I graduated this year with the highest gpa I’ve ever had ending with a 4.3 taking five AP classes & in advanced band (this includes marching band & then festival season in spring) for the fourth year & was on the varsity girls basketball team.
I started out my senior year being 16, & don’t turn 18 until the last week of October. I was trying to take out the loans for my first semester of college & i couldn’t because I cannot get my final amount from fasfa without my parents tax transcripts for 2015.
My mother is from Japan & my father joined the military right out of high school so im the first of my family to be going to a 4 year university straight out of college.
Come to find out my father hasn’t gotten his taxes back from the IRS & told me I should have done this long before & that now he is going to have to pay out of pocket until it comes in.
Both of my parents have been grilling me to find a job, but living in a small town I could only apply to so many places that didn’t require me to be 18, though I had a few interviews.
My dad wants me to file as an independent next year & had no problem letting me know how unprepared I was & that I shouldn’t go to college if I have to rely on other people.
I am really at a loss for words at this point & I would really like to hear an opinion.
You have to let dad know that the plan for you to file as an independent is not going to work. Unless you get married, join the military, have a child whom you are supporting more at least 51% of the time, you will not be an independent student.
While you are eligible for financial aid, you will not receive any actual aid until you submit an IRS transcript any and other requested documentation by your school’s financial aid office.
Unfortunately, there was a lack of planning and adhering to deadlines on the part of you/your parents. I am quite sure that your school did send correspondence letting you know what was need in order for you to receive financial aid.
When did you receive your initial financial aid package? Is your package giving you sufficient aid?
If your father has filed his taxes and does not owe the IRS, fill out the form and apply for the transcript. You should receive it in about 10 days (some cases maybe sooner)
I’ve already talked to the school to get another deferment until the taxes come in. my father is currently going to school now but the gi bill pays for him to go since he served about 20 years & I told him weeks prior I needed the taxes but he told me I didn’t need them to take out loans because he didn’t need them to (for his labs books ect. )
The IRS doesn’t ‘send back’ his taxes. They do process them, but it is hard to tell what he’s waiting for or when he submitted the taxes. If he requested transcripts, it takes about 10 days.
If you don’t have the money to go this term, you may have to wait. That won’t mean your father won’t have to complete the parent portion of the fafsa or provide tax transcripts.
If your Father has filed his taxes, he should have a copy of them to fill out FAFSA/the paperwork. You will not know what if any FA help the school can give you without filling out the paperwork. He does not need his tax refund to fill out the paperwork.
When you say you’re “going off to school,” do you mean that you’re commuting or dorming? How much money do you need? You can only borrow ~$5500/year. Can your parents contribute at all or are you expected to cover the costs on your own?
When did you complete your FAFSA? When did your parents complete their 2015 tax return?
Sounds like your dad filed his taxes (on the late side) and is waiting for a refund of overpayment of taxes. Is that what is happening.
Or did he request a tax transcript and that hasn’t come yet?
When did you know that your college needed your parents tax transcript? If you filed your FAFSA on time (which would have been early spring at the latest), you would have received notification of verification quickly.
Also, when you did your FAFSA, had your parents completed their 2015 taxes? Why didn’t you link to the IRS Data Retreival tool?
Did you have a summer job of any kind? Babysitting, mowing lawns, anything? You don’t have to be 18 to do these things.
How much exactly do you need via loans? The Direct Loan is $5500 a year for freshmen. This means you would on,y get $2750 for the fall semester. Can your parents cover that until your FAFSA verification is completed?
You can’t just “file as independent”. You will,have to RELY on your parents until you are 24 for financial information to complete the FAFSA.
Question…what other aid did you receive from your college? My understanding was that any federally funded aid would not be disbursed while verification is pending.
But here is the good news! The 2017-2018 FAFSA will use the 2015 tax return information…so you should,complete that one ASAP when it becomes available in October. And since that 2015 return will be long completed…you should,be able to link to the IRS Data Retrieval Tool on the FAFSA when you complete the 2017-2018 FAFSA.
Is there a reason the DRT couldn’t be used now? Is there a point beyond which the FA dept would need paper forms? (We did the DRT in July for a FAFSA completed in March so I know its possible at some point.)
(still very unclear on what exactly the dad is waiting to get back from the IRS)