<p>The whole kayak thing is less athletic and more zen. We are couch potatos, tech junkies here, attached to our various devices. Kayaking is like hiking in the woods without the annoying walking part of it. Your arms do some work but really, I make up with the amount of eating I do when coasting or watching a bird or something. :)</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone, for the advice on the FAFSA, PINs, etc. I realized that some of my confusion was coming from the PIN being used at the end to sign the FAFSA . . . as opposed to the PASSWORD that you need to log in to complete it. :o</p>
<p>But another question: how do so many of you complete your FAFSA if you don’t have your W-2s yet? My agency should get our W-2s next Friday (1/14). I know you don’t have to actually file your taxes to complete the FAFSA, but you need to have a lot of that W-2 information . . . I really really want to get this done, but I guess I’ll have to wait one more week.</p>
<p>cgpm59: I just use our 12/31 paystubs which have all the same information. Then I add/subtract other income/expenses which I estimate if necessary. I haven’t submitted the FAFSO or CSS yet but they are both basically done. (Whew)</p>
<p>Once you put in “will file” for your tax filing status (as opposed to “filed”), all the questions change to “based on 2009 actual or 2010 est” which you can go back in and revise to actuals later. I had to go into my bank statements, investment accts to find all the int and dividend stuff because I know I won’t be able to get that for at least a month.</p>
<p>cgpm - FAFSA asks you for your AGI, each parent’s income, investment income, contributions to retirement accounts, your taxes pd (not withheld) and a few other components of income from your tax return. </p>
<p>If you have a tax program such as Turbotax, you can input your estimated info into the program to calculate much of this info. If you don’t have Turbotax, I think you can try out their free version online. </p>
<p>You can get your income from your last paycheck of the year. Your investment income may be available online. Be careful with the tax number. It is not the am’t withheld, to be refunded or owed. It is your actual tax liability (Line 55 on Form 1040). Do not include self-employment tax or net out credits. </p>
<p>FAFSA also asks for the amount of cash and investments you have. They clearly tell you what to include and exclude. Most of this info s/b available online or call your broker.</p>
<p>You can get more help from [FAFSA</a> Form Guide 2011-2012 < FAFSA Form | FAFSA Online](<a href=“Everything You Need to Know About FAFSA | Edvisors”>Everything You Need to Know About FAFSA | Edvisors) or PM me with any specific questions. I’ll try to help if I can.</p>
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<p>I read this quickly first and saw 'Most of this info b/s available online… ;)</p>
<p>Isn’t that how most of us feel about this?!?</p>
<p>Got an email from S’s GC today. She has been contacted by 2 schools (one of which is his top choice) regarding his grades to date this year. He applied EA to both schools so they will not have mid term grades before sending out a decision. One school should be a safety, even with crap grades. Other, his first choice, is a safety regarding SAT/ACT but a slight reach with his current GPA. Looking at Naviance data the school has a history of deffering EA applicants with his GPA and higher. Although no one with his SAT was deferred. </p>
<p>His grades are the worse they have been in HS. He is taking Calc BC AP, Physics B AP and Ecconomics AP along with two other courses so his course load is not light. But, he is not putting the effort he should be into even easy classes like English. He should hear from 3 more schools in the next week or so and I fully expect 2 of them to be deferrals, if not outright rejections. </p>
<p>H and I think the 3 acceptances he got in early Nov. may have made him cocky and not care about the rest. So right now, he has 5 acceptances and one deferral. Merit money at 3. He will hear from 3 more schools this month, and 4 in March. My little engine that can but won’t.</p>
<p>I spent probably four hours today doing the Profile and FAFSA. I was shocked by how low our FAFSA was compared to the calculators. No, it isn’t a low amount but the EFC was less than half of what the calculator estimated. I mean this is doable possibility (even though much more than we were paying for our son last year), and it makes me all more relaxed about how we will pay for number three. We do have a post911 GI bill but haven’t yet figured out the ramifications of who should use it when. We have one kid who we will only pay for tuition and only by repaying loans (he needs about a year more and I think he should consider online classes). We have this one who is starting this Fall and who has gotten much more merit aid than we thought she would, based on her scores and her being a female. She wants to go to law school most likely. Then there is number three who will be going to college in three and a half years. She will likely get merit aid so who do we use this for and when?</p>
<p>Thanks – again! – especially FLMathMom. Y’all are the best. Yes, we do use TurboTax (one of the greatest inventions ever!) but last year, our mortgage interest and other items had decreased to the extent where we filed a 1040A instead of a 1040 for the first time in our married life. That would be all fine and good to just pull that over for FAFSA this year, except that in April, we refinanced the remaining amount on our mortgage, so now we have more interest paid and points, etc. etc. I think this year, we will be back to the 1040.</p>
<p>And yes, I can look up all of our “stuff” online; last year, I had our taxes filed on Jan. 22 and I think we had our refund back in maybe two weeks. It was fast. </p>
<p>I’ll do a little more studying on it this weekend. Thanks again to all the helpful and NICE people on this forum!</p>
<p>I just did best estimates based on the forms, pay stubs, mutual fund records, bank records, etc. It was a good think that I did do this because I think that my h’s W-2 form may show an error so I am having him look into that on Monday. (We won’t get the form until later in January but I suspect that they have neglected to put part of his pay as combat pay). As others recommended here, I just filed as if we will only have two kids we are supporting in the next school year since the plan right now is for our oldest to get a job, move out, and then figure out a way to finish his college degree. If anything changes with that, we will adjust.</p>
<p>MilitaryMom - Glad someone’s EFC is less than the calculator estimated!! (mine went up eeegad) Are you buying the round of drinks tonight?</p>
<p>Just finished my second go-round with the Profile. I did version 1 based on total guesstimates in Oct 2010 for EA schools. It was no picnic. Way more numbers than FAFSA.</p>
<p>Some warnings to those of you who are updating a previously done 2011-12 Profile:
- You have to put all your changes in at one sitting. There is no save function so it is best to print out your previously done form (version 1) and handwrite all the changes before entering them on version 2.
- Once you submit the updated form (version 2), you cannot retrieve your original form (version 1). If you want to send handmarked corrections on version 1 to the schools who received version 1, be sure to mark up your changes neatly or print two copies (one as your worksheet; one to send). Unfortunately I did not know this which is why I am passing along this info.
- Reread the instructions before starting version 2. I made some errors the first time which I caught this time b/c I did this.
- In the sections that have Worksheets supporting an entry, such a PF-115A and PA-120-A, be sure to change the underlying worksheets to support any changed entry. I just changed the entry because the worksheets are not shown on the printout. You would think (HA HA) an error message would pop up when the worksheet total doesn’t match the entry. Hopefully this won’ be a problem.
- For those of you who will do the Profile before the FAFSA, you can print out a worksheet on the Profile web site to help you answer the FAFSA questions.</p>
<p>I hope all this is clear. Let me know if you have any questions.</p>
<p>FlMathMom - head spinning after reading your warnings! I went and started a profile (which I thought I had done before) and stupidly started doing the 2010 FAFSA instead of 2011. </p>
<p>I’m going to sit back and wait til I have all my info before going back in. My D had 3 jobs and we only have one W2 so far. Of course there aren’t any last pay check stubs that she hung on to!</p>
<p>bella - If you really want to get started, she can contact the accounting department where she worked. They have info.</p>
<p>Just rec’d SAR from FAFSA folks. Apparently they did not like my answer to the selective service question. My son’s bday is in March. He already registered for the selective service online which will take effect when he turns 18. Apparently that registration is not good enuf for FAFSA. They changed my YES to a blank. Blanks are NO-NOs in FAFSAland. I had to change the blank to a NO and then answer REGISTER ME on the next line. I’ll get version 2 of the SAR tomorrow. Hopefully all will be copacetic in FAFSAland!</p>
<p>Free Book on the Kindle. Haven’t read it or glanced at it yet. Perhaps too late to help the '11’s.</p>
<p>You’re Accepted: Lose the Stress. Discover Yourself. Get into the College That’s Right for You. [Kindle Edition]
Katie Malachuk</p>
<p>@Flmathmom: I was initially thrown for a loop on the selective service question too. Finally I just bit the bullet and decided to hope for peace.</p>
<p>I’ve been busy and look at all the good news! Several new acceptances! Wow! And some additional honors:</p>
<p>Emmy–congrats to D on her tenor solo. My S1 played tenor sax & I love that instrument. He sorta dropped it all after 9th grade, but had been an early whiz and I now love a lot of jazz because of him. What a big to-do (name on plaque) and so great that D2 is making her own mark with that high achieving D1. Anyone here think of Lisa Simpson playing her heart out?</p>
<p>arisamp, I have come to think of your daughter as my S2’s cyberspace twin (only in college apps so far, of course!), and I have kvelled at her latest award. It is supremely nice when the outside world rewards these hard-working kids! I agree with your advice to send those non-school LORs to other admissions offices. Only my opinion–but I think they may find non-teacher recs a little more “authentic” sometimes, since these are not professionals who must write recs. And they also can add insight outside the classroom about a kid’s work ethic and kindness where a great grade is not the motivating factor at all.</p>
<p>Well done, kids of cc! And as for fog and the completion of the FAFSA, I have nothing but envy.</p>
<p>Thanks! Yeah, we might need to find a Lisa t-shirt …</p>
<p>Tonight we were musing over prom dresses - she’s lukewarm about prom (she’s going because her BF really wants to), but now she gets to wear it for the concert, too, so lots more interest. Of course, she fell for a megabucks dress on the internet!</p>
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Yes, I have a question: Do I throw myself off the bridge before or after completing the forms?</p>
<p>Seriously, those of you with nice things like pay-stubs and W2s…take a minute and be grateful for this. When you own a small, incorporated business, it’s unbelievably more difficult. I’m mad at everybody tonight…the government for this outrageously complex tax code…the colleges for these ridiculous forms. Does it all really need to be this difficult? Really? </p>
<p>Oh, and what’s SAR?</p>
<p>FlMathMom, didn’t mean to be snide about your kind offer of help. This stuff has smoke coming out of my ears tonight. Didn’t mean to direct rudeness toward you…you’ve been so generous in trying to help those of us who truly want to shoot ourselves over this.</p>