<p>Walker: the poem was great. I do not have a basket for widowed socks, but I think it is a marvelous idea and may start one the next time I do laundry.</p>
<p>DH was let go from his job the Monday before Thanksgiving. Should I file the profile for the schools our son has heard from, but wait to file to those he hasn’t heard from yet? I don’t know if there is a spot on the profile to mention he has been let go & we wouldn’t want our son not admitted to a school because his father lost his job.</p>
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Yes, I know. There is also broad bipartisan support for a patch. Is it possible it won’t happen? Sure. But I’d bet all my green rep boxes that it will be patched. So did the IRS apparently. We’ll see. I understand it makes planning difficult.</p>
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Yes, this is what I meant by it not being “retroactive.” As the code stands now there is no patch. As I understandit, there’s no automatic annual adjustment for the annual AMT exemption, so It starts that way every time until they increase the AMT exemption.</p>
<p>As far as marriage penalty, I was talking about the general marriage penalty (not the AMT penalty). It’s also pegged to go away but not until 2013 AFAIK.</p>
<p>So FAFSA question - does it really make a big difference if you file Jan 1st vs. say Jan 20th? My dh said that the meeting he went to they suggest waiting to get your w-2 so as to avoid errors. In the long run, I don’t think it will make a big difference to us but want to do it right.</p>
<p>Oh and Walker - the poem made me tear up!!!</p>
<p>@Walker–just pointing out that I have three single sons. Sounds like I’d make a perfect MIL for your daughter–she’d feel very at home in my house.</p>
<p>Kat2013–yes, there is a spot on the profile and the FAFSA for dislocated workers. Sorry about the job. Does he have anything in the pipeline yet?</p>
<p>ahsmuoh–depends on the school. If you are applying to state schools, file the FAFSA as early in Jan as possible, the money goes fast. It really depends on the school and how they allocate their funds though. Some schools have that information online, others do not. You can get the necessary information off your pay stubs and correct later. The initial file date is what you want–kind of like sending in an application before a deadline-as long as the application is in you are good, the rest can come later. If you use Turbo Tax or similar, you can “create” a W-2 on there by plugging in numbers from the pay stub.</p>
<p>SteveMA - he is in high end construction/material sales so it’s no looking so good, thanks for asking. 
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<p>Does anyone know about CSS Profile timing with regards to schools no accepted to yet? We wouldn’t want our son not admitted to a school because his father lost his job.</p>
<p>@MyLB… If I could get my D to punt the current BF I’d happily suggest one of your boys. He is a nice enough kid but my D is smarter and fiercer. Idk if he can deal with a long distance relationship in college. I’m betting on no. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Honestly I think she is dating his parents :). They LOVE her!!</p>
<p>Kat: Idk what region of the country you are in but try San Antonio for work. Construction everywhere. It’s crazy.</p>
<p>Kat: Does he have his PE?</p>
<p>Kat: look at all the different financial aid sections of the websites. For the majority of my son’s schools they want the FAFSA and CSS by March 1st.</p>
<p>Walker1194 - we are in NY, 1/2 hour out of NYC. What is a PE?</p>
<p>Walker, I LOVE that poem!</p>
<p>Kat, sorry about the job situation. Are you saying that you dont want to file and report the job/loss because you’re afraid of being denied at a need aware school?
On the other hand, I’ve been told that it’s easy to get a school to give less aid, but very hard to get an award increased, so you may be better off filing now, especially for need blind schools or schools where you ds has strong stats.</p>
<p>Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using CC</p>
<p>tx5athome - the reason for my question is that my understanding is the earlier you apply for aid, the more money there is available. Our son was accepted to Fordham & they provided a free FAFSA service so I have already given them everything they need to file our FAFSA & they will also do it for the other 8 schools he was accepted to. There are still 6 schools we have not heard from, & 3 of the schools he really wants to attend are in the 6 (of course!). So my worries (amongst others) are</p>
<ol>
<li><p>We send these 3 schools his Profile & FAFSA & they decline him due to his father not having a job & therefore needing more aide.</p></li>
<li><p>We wait & file the Profile & FAFSA until he is accepted, but by that time there isn’t enough money left to meet his needs.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>anniez - Yes, that is exactly what I am trying to say! I will check the websites, but I do not believe the 3 he really wants are need blind.</p>
<p>First - my apologies if I offended anyone. I tried not to support any particular party or agenda. It was not my intent to take a side, just express the frustration it causes in our college planning.</p>
<p>As for FASFA planning. At a college fair this past year, we were advised by the department that administers the lottery scholarship and other state based aid to file as early as possible. Some of the monies are first come first served. </p>
<p>We are only sending the CSS profile to one school. If I heard everyone correctly, I need to hold off on this one until either I have filed my return or the deadline comes up.</p>
<p>Kat - I am so sorry to hear about DH’s job. I am sending my FASFA and CSS profile to a school that S has not been accepted to. The deadline for these forms is before the date that acceptance will be released. This school claims that admissions are need blind. I hope that your schools are also the same.</p>
<p>Kat2013–You need to send it by whatever deadline the school has. For DS HMFR it’s February 15th but they don’t notify students of acceptances for RD until April so you need to send it to schools he hasn’t been accepted to if they require it or he won’t get in. The need blind/need aware thing is really hard. Did he apply to any 100% meets needs schools? You are kind of in a rock/hard place. If you don’t send the info in on time, he won’t get in, if you do send it in on time without the job, he might not get in. I still say send it in and let the chips fall as they may. There isn’t much you can do about it at this point and you just have to go with it unfortunately. Been there, done that with our older son. DH was out of work for over a year and we are still recovering from that even though our “salary” doesn’t indicate that–our bank accounts do though.</p>
<p>I was just reading on DD’s future school website that Financial Aid awards there are given out as they receive the FAFSA up to March 1st where, after that date, it’s first come first serve for whatever is left.</p>
<p>Walker – LOVE the poem. Your house may not look quite like that, but mine sure does!
SteveMA – you share so much really helpful information. Thank you for that!
Kat – so sorry about the job loss. Do check to see if the schools are need aware, but my thought would be that S will not be able to go unless they can provide aid, so it might not really benefit you to have him accepted under the assumption that you are full pay, right? Sorry about the job loss. DH’s job ended shortly <em>after</em> we had submitted all the FA paperwork for D1 a couple of years ago, and we had a devil of a time getting colleges to change their awards.
Galaxy – I think everyone is okay with the expressing of frustration. It’s what we’re here for. I think I did a very bad job of saying what was troubling me, which was that I just thought we should avoid discussing the pros and cons of tax policy. How the tax situation affects us individually as we try to sort out personal finances in order to get our kids to college certainly seems like fair game.
Got to start getting tax stuff in order – I’m way behind y’all!</p>
<p>He’s finished! Scrapped UVa at the end, but that’s fine with me. YEA!!!</p>