We received this from DS’s school today, if you are in MA this maybe helpful:
For anyone needing help with the FAFSA, the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) is offering virtual events offering one-on-one expert assistance. Anyone interested should access the links below for more details and to register:
FAFSA Festival: Wed, Jan 24th, 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Log in anytime during this two-hour block to be paired with a financial aid expert
FAFSA Day events: Join a Monday session offered once a month from February until May to get FAFSA questions answered
Does this happen every year - colleges extending their deadlines? I have seen it a lot this year - I have had three kids applying to college for the last three years - but don’t remember seeing this last year or the year before.
I remember it last year. They had lots of excuses…bad weather in some states is one I remember. But I think they were just extending the deadlines like they are this year.
Purely second hand information, but I heard a couple times a few colleges extended last year, and those people were surprised during the window this year when it was “only” Vassar (now it is not only Vassar).
Those two questions are in the beginning and then the two questions regarding checking/savings and investments are farther along. Did you get all the way to the end and there were no additional questions?
Yep, just the 2 questions and then asked to sign (which I will not do until I am able to put our cash and assets in). Has nothing to do with using an iPhone or Mac like they suggested because I tried on a dell and it still doesn’t pop up. And then of course it couldn’t be accessed because of maintenance. It’s so frustrating but will deal with it tomorrow
I’m at the point where I want to delete it all and start fresh but my kid will kill me lol
And I am assuming you said yes to the question about linking the tax return. One option, if there is a spouse in the picture, have him/her be the linked parent account and see what happens.
And here I was thinking the FAFSA was so easy versus old ones. I wanted to tear my hair out with those ones but this one seemed like a piece of cake. Also so much easier than the CSS profile.
Yes, confirmation email that we linked to irs- I’ve gone through it so many times Idk anymore. Looks like everything answered correctly, no reason to not add assets
Thank you, watched the videos that’s why I know we’re missing things- I literally went through everything with the representative on the phone, she gave me a case # and said to try tomorrrow.
Yes. I have given money to the beneficiary child with no penalty but subject, according to my accountant, the kiddie tax. In other words kid pays my tax rate on the amount of the gain but no 10% penalty. The other thing is that I believe is that you need to make the distribution in a tax year they received the merit money. In other words you can’t just hold on to the money and then distribute 2 years after they graduate and avoid the 10% penalty.
Finally my understanding is the Roth IRA thing is limited to 6,500 a year and 35,000K total. So if you have more than 35k left over for the kid you are not going to be able to use that vehicle to distribute more than the 35k to the child without 10% penalty
That is one of the things in the net worth box, but only the ones assigned to that kid, not all the 529s you have. If you click the help bubble there was a “count this, don’t count this” list that was surprisingly helpful.
Same problem this morning, must be me lol
Spoke with someone this morning, only 2 min on hold- said could still be glitch but either way I cleared the application and will wait for her to redo later ( I was told it’s ok to redo irs data, resend out contributer email etc)
My kid not happy but now my blood pressure back to normal lol
FINALLY was able to complete the parent portion of FAFSA this morning. D24 tried for a loooong time yesterday evening and nothing worked because it kept periodically going down for maintenance.
Well, S24 submitted the three due yesterday, they ended up quite credible, he actually had over TWO hours to spare, so of course he is now is even farther behind as of this morning on the remaining two he is supposed to be submitting tonight. I think his goal at this point is to get at least one with an 11:5-- on the time stamp . . . .
We also talked a bit last night about the general vibe among his friends. Apparently a lot of kids freaked out after being rejected or deferred by their hyper-selective ED/REA/SCEA colleges. I assume this is an annual thing, in fact I can see all that happening in prior years in SCOIR. And I know it all works out fine in the end, at least collectively. But still, some kids apparently completely changed essay strategies, activity lists, and so on. And apparently added a lot more RD colleges, and stressed about them all through winter break.
So while it is fresh, I will just lay down a marker here in support of a bit of forum wisdom that I am really seeing in action. S24 did two very early applications, one to a rolling US public and one to a UK school that if you apply early enough, usually gives offers in November/December to US applicants. He got accepted at both, and that has really taken the pressure off being deferred.
These other kids are undoubtedly going to get similar admissions eventually, but it just hasn’t happened yet. And I think that is understandably a source of psychological pressure at this particular moment, even if on some level they know it should not be.
Well, that didn’t last long. D24 was going through her potential colleges making sure she had applied to all the applicable merit scholarships through the schools (if an additional application was needed), and discovered that VT requires a FAFSA even for potential merit aid.
So here we go. Curious if it will take the 3 days to get full access (so it can link the tax info). I get to a certain point and it tells me I should wait for that.
Did you all get an email/text when full access was granted?
We’re still plugging away here, with one application due today, one tomorrow, a couple on Monday, and a few more the week after next. D24 is jumping from supplemental-essay madness straight into first-semester finals and her part-time job. I won’t blame her if she catches a severe case of senioritis in February.
On a personal note, I’m looking forward to ending my temporary reign as “application taskmaster.” I’m trying to think of fun activities D24 and I can do together in the next couple months that are completely, wholly, and 100% unrelated to college or college applications, which has sorta defined our relationship for the past month.
Wonder if there are rides and food