Parents of the HS Class of 2016 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
12801

Finally got our W2’s and I am plugging numbers into Turbotax. Looks like W and I picked the wrong year to have a temporary substantial increase in our salaries. We just got killed in taxes and now she is retired so it will be interesting to see what happens. I was hoping to have enough saved for the first year of college.

On another note, S had another interview and feels it went well.

@Justathought1, what a nice situation to be in. A full ride to number two sounds great (Tony the Tiger imitation).

@petrichor11, deferrals are the worst. As if someone has waited long enough.

12802

So today my son learned about the benefits of working hard. Yes, it is important for getting into the college he wants. Yes, it is important for getting that gold robe at the end of the year. But now a new twist. DS is still very very sick with no end in sight. He was concerned about getting incompletes and having to make them up on top of all the new work. Well today three of the four teachers who gave finals last week emailed separately. Each told my son not to worry because his grades are high enough to not need a final to keep an A. One (senior project class) waved a presentation and told him he could give it next semester for extra credit, one (AP physics) did a bit of math and realized the final made no actual difference because my son has a 102.5% in the class, and the third (AP French) said that his grade was so high it wouldn’t matter anyway. The only class left is AP English who will give her final, but my son did a quick calculation and realized he only needed a 45% to keep an A. He can take it sick if necessary.

What is great about this is that my son has really worked hard to keep those grades as high as possible, even going to study groups when they were unnessary. He never did anything half-a**** . So this extra work, all those Fridays and Saturdays are coming back to him ten fold. I am glad that he can see that doing your very best, all the time gets noticed by those who matter. This, hopefully, will travel with him to college, and the working world, and beyond.

Now he can relax and get better.

12803

@LKnomad - What a great lesson for your son to learn, and in such a memorable and (mostly) positive way, too! Now hopefully he can take a few days, rest, and recover. I hope he’s feeling better soon, and that with this news he can get some good sleep, too.

12804

The scholarship shutout trend ended today with D getting notification that she was chosen for one of six full tuition scholarships awarded at one of the small religious schools on her list. She really was quite happy, and this keeps this school in contention. They were very kind to her, there is a lot of emphasis on service in the various programs, and she could definitely do her sport there.

She will have tough choices to make.

12805

@Lknomad, it sounds like the teachers’ kindnesses toward your son were well deserved. Now to get him well again!

12806

@LKnomad, congratulations to your S. I always tell my students to work really hard at the beginning of a semester because it will be harder to bring their grade down near the end, but if they start off doing bad then it is almost impossible to bring it up as the semester goes on. It’s nice going into a final knowing you only need a 45%.

Congratulations @GoodGrief16

12807

Great lesson @LKnomad . Hope your son feels better very soon.

12808

So happy for your son @LKnomad ! It sounds like he has certainly earned his grades, even without the exams.

CONGRADS @GoodGrief16 ! I am glad she can continue playing if that is what she chooses to do.

12809

Financial Aid question - OK I’m the irresponsible one on this forum. I have not done the FAFSA yet, or the updates to the IDOC/CSS. (In my defense, the first deadline for us is Feb 15th and none of the schools we’re applying to, are the ones that run out of money if you’re not early. I also don’t officially have my W2 yet, though I believe almost all the rest of the forms are ready.)

How hard is it? How much time should I allow? We have fairly simple finances, with each parent and DS16 having a W2-job, retirement deductions, and normal checking/savings accounts…

Do I have to have the tax forms totally done to do the forms? Because I find that sometimes a form comes in later, like DH cashed an old bond in August and the bank got around to making the form.

Thank you for any advice!

12810

@fretfulmother You can do the FAFSA with last year’s tax info as an estimate, then when you complete your taxes your can it can import your tax info right from Tax form once you submit your taxes. Changes to the CSS have to be done on paper and resubmitted . We did both forms in several hrs.

12811

@LKnomad What wonderful news! It’s so nice to see teachers that really get it. Congratulations to your son on his accomplishments.

@GoodGrief16 Congratulations to your daughter, what a wonderful choice to have!

12812

Nice way to start off a Friday reading fantastic news for your kiddos @LKnomad & @GoodGrief16 !

Hope everyone has a great day! <:-P

12813

@RyanG1207 sorry you had such a tough day.

@petrichor11 Hugs to your son.

@readingclaygirl Good luck on your test.

12814

@fretfulmother, you are not irresponsible.

Last year (our first FAFSA) we waited to do our taxes in early Feb, because all forms should have gotten to us by then. We have fairly simple tax situation, W2 income, 401k contributions. D did not have to file a tax return last year, but did this year.

It did not take that long and you can work on the FAFSA and save info and come back to add stuff. In our tax software I plugged in numbers from the last paystub (or W2) and basically in our case for FAFSA we needed the AGI, income from working (separate if you have two parents working), tax paid, 401k contributions.

So you can add demographic info for student and parent, her school codes, and financials as you have them. Put “will file” and then come back after tax returns are processed and update and import info with the IRS retrieval tool.

The assets will be reported as of the day you submit the FAFSA the first time. I had balances all ready last year, but all we were asked was “did parents’ total assets exceed a certain $ number?” (our asset protection allowance which goes by age), and since we were under that we just said “no”. For D we put her checking acct balance.

That was it. After submitting FAFSA, on the confirmation screen there was a link to the PHEAA (PA state grant form) so we did that as well and we had to print out a form to mail to Harrisburg.

The nice thing was this year, doing a renewal FAFSA, most of the demographic info was already there.

@Mysonsdad, sorry you had a higher income year. Unfortunately 2015 tax info will be used for 2016/17 FAFSA and also 2017/18 FAFSA (available to do this Oct), but maybe if your W is retiring, you can let the schools know that the income is changing and they will make a personal judgment? The higher tax amount works a little in your favor for FAFSA, not sure if it will offset the higher income. Any way you can still contribute to an IRA? Although FAFSA adds that back in.

12815

Asset protection allowance for 2016/17FAFSA
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2015-08-03/html/2015-18991.htm

12816

That is wonderful news @LKnomad !

@GoodGrief16 Congratulations to your Daughter!

12817

That said, we knew with our EFC we were not going to qualify for federal aid, except loans. But we did get a state grant which was a nice surprise.

But if a student has a very low EFC and a chance to qualify for SEOG grant in addition to Pell, Perkins loan or federal work study, I would recommend they do their FAFSA as early as possible even if tax info is not done, because schools get a limited amount of some of these extra aid items and you don’t want to miss out on that.

12818

Congratulations @GoodGrief16 It is a very nice option to have.

12819

Thanks, everyone! We are not in the category of EFC that the time delay should matter, I don’t think! In fact, our EFC came back ludicrously high from everywhere except the lottery schools.

12820

@fretfulmother - if you received a package already from your admitted school, usually you can negotiate with other schools which compete with that school. I was chatting with a kid last year about his choices through the year and it ended up where one Ivy gave him money but he wanted to go to another which didn’t give any. They ended up matching.