Fafsa

[Starbrite]

Now that one holiday is over, I am looking ahead to the upcoming new year....and that means the filling out of my very first FAFSA!

What kind of information am I going to need?
I am trying to find all of my financial documents, but I don't know what they're going to ask for.

Bank Account Balances? Retirement Account Balance?
Income, Taxes

What else might I need?

 

[BrerRabbit66]

First off, don't panic....it's not hard, just cumbersome. Since this is your first time, visit FAFSA.ed.gov. On the main page, click on "FAFSA Filing Options" then click on the .pdf link for 2014-2015 school year......print or save to your computer. this is an out-of-date version, but will give you an idea of the questions they ask. Be sure to read page 2 as it defines what to include / exclude.. Hope this helps!

 

[Albort]

if i recall correctly, u shouldnt need any documents. You just need all the information. They look @ your income via last years taxes. It connects electronically and pulls the information.

takes like an hour to do, but after that, its super quick, just hit renew, update any info and its done!

 

[MOpGrad2013]

if i recall correctly, u shouldnt need any documents. You just need all the information. They look @ your income via last years taxes. It connects electronically and pulls the information.

takes like an hour to do, but after that, its super quick, just hit renew, update any info and its done!

It sounded so much worse than it was. Now on our 3rd year of doing it.

The most difficult part is trying to remember the PINs when we go in later in the year to submit to other schools. But, they will send you an email if you forget.

Congratulations to your family on this next stepping stone in life!

 

[tvguy]

It sounded so much worse than it was. Now on our 3rd year of doing it.

The most difficult part is trying to remember the PINs when we go in later in the year to submit to other schools. But, they will send you an email if you forget.

Congratulations to your family on this next stepping stone in life!

This was my experience with both my kids.
Little things to remember.
They will want to know how much you put each year into tax deferred retirement accounts of all kinds. And they will expect you to add that back into your spendable income because FAFSA considers you spending that money on your child's education a higher priority (unless you are a much older parent and very close to retirement).

The Expected Family Contribution will be mind boggling....expected about 25% of your gross (not net) income.

For many of us, FAFSA will not mean you get a penny of free money, but it will help speed up the loans many of us had to take out. And it gives the financial aid department of the college your child chooses everything they need to try and get your free money.

And bragging, my youngest graduated a week ago today. I will never do another FAFSA again.

 

[WDWMom]

If you want to file early you just need the previous years tax return. Use those numbers and click the option that you are going to file but have not done so yet. The other info you will need is bank statements or a guess on what is in your accounts. After you file your taxes, you can update the fasfa with the correct numbers. This is the seventh year we have done this and feel like pros.

 

[StephMK]

And bragging, my youngest graduated a week ago today. I will never do another FAFSA again.

Congrats!!

I did not think the FAFSA was any worse than doing our taxes. Like PP said, once you do them once, it's pretty easy all the following years. The school will want your taxes to be finished to finalize their financial aid package. At least that has been DD's experience. It's easy once you file to link it up through the FAFSA form. Do both as early as possible because sometimes certain aid or scholarships isn't as available if you file late.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Ah we will be filling too. My youngest is a sr in hs.

 

[goofy!]

I did ours today for our hs senior. It was quite easy and took about 30 minutes.

 

[disneychrista]

I did ours today for our hs senior. It was quite easy and took about 30 minutes.

For the 2015/2016 year? I thought you could not file until after January 1st.

 

[IDoDis]

You will be asked how much money you have in the bank on the specific day you file. If you plan on making a big purchase, fill out the FAFSA on a day after you've spent the money or after you've paid your monthly bills. You want your account to be lower in funds on the day you fill out the form. It makes a difference in your EFC.

 

[Happy Snowman]

I did ours today for our hs senior. It was quite easy and took about 30 minutes.

You better double check that, FAFSA for next year isn't open yet. You might have done one for this year by mistake.

For the 2015/2016 year? I thought you could not file until after January 1st.

You can't...

OP--sign up for your account today, set your pins, etc. The system goes off-line tomorrow until the 1st while they upload the information for next year. It's wise to get this done ASAP though because some schools are first come/first serve for financial aid. The data capture from the IRS isn't available right away, you have to enter your information as best you can now, put "will file" then file your taxes electronically as soon as you can. It takes about 3 weeks after your taxes have been accepted to be able to do the data capture to verify your information. This just eliminates the need to sent your actual returns to the school if they request that (and they do with 20% of the students or so).

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You better double check that, FAFSA for next year isn't open yet. You might have done one for this year by mistake.



You can't...

OP--sign up for your account today, set your pins, etc. The system goes off-line tomorrow until the 1st while they upload the information for next year. It's wise to get this done ASAP though because some schools are first come/first serve for financial aid. The data capture from the IRS isn't available right away, you have to enter your information as best you can now, put "will file" then file your taxes electronically as soon as you can. It takes about 3 weeks after your taxes have been accepted to be able to do the data capture to verify your information. This just eliminates the need to sent your actual returns to the school if they request that (and they do with 20% of the students or so).

Can my sr-hs dd sign up for her account today?

We already have a pin from older dd.

 

[Happy Snowman]

Can my sr-hs dd sign up for her account today?

We already have a pin from older dd.

She should be able to just get her info in there and then after the 1st you can put in the rest.

 

[undertheradar]

You will be asked how much money you have in the bank on the specific day you file. If you plan on making a big purchase, fill out the FAFSA on a day after you've spent the money or after you've paid your monthly bills. You want your account to be lower in funds on the day you fill out the form. It makes a difference in your EFC.

Strange, didn't work that way for us. Our EFC was exactly the gross household earnings, divided by the number of dependents. For many, the FAFSA is a complete waste of time.

 

[cepmom]

Can my sr-hs dd sign up for her account today?

We already have a pin from older dd.

just saw this...I just applied for PIN for DD but didn't realize I could have used a previous PIN from our older DD. Do you know if using the preious PIN is required or is it ok to get a new PIN? Older DD graduated HS in 2008...I'd have to dig out the old FAFSA info from her and thought it was easier to just get a new one

 

[Happy Snowman]

just saw this...I just applied for PIN for DD but didn't realize I could have used a previous PIN from our older DD. Do you know if using the preious PIN is required or is it ok to get a new PIN? Older DD graduated HS in 2008...I'd have to dig out the old FAFSA info from her and thought it was easier to just get a new one

You can use your pin for the parent side but each child has to have their own PIN so you did it correctly but find the PIN you used or you will have to enter all of your own info again--or you might get a "you already have an account" thing--but it's easy to reset your pin or get your old one emailed to you if you have the same email.

 

[cepmom]

You can use your pin for the parent side but each child has to have their own PIN so you did it correctly but find the PIN you used or you will have to enter all of your own info again--or you might get a "you already have an account" thing--but it's easy to reset your pin or get your old one emailed to you if you have the same email.

ok thanks...I have different email now but I can probably dig out my PIN info from before...Its been a few years since I had to think about the FAFSA and I couldn't remember exactly how to go about starting again!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

DD signed up and got her pin.

 

[bluezy]

You will be asked how much money you have in the bank on the specific day you file. If you plan on making a big purchase, fill out the FAFSA on a day after you've spent the money or after you've paid your monthly bills. You want your account to be lower in funds on the day you fill out the form. It makes a difference in your EFC.

Strange, didn't work that way for us. Our EFC was exactly the gross household earnings, divided by the number of dependents. For many, the FAFSA is a complete waste of time.

We found that the bank account balance made a difference in our EFC as well. The first year I filled out the FAFSA we had already received our income tax refund *and* my husband's yearly bonus and had deposited both of those checks (the total of those 2 things equaled about 20% of what my husband's gross salary was at that time). It didn't occur to me that it would make a difference in the FAFSA EFC. The next year, I filled out FAFSA before those checks were deposited and there was definitely a difference in the EFC. The amount they felt we could contribute was still a joke, but not having those deposits in the bank before filing at least made it possible for our son to get better loan rates/terms and qualify for an on campus job that year.