<p>My understanding is that your retirement acct is excluded from the asset part of most fin aid calculations just like the value of your house is excluded. However when the current year income part of the formula is calculated, any amount you put into your retirement acct that year (lines 28 and 32 on your Form 1040) is added back to increase your income. </p>
<p>LeftofPisa - thanks for the link to the NYT article. I learned a lot about how to handle our 529 distribution from it. 3257 - it should answer your questions too.</p>
<p>FlMathMom, the retirement account issue fogfog refers to is employer contributions to retirement accounts. If you’re employed and your employer makes contributions to your 401k or other retirement account then FAFSA doesn’t consider those employer contributions as income you can spend on college. But if you’re self-employed and want to make those same kind of employer-side contributions, the IRS says it’s income. </p>
<p>Joked with D1 last night that I’d done a search for discount coupon codes for Tufts, and didn’t find anything. Darn!</p>
<p>Hey-the blog was helpful. Turns out I made an error on our Profile–and included a 529 asset of the grandmothers as an asset of our student…which it is NOT. So…
have to write a letter and reference that “act” , error etc and hope said FinAid office is kinder and gentler. hahahaha</p>
<p>As for the retirement–
yes–as self employed–from the business side of the balance sheet
–a contribution to a retirment acct (like one would get from your employer) is
frowned upon by the establishment (ie, FInAid office of colleges)"
(to quote the ETrade baby…:rolleyes:)</p>
<p>Congratulations on the appointment, PhbMom and daughter! I wish I had a child who was motivated in that direction. Good news on our home front, despite S1’s lack of motivation during the fall semester, his rank went up several places to 21/600. Guess his fellows were even less motivated than he was. He’ll be honored as part of the top 30. I was not sure that was going to happen. Still waiting for news of merit aid from Purdue…</p>
<p>Right there with you, Apollo 6. Silence is deafening from West Lafayette.</p>
<p>Thought I’d share this with you all. We hosted a college student from Afghanistan in our home for eight months before he moved into the dorms of our local college in fall 2009. We consider him a member of our family and we have learned so much from him.</p>
<p>He went home to see his family last summer and his return visa got held up at the US Embassy for unexplained reasons. He missed the fall semester as a result and we were all so frustrated. But his plane into the US (a 17-hour flight) just landed and with any luck (and no hassles in immigration) he will spend tonight in our house before we move him back into the dorm tomorrow.</p>
<p>He is bringing a little hand-made Afghan suit for our grandson. He asked for measurements! We will have such a great reunion!</p>
<p>mayhew–Thanks for sharing your wonderful Italy memories. It’s been two days but I finally heard from S1–who just bought a new Intl. cell phone in Florence. He sounds fantastic! Had the “best pizza” he’s ever had in Italy, he said. LOL!!! Like it’s his first pizza in Italy! Also, the “best gelato” etc. And it hasn’t gone past his notice that approx 80% (his guess) of the students in his program are…women. He also noticed just how well a person gets treated by cafes etc when he is with a big group of lovely American females. I had no idea he’d get a megadose of “gender studies” on his very first day in the country. Best part–he’s having an amazing time already. Yay!!! My #1 bird has officially flown to nest (and flapped his way to Europe)!</p>
<p>Aaah - gelato and pizza in Italy - brings back memories!! The kids and I had a great time in Rome scouting out all the little gelato places - we promised ourselves we’d go back again in a few years time! And now, I am getting really hungry - having missed lunch, still at work and talking of pizza and gelato - darn!</p>
<p>That FAFSA link was indeed useful - given the snow predicted here for tomorrow, I’ll be home. Maybe I can get the FAFSA started…</p>
<p>Love it, Madbean! I can still imagine the taste of the gelato I “discovered” in Italy when I was 18 and taking a Spring break trip while an exchange student in grayer Northern Europe. Everything Italian was such a respite from my depressing host country.</p>
<p>Madbean: I’m glad that your son arrived safely and is off to a great start. The pizza in Italy really is wonderful. When we were in Florence this summer, it was overrun with college students. It’s a very manageable city, with great train access to the rest of Italy. I’m sure that your son will have a great experience.</p>
<p>Many thanks to all for the kind congratulations over the past few days. GC decided to share his letter of recommendation with D2 now that she’s received a few acceptances, and all I can say is wow. It kind of took my breath away and D2 was so touched. She felt like she always lived in D1’s shadow with the GC.</p>
<p>Hope all of your kids have the same satisfying moments in the next few months for a job well done! Imagine there may be some disappointments, too but our family believes those tough times also have purpose. </p>
<p>On another note, D1 is more than slightly depressed that her Ducks lost in the National Championship last night. Never imagined she’d become such a fan of football.</p>
<p>Chiming in after several days and trying to catch up (unsuccessfully).</p>
<p>Pbhmom Huge Congrats to you and your D! </p>
<p>Madbean Ahh, gelato. So jealous of your S1. And I doubt its snowing in Florence . Is your S there for the study abroad program? </p>
<p>Fogfog very impressed with you for organizing the same day trip, and with your student for not missing the connecting flight.</p>
<p>Mosb it seems that every time I come back to this forum your D has another reason for congrats!</p>
<p>Kudos to everyone who has finished FAFSA. I was successfully avoiding this task so far. Several schools on my S list have 2/1 due date, so it has to be done soon, but I am waiting for our W-2s and will start preparing our 2010 tax returns in the next couple days. Force be with me!</p>
<p>There is nothing really to report from our household, we wont hear of any decisions until late March. Next 2 months S will be away almost all Saturdays for his main EC competitions, its very exciting, but also tiring. They already came back with one victory, so its a good start for his last season.</p>
<p>For what it is worth, here is our accountant’s conclusion on how to deal with college deadlines on submitting tax returns that the IRS will not let us file until after the deadlines:</p>
<p>“I believe when they refer to completed and signed the meaning is that the returns be filed. However I agree with you that disclosing that the return has not been filed is the best way to go. What we will have to do on our end is complete the return here in our office and get you a copy of that return we intend to file with DRAFT stamped on it. We can then type a letter explaining the IRS situation and why the return is a DRAFT and like you said letting them know we will get them a copy of the final return.” </p>
<p>I would encourage you to get your own accountant’s advice. The one thing I am sure of is that not sending some tax return in on time could disqualify you from financial aid, at least for the first semester.</p>
<p>I have been out of the loop lately because of some serious health issues that my parents are experiencing. My dad is in ICU and my mom was hospitalized but has been transferred to a rehab facility. They live approx. 3 hours away, so I have been driving back and forth frequently during the past week. I know that others have posted that they’ve had similar problems with aging parents recently. It’s hard.</p>
<p>On a brighter note, my son called me when I was on my way home last night with some good news. He has an acceptance to his only EA school! And with some generous scholarship money, too. He had a call last night and was surprised to hear from them because he wasn’t expecting decisions to come out until the 15th. They told him that he is still in the running for their highest scholarship (a full ride), but of course we know that’s a long shot. The scholarship that he was awarded was definitely enough to make it affordable, so that’s a huge plus. He was very excited to have an acceptance in hand! And so was I. My husband was still doing a happy dance when I got home – he’s really into the scholarship money! :-)</p>
<p>OWM- Hope you had a wonderful reunion with your Afghani student.</p>
<p>Madbean- Thanks for the vicarious thrills! I really regret not doing a semester abroad program in college and will definitely encourage my kids to take advantage of those opportunities.</p>
<p>D received a nice merit award from her one acceptance. While an auditioned program is her dream, this will be a very nice alternative if those don’t come through, especially if she gets into the honors program. And with the merit award we would actually be able to put money aside for grad school. We’re keeping all options on the table but boy is that $$$ tempting!</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your parents Ohiomom. I hope they are better soon. That sounds incredibly stressful. And congratulations on the acceptance and the $$$. Hope you and DH get to do more happy dances.</p>
<p>Hi,my daughter is applying to 6-7-8 yr bd/md programs but has not heard from them as of yet for interview etc and she is very nervous about this.Is someone out there in similar situation?</p>
<p>Keylime, I hope I haven’t been bragging too much about my d. It’s fun to share the successes, but I know some parents become obnoxious, and I really hope I haven’t unwittingly fallen in with that sorry group!</p>
<p>OWM, so sorry to hear about your parents’ health issues…and that long drive! Does this look like a long-term proposition, or are you hopeful they’ll be back home soon? I hope you’re getting good support for yourself. We’ve all talked recently about how draining it can be to be in the thick of this college thing with our kids while also looking after aging/ill parents. Let us know how they’re doing.</p>
<p>The dentist thing was low-key. I’m one of those dentist-phobic people, so I go to an outstanding sedation-dentistry office. They practically knock me out when I walk in the door (which is fine by me). The tooth was quick to fix, so I guess I was only out for 20 or 30 mins. I’m out before they even do the Novacaine, and that’s the way I like it.</p>
<p>But I can’t have any more frozen M&Ms!!! What am I going to do??? See, I was hitting these around 4 or 5pm, which was better than a cocktail because I could still get in another hour’s worth of work, and then be totally energized for making dinner (must be the sugar).</p>
<p>Ah, well…maybe a little caffienated herbal tea, though that doesn’t sound fun compared to those frozen M&Ms. I really loved them. A lot.</p>
<p>Congrats Ohiomom! It’s so wonderful when they give you the financial info on the spot! And yay for LoP’s D, too! Having a great plan in place feels really good. I think my D is realizing how having her one early acceptance is making this period livable.</p>
<p>So sorry to hear about parental health issues. That’s such a worry. As a parent myself I imagine they are so grateful for your support. We all hope not to burden our kids.</p>
<p>Aw … no more frozen M&Ms … um, I guess the regular ones won’t do the trick? My family has always been complete maniacs for the peanut ones.</p>
<p>D is slogging through her week, the 3 auditions (not college) done, paperwork starting to decrease. Our happy dance will be Saturday night, when she’ll finally be over the crest of that particular hill.</p>
Darn!</p>
. Is your S there for the study abroad program? </p>