weren’t interested in providing that information. There were some Us that said they required such forms. We only completed FAid forms one year–the year S and D first applied for private HS and I was between jobs and we had very little income. We didn’t qualify for ANYTHING! We didn’t bother to apply after that, tho I did try a FAFSA calculator, which confirmed that it would not be useful. My sister applied for FAid when she had 2 kids in college and one in law school. Her D was awarded work study, but they didn’t want her to work, so she got nothing. I believe they used a HELOC to help with their cash flow.
Things that might be hard about FAFSA
- Remembering the password that you only use once per year
- Filling it out early before you have all your financial data for the year, because it needs to be done by an unreasonable deadline.
Other than that, it should be a breeze. I’d be as embarrassed to say I couldn’t read a grocery list as I would be to say I had trouble with FAFSA.
We had a fairly complicated tax return for a few years…including self employment, and employment in two different states. We did the FAFSA and Profile annually.
Honestly, once the taxes are done…it really isn’t hard to do these forms…it’s a “fill in the blanks” process. A no brainer,
It took us about 30 additional minutes to look online for our asset amounts as of the date of filing.
But really…your financial planner can’t do a FAFSA?
I’d be finding a different financial planner!
The one thing that annoys me is that FAFSA want the parents’ incomes separated. We have pretty simple taxes and do them early. Them for FAFSA we can’t just look at the Turbotax data. I had to go dig out the W2’s to get our separate incomes. We are married filing jointly and we are the kid’s parents. Our joint income which is I. Turbo tax should be all they need. Minor thing but it Amit’s me.
Oh, I also think the new ID system where you have to pick a significant date is goofy. Especially from the student perspective. 17 year olds do not typically have a lot of significant dates that they remember.
CSS profile is so much worse. So glad D didn’t apply to any Priofile schools.
For anyone who has just gotten divorced or where a spouse has recently passed away, the FAFSA is a royal pain.
In my former role as a counselor in a Federal support for low income/first gen students, I ran FAFSA workshops every year where the kids would trek in with the family forms, I’d set them all up on a row of computers,and sort of coach them through it. Aside from password issues (“my secret question was where I would like to go on vacation…but I don’t know what I was thinking last year”), we usually didn’t have much trouble. even though some families had fairly complex tax forms–probably not CC complex, though. But then neither is mine!
My taxes are very complex and income fluctuates wildly between years. I am never even close to having taxes done and I consistently miss the FAFSA deadline every year because it is the furthest thing from my mind and no one ever sends me reminders. My D is not going to be filling out the FAFSA, so it is all on me, so I have to go in and ‘pretend’ to be the student to fill it out. My problem this year was I could not remember parent password and I went around in circles trying to get a ‘security code’ sent to email to reset the password, but then there was no place to enter the Security Code. Finally I magically remembered my parent password.
Do they really think 17-20 yr olds are going to fill out the FAFSA with all of their parent’s financial information? I understand that there is a percentage that is doing it, but I’m going to guess that a huge percentage of parents are filling it out pretending to be their kids.
FAFSA time in our house always = “leave mom alone!!” I’m grouchy and whiney until it’s DONE.
We too have had so many problems over the year with pin numbers and signing in. And now the other sign in stuff they have going on - I already forget what it’s called - but another set of numbers to confuse!!! Even if I write them down I feel like they don’t work!
I think way more young people fill out FAFSAs than people on here think. Probably not upper income kids but low to middle income? Especially first gen kids? Absolutely. The vast majority of my friends in undergrad filed out their own FAFSA but we were all low to middle income with most of us qualifying for the simplified needs test.
But folks…if you are having username and ID issues…having someone else complete,yoir FAFSA is NOT going to solve those issues!
I go back to my original,statement…completing a FAFSA is a fill in the blanks process once your taxes are completed. Actually now it’s even easier for returning students (who have later deadlines). Just do,the taxes first…wait three weeks…and use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool…and POOF…the tax info is on your FAFSA!
Plus, don’t they also require that you send them your actual tax form in addition to filling out the FAFSA form? I remember feeling that it was so intrusive, in every single way. You send off all your personal financial information, and to whom? Who gets to see it on the other end? Is it safe? Isn’t it just a matter of time before it’s hacked?
We STILL fill out the FAFSA for our single 32! year old D.
So if your kid goes to medical school, single or married (DIL in med school and fills out her own)…it needs to happen.
Guess we failed with our D–since we still do the paperwork 
That said DIL is married and has a kid so maybe a different take…
Are you aware that China has passed a law that parents are responsible for their children FOREVER?
The first year was definitely the worst… DS applied to 9 colleges, combo of FAFSA and CSS schools. We did early submission (based on prior year forms) just to know ballpark. After that, PIN was a pain.
I did Happykid’s taxes and our taxes and the FAFSA. Before hitting “send” I showed the numbers to Happydad (“Gee Honey, that’s a lot of numbers!”) and to Happykid (“Gee Mom, that’s a lot of numbers!”), then signed off Happykid’s part with her PIN and our part with my PIN. Every single blessed year. So glad that the FAFSA is history for us. State and federal taxes aren’t of course, but that is another story.
As for misplacing the PINs: Print those suckers out. Write your “secret” words and whatnot on that piece of paper. File it with any printout of the FAFSA or your taxes for that year. That way you will be able to lay your hands on the information when you need it again.
I did my taxes and the FAFSA the same day. After reading all the threads here I thought it was much easier than anticipated. I honestly don’t know how a financial planner could do it for you. I found the security questions the hardest part - name of first pet, color of first car- how can someone do this for you? I wrote down all the questions and answers and made a file for next year. I looked up what records to gather (son’s operator’s license number) and son sat with me but contributed little other than his cheerful presence. My taxes are not simple but having all the financial statements gathered ahead of time definitely works. One of his schools wants a CSS and I did not do it. It’s not worth it since he will not get any money anyway.
Most colleges now require that you link your FAFSA to the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. This populates your tax return information accurately onto your FAFSA. Most FAFSA only schools don’t require anything else in terms of tax returns.
There are schools that use the Orofile or their own form that DO require submission of tax returns,
In any event…just check your colleges websites…and submit what they require.
Maybe they can replace FAFSA and CSS with a simple statement the student can make on the application “I need a lot of money, trust me.”
After hearing all my friends complain about doing the FAFSA for their college kids I was dreading it. But, easy peasy. I agree its a 30 minute or less task. Now, want to talk about confusing? Try the CSS profile with the business/farm supplement. The CSS Profile itself was quite simple because our taxes were complete but geez, having to figure out some of the business information (before the taxes were done prior to admission the first year) was a nightmare. This year I found the CSS as easy as the FAFSA and the school doesn’t require the supplement after the first year, yeah!
FAFSA is easy enough, but still somewhat of a pain to do. But the CSS Profile, is real pain! So many questions including looking into my crystal ball at the future!
My D’s school only required the Profile the first year and short supplement subsequent years. I was led into a false sense of security thinking this was normal (and I wouldn’t be doing this every year). But alas, my S’s school requires the profile every year. So we aren’t done yet…
I think FAFSA will do that if they need something verified. I think the CSS profile needs that too but I forget. our son only needed the CSS the 1st year