<p>if the government can tap your phone, surely they can ‘convince’ the banks to transmit all your financial data to them as well…</p>
<p>Believe me, I would like the process to be simple, but in reality, NO ONE would want the IRS and FAFSA to comingle and there is Not a chance on the PLANET that the banks are going to get involved.</p>
<p>No offense to Obama, but it’s a simplistic idea to think that the solution is that obvious. </p>
<p>Doing the FAFSA after you do your taxes means putting <10 numbers from one to the other. If you have your W-2s and bank statements, the fafsa is pretty easy. This of course excludes the whole property value thing (not a chance that the Profile data can be automatically filled out) and if you own a business.</p>
<p>The tax software I use will figure out FOR YOU which credit (hope/lifetime learning/education deduction) you qualify for and which gives you better bang for your buck.</p>
<p>Now as to Obama’s idea of making the first 4K of college free… sounds good to me, but I’m sure my son would be out of school (2011) before that ever happened.</p>
<p>My tax software DOES print out a form with all the #s on my tax return that I need to put on the fafsa. It asks you some questions about pre-tax 401K contributions and other stuff that is on the Worksheet ABC</p>