Fafsa

[goofy4tink]

I'm curious because I've never done the FAFSA before my taxes... How do you go about filing the FAFSA before you have all your year-end statements in hand? The uni I attend has send out several e-mails, posted on Twitter and Facebook, saying Jan 1 is the best day to file your FAFSA but I wouldn't even know where to begin since DH has two 1099s and one W2 coming in addition to his self-employment income (of which I have detailed records - I don't have anything on his W2 income and only an approximation on the 1099s). Is this one of those things where they're assuming most people have a stable job as their primary income and can just refer to their last 2014 pay stub, or is there a process for filing and then correcting that would be worth the time and effort?

I'll be doing the FAFSA later today. I'll just use my dh's last paystub from last week. It will be only two weeks off..so close enough for now. When the W2's come in, we'll review the form and make the necessary changes. It's expected that families do that...very few people have the correct, up to date financial info this early.

 

[JanaDee]

For the normal school year, not including summer...kind of depressing isn't it...

It's for the entire college career, not just one year.

 

[disykat]

It's for the entire college career, not just one year.

Only if you multiply it by the number of years your child child will be in college!

EFC is most definitely an annual number. It can change dramatically each year if you have income changes, it gets divided by having more kids in college, etc.

 

[JanaDee]

Only if you multiply it by the number of years your child child will be in college!

EFC is most definitely an annual number. It can change dramatically each year if you have income changes, it gets divided by having more kids in college, etc.

Not according to the number we got, in the upper 5 digit range. None of the schools added to the FAFSA are more than $32,000 a year, so the number we got is triple and in one case, quadruple the annual cost of attending (tuition plus room and board).

 

[debster812]

I'll be doing the FAFSA later today. I'll just use my dh's last paystub from last week. It will be only two weeks off..so close enough for now. When the W2's come in, we'll review the form and make the necessary changes. It's expected that families do that...very few people have the correct, up to date financial info this early.

DH and I did the FAFSA this morning. (First Time ). Took about an hour or so, and was not bad. We'll have to go back once we file, but used our last pay stubs as well to get 'close'.

 

[disykat]

Not according to the number we got, in the upper 5 digit range. None of the schools added to the FAFSA are more than $32,000 a year, so the number we got is triple and in one case, quadruple the annual cost of attending (tuition plus room and board).

That number is based on your income and savings and means you won't qualify for any help. However, filling out the FAFSA may mean your student can apply for non-need based scholarships.

Before we had two kids in college our EFC was higher than the cost of attendance. The number has nothing to do with the cost of the schools you apply to, only the amount they think you can afford. Most people are startled by how high their EFC is. In our case, it has always been more than 1/3 of our annual income. That of course varies based on income and savings available. Trust me, that number is your annual EFC for the year.

 

[JanaDee]

That number is based on your income and savings and means you won't qualify for any help. However, filling out the FAFSA may mean your student can apply for non-need based scholarships. Before we had two kids in college our EFC was higher than the cost of attendance. The number has nothing to do with the cost of the schools you apply to, only the amount they think you can afford. Most people are startled by how high their EFC is. In our case, it has always been about 1/3 of our annual income. That of course varies based on income and savings available. Trust me, that number is your annual EFC for the year.

LOL Interesting they think we'll be spending half of our yearly income on college.

 

[disneychrista]

https://fafsa.ed.gov/help/fftoc01g.htm

Note: Your EFC is not the amount of money your family will have to pay for college nor is it the amount of federal student aid you will receive. It is a number used by your school to calculate the amount of federal student aid you are eligible to receive.

 

[disykat]

LOL Interesting they think we'll be spending half of our yearly income on college.

Yes, shocking as it is. What they think is that based on your income and probable ability to save you should be prepared to afford up to x amount without financial aid. They presume preparatory savings.

 

[Colleen27]

We use the previous years taxes to file the fafsa today. When our taxes are filed we update. Perfectly legally and our kids get more state aid filing the fafsa early.

Thanks! I used last year's tax info and what I do have on hand for this year to file today and I'll make whatever changes are necessary when our taxes are done. I doubt it'll make much difference to my aid package but it certainly can't hurt!

 

[HeatherC]

Well...we filed yesterday for the first time. When we got the confirmation email, it said our EFC is 015373?

Is that really $15,373 or is that not even a legitimate number? The fact that it had a zero in front with no $ (dollar sign) confused me.

I totally understand what the EFC is, but not understanding 015373. Is there a mistake in our application or is that a real amount with just a zero in front?

Thanks for any help!

 

[JanaDee]

Well...we filed yesterday for the first time. When we got the confirmation email, it said our EFC is 015373?

Is that really $15,373 or is that not even a legitimate number? The fact that it had a zero in front with no $ (dollar sign) confused me.

I totally understand what the EFC is, but not understanding 015373. Is there a mistake in our application or is that a real amount with just a zero in front?

Thanks for any help!

Ours had a zero in front of it, too, with no dollar sign. Your EFC is $15,373.

 

[Patience]

Our daughter is a junior in college. I filed a FAFSA her freshman year but haven't bothered to do so since then. We don't qualify for any federal financial aid and there aren't any departmental or university scholarships available to her (we've checked). She has great grades (over a 3.9 GPA in a challenging major) and she did win a small private scholarship last year that she applied for without the help of the financial aid office. She was eligible to apply because of my husband's job. We have identified and plan to apply for a couple more private scholarships for her senior year but we aren't counting on them.

We are in the downhill run now. This upcoming semester is paid for (except for her apartment expense which we pay monthly) so only two more semesters to go until she graduates! She will be going to graduate school and she won't have to use our income to qualify for financial aid so hopefully she will qualify for a decent financial aid package.

 

[goofy4tink]

Well, the last FAFSA has been submitted! Never again.

 

[IDoDis]

Well...we filed yesterday for the first time. When we got the confirmation email, it said our EFC is 015373?

Is that really $15,373 or is that not even a legitimate number? The fact that it had a zero in front with no $ (dollar sign) confused me.

I totally understand what the EFC is, but not understanding 015373. Is there a mistake in our application or is that a real amount with just a zero in front?

Thanks for any help!

Yes, your EFC for 2015-2016 school year is $15,373.

 

[JanaDee]

Well, the last FAFSA has been submitted! Never again.

Lucky you. I doubt I'll do another one again, either. We'll see how the next year goes.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

Did ours yesterday. Our EFC is 9858 this year. Last year we were 639. Our income did go up..but not anywhere close to $10,000 more.

Asked the financial office and they said that it is really just a coding system. Some people will have to come out of pocket close to the same number as the EFC (point=$), but others will not. I have to agree because no way did we only have to pay $600 for a year of college.

 

[Colleen27]

Did ours yesterday. Our EFC is 9858 this year. Last year we were 639. Our income did go up..but not anywhere close to $10,000 more.

Asked the financial office and they said that it is really just a coding system. Some people will have to come out of pocket close to the same number as the EFC (point=$), but others will not. I have to agree because no way did we only have to pay $600 for a year of college.

Ours did the same - our income went up somewhat but our EFC went up by more than the income increase.

It seems to me that the EFC has little or no relationship to reality anyway. Our EFC has always been and still remains well below the cost of attendance and well below what we have to come up with each year. I could borrow more, but that hardly seems wise...

 

[disykat]

"If you have been offered merit aid, you must submit the FAFSA before it can be disbursed."

copied from my son's school's website.

Just another reminder to fill out that FAFSA. We don't qualify for help, but our younger son, who goes to a generic state college (not the top state school) gets merit money each year due to his GPA. No where on the website does it even say that money is available beyond freshman year. He didn't even fill out the financial aid form. He gets it nontheless. The few minutes it takes us to fill out that form get us $2400 a year.

You never know. Our older son goes to the state flagship. He gets no aid, but we always filled out the FAFSA and he always filled out the financial aid form. One year he got some random departmental scholarship of $4,000. (It just happened to match his "need" the year his brother entered school too.) Remember, need is based on anticipated costs, not actual costs. He lived frugally and actually got by close to his EFC. He usually spends 3 to 4K less than what the school website says cost of attendance is.

We expected nothing and had planned on paying full costs, but filling out the FAFSA has saved us $8800 so far. I'll take it!

 

[disneychrista]

Well...we filed yesterday for the first time. When we got the confirmation email, it said our EFC is 015373?
Is that really $15,373 or is that not even a legitimate number?

According to the Website, it is only used to calculate aid.

https://fafsa.ed.gov/help/fftoc01g.htm

Note: Your EFC is not the amount of money your family will have to pay for college nor is it the amount of federal student aid you will receive. It is a number used by your school to calculate the amount of federal student aid you are eligible to receive.