<p>U of AL asked us to submit both signed copies of our 1040s plus copies of all W2s to verify financial aid informtion. Wondered if this is the norm?</p>
<p>Husband is quite reluctant to do this and after he mentioned it, I wondered as well.</p>
<p>All our tax docs contain every family members soc security #, name of employers, just tons of personal data all in one place. In this day & age, seems a little risky to send all that off.</p>
<p>As a side note--we're likely not to get any financial aid anyway, because of income, from this school, and they've already given a pretty generous merit package. So wondering if they say we need it, maybe we can dispense w/it?</p>
<p>Yes it is very common to have to do this. We have had to do this every year so far. Schools must verify at least 30% of the FAFSAs submitted to them, and the verification process includes submitting tax returns, W2s etc.</p>
<p>Many schools do ask for the tax returns and other information (W-2s and 1099s) directly. Others who use the CSS Profile may ask you to send your tax forms to IDOC, which scans them and makes them available to participating schools. For IDOC you have to be mindful of the time lag involved in mailing your package to the Midwest, then the time (approx. 5 business days) it takes the IDOC to process your materials.</p>
<p>We’ve had to submit our tax docs to 4 out of 5 schools. </p>
<p>My husband had exactly the same concern as yours, and here’s what I told him: “If a school doesn’t take darn good care to guard that information, how many parents would allow their students to apply in the future?” Nothing is 100% secure in our plugged-in world anymore, but my guess is that the schools are extremely careful with that information. They have a vested interest in doing so.</p>
<p>xSteven us too. We have twins and one was flagged and the other was not. We just got our 08 return back from the accountant and we made less than last year so I’m not even sure what the next step is. I guess we correct the FAFSA and then contact the schools?? I think I need a day off just to make the phone calls!</p>
<p>Jolynne I know it feels like an invasion but the schools get the SSN(s) via the Common App if you apply for FA and file a FAFSA anyway. We are sending them. In fact our being selected for “verification” has forced us to get our taxes done sooner rather than later so it’s kind of a good thing.</p>
<p>historymom: Go online and do a corrected FAFSA. It’s quite easy; you only need to change the affected numbers. Print yourself a copy of the corrections, and then submit. The schools pull corrections periodically, so you don’t need to notify them, although if you’re on the OCD side (like me), you can always call them just to verify that they got it.</p>
<p>Thank you! I feel a lot better. As long as most schools are doing it, and most people are doing it then (hopefully) the security precautions are in place.</p>
<p>I have to update our FASFA (w/tax docs now filled out). Ugh 20+ schools, I’m not looking forward to it, but know it’s essential. And, we have to submit some more CSS profile info (incl Idocs for one school). Knew that brief reprieve (no college paperwork) couldn’t last forever…</p>
<p>At least I’m not choking on the reality of the tuition bill (tho will be soon enough) since final school hasn’t been selected & $$ packages haven’t all come in…</p>
<p>The end is in sight! (at least for now). I was surprised how fast and easy the correction process was. </p>
<p>For FAFSA, you just do the online correction once (only the numbers that have changed – not the whole darn form), print, and submit. Took me about 5 minutes. The schools will retrieve the corrections, you don’t have to do anything more.</p>
<p>For PROFILE, print out a copy of the original, make corrections by hand, and send copies to the schools. I also enclosed a letter listing the fields that were changed, but that’s strictly optional and only for us OCD types.</p>
<p>For the tax docs, make your copies, gather your nearest and dearest around the dining room table, and have an envelope-addressing party. I would enclose a letter with this one, just noting your student’s name and SSN, so that it gets put in the proper file.</p>
<p>For IDOC, I chose to send it Priority Mail (I think they recommend that), and I paid the 65 cents for tracking.</p>
<p>I was surprised that USC routinely asks for tax forms and W-2’s. I called and questioned the security. I asked if I could cross out the parents SSN and I did that, not that it will make a difference. USC prefers everything faxed in; they apparently have some super-server that they say is more secure than mailing although they accept that as well. Ditto on the fafsa; easy to correct. On the FAFSA website there is an option for “corrections” and it automatically goes to the schools you had it sent to to begin with.</p>
<p>I am stressing out over this also. Our 2008 taxes are particularly hard to do, compared to other years, and they are taking me a long time. I’m not sure why I even bothered to file a FAFSA anyway (based on the EFC) and I almost feel like withdrawing it, because we won’t get anything anyway. It’s a lot to do on a timetable that is stressing me out (and might cause me to make a mistake on the taxes).</p>
<p>Jolynne- Has he been able to knock any schools off the list yet based on the acceptances at hand? Even without all the FA packages, I would think he could start to shorten the list from 20+. It would save you from having to submit the new info to each one and will allow him to really focus on the best schools for him.</p>
<p>Thanks! I’m doing the FASFA updates right now–they are not that hard.</p>
<p>pumpkin–if you are time-pressed, I’d just submit the FAFSA w/the 2007 numbers, then you can update (like) me after your taxes are done. Come to think of it, we’ve gotten a few aid packages even before updating our FAFSA (based on our estimated numbers & with an acknowledgement in the FAFSA that we hadn’t yet filed). So, I guess those schools will be okay w/an update & maybe just revise the package if necessary (unlikely, in our case, since finances are about the same as in prior year). </p>
<p>my-3-sons—only one rejection so far (surprising, but just as well, it wasn’t very good in his major and selected only for the weather! lol). Even a school he said ‘no way’ to (not enough social life, cold, etc.) is not completely out of the running, I think, because we just got a letter explaining how great it is in his major (good info). So, figuring on just keeping all the options open. Son has some strong top favorites, but w/finances tight, can’t foreclose…</p>
<p>The CSS profile schools are more acknowledged reaches though, so I was tempted to wait a bit to submit all the data (Idocs, etc.) to see if we got the rejection…shouldn’t do that, though, of course, so will just dive into that after the FAFSA.</p>
<p>Jolynne – I’d get that stuff out PDQ – it’s going to take the schools a while to put together a FA package, and I’m sure you don’t want to get them at the end of April! I think the latest deadline we had last year was 3/2 (Caltech – most wanted at least the prior year return by mid-Feb.). Major congrats to your S for a terrific list and great choices.</p>
<p>Hi Jolynne, thanks…I did submit the FAFSA and CSS profile with data from 2008 w-2s. So, it is accurate wage info, but I’m still gathering info on cap gains etc. I feel like I’m being rushed into filing my taxes because I do owe the colleges we filed FAFSA and css profile the verified info, which they rightfully require. We are also waiting on a possible rejection from a profile school so I can just avoid this altogether!</p>
<p>Your son is to be congratulated - and I admire your organizational skills for keeping 20 plus apps on track!</p>
<p>I think you’ve already gotten your answer…but re: the above. DS was “selected” for verification for all four years. His school is one that required the finaid aps even for merit aid. We didn’t ever receive a nickel of need based aid until his senior year (when little sis was also in college) and then all he got was a subsidized portion (not all, but some) of his Stafford loan. The school asked for the tax forms and W-2s…and we sent them</p>
<p>we did verification the entire time as well (5 years cause one year she dididnt attend)
I believe it was because I would file “estimated” FAFSA then “corrected”</p>
<p>Actually Emerald…we have always done estimated with DD too…and she NEVER has been selected for verification. In fact, after freshman year, we NEVER did estimates because the deadline was later…and DS still got selected. It’s just the “luck of the draw”.</p>