Blank spaces on FASFA

Paying for College
1

So, I have a bunch of blank spaces on my fafsa, but I went over the comments they leave on the student aid report and nothing seemed to advise me to fill in the blank information; information that was assumed (marked with h) is correct and my fafsa has already been processed (since early october). Am I on the right track? If nothing was wrong with my fafsa, do I need to fill in the blanks? I already have my EFC calculated so will the blank spaces affect my financial aid packages in any way?

Thank you

2

Could you tell us what spaces were blank?

3

90Parents’ Total of Cash, Savings, and Checking Accounts:

  1. Parents' Net Worth of Current Investments:
  2. Parents' Net Worth of Businesses/Investment Farms:

93a. Parents’ Education Credits:

93b. Parents’ Child Support Paid:

93c. Parents’ Taxable Earnings from Need-Based Employment Programs:

93d. Parents’ College Grant and Scholarship Aid Reported to IRS as Income:

93e. Parents’ Taxable Combat Pay Reported in AGI:

93f. Parents’ Cooperative Education Earnings:

94a. Parents’ Payments to Tax-Deferred Pensions & Retirement Savings:

94b. Parents’ Deductible Payments to IRA/Keogh/Other:

94c. Parents’ Child Support Received:

94d. Parents’ Tax Exempt Interest Income:

94e. Parents’ Untaxed Portions of IRA Distributions:

94f. Parents’ Untaxed Portions of Pensions:

94g. Parents’ Housing, Food, & Living Allowances:

94h. Parents’ Veterans Noneducation Benefits:

94i. Parents’ Other Untaxed Income or Benefits:

  1. Student's Number of Family Members in 2019-2020:
  2. Student's Number in College in 2019-2020:
  3. Student Received Medicaid or Supplemental Security Income?
  4. Student Received SNAP?
  5. Student Received Free/Reduced Price Lunch?
  6. Student Received TANF?
  7. Student Received WIC?
  8. Is Student or Spouse a Dislocated Worker?

But I’m pretty sure these were optional (as it stated)

4

Are you saying your parents don’t have a savings or checking account? Or that if they do, the balance was below the asset protection amount on the day you filed your FAFSA. Are you sure? If they have any money in these accounts…unless the skip logic skipped the question because it was below the asset protection allowance…this needs to be filled in.

Did you parents have any pretax contributions to qualified retirement accounts? If so…this also needs to be included.

I’m assuming this is not the question your parent had to answer about number in household and number in college…right?

If you don’t have the other items…fine. Back when I did the FAFSA, there we had to put 0 for anything like that…but maybe that’s no longer the case.

5

Did you qualify for simplified assets? If so, all those questions will be grayed out.

6

@dfcv2001

Were these fields blank…or grayed out?

@twoinanddone is asking about the Simplified Needs Test. You would need an income below $49,999 AND the ability to file a 1040A or 1040EZ tax form. The other things are dislocated worker and SNAP or Free/reduced lunch…but you said you didn’t answer those.

If your assets are below the asset protection allowance, the question about assets would not have appeared at all. You are asked if your assets are below a certain amount…and if they are…the asset fields don’t appear. Did that happen when you were filling out the form?

7

@thumper1 My parent’s household income is less than what you stated, and a 1040A tax form was filed. Yet the questions about assets appeared in the student aid report, regardless.

8

But the student aid report is saying you didn’t answer, and that’s fine.

9

I didn’t ask if the questions appeared in the SAR.

I asked if they appeared when you were completing the FAFSA form? Did they?

If your income was low enough, then the questions might not have appeared bcause the skip logic knew you were eligible to complete a 1040a form.

10

@thumper1 sorry for misunderstanding. They did not appear when I was completing fafsa.

11

@twoinanddone so there’s nothing to worry about?

12

If they didn’t appear when you were completing the FAFSA, and what you DID enter is accurate, skip logic was used to determine you did not need to answer these questions.

Did you use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool? Or did you manually enter the financials?

13

@thumper1 It was done manually.

14

Is there a reason you didn’t use the IRS DRT?

If you don’t plan to update your FAFSA and link to the IRS DRT, then your parents and you need to order tax transcripts for 2017…do that now.

15

@thumper1 My mom was being defensive about giving me all her tax information, so she only really gave me what the fafsa application asked upfront. Is it 100% certain that I will be asked for those tax transcripts. My main concern is that I already applied to a college and the fafsa deadline has passed. I don’t want any updates to delay any financial aid package I may receive if I update past the deadline. Is this an issue?

16

Many students are selected for verification even if they use the DRT, but those who do not use it are almost certain to be selected. If the information was entered correctly, there will be no adjustments. If you didn’t enter the income or asset information correctly, there could be changes. It will not change the date of your filing, so if you were timely in originally filing, the filing will remain as received on time.

17

It is highly likely you will be asked to provide a tax transcript since you didn’t use the IRS DRT. The colleges need to verify that what you entered on the FAFSA is actually what is ON your tax return.

So…if you don’t link to that IRS DRT, plan to provide a tax transcript.

It also sounds like you are low income with a low EFC per FAFSA. That being the case, the schools will want the info because you are asking for a lot of money…right?

What FAFSA deadline has passed? Did you apply early decision someplace? Or what?

The date of your initial submission is the date schools consider your submission date. So you don’t have to worry about that.

18

@thumper1 I applied early, yes. The deadline was on November 15th. In the case that I am asked to provide a tax transcript, does this mean a financial package has still not been prepared? I’ve heard that submitting information after your initial FAFS application can hurt you, in terms of a respective college’s grants and scholarships, since the money given is first come, first serve. I now know that submitting changes after the deadline won’t delay my financial aid package, but does being asked for a tax transcript mean my package has not been prepared yet?

Also, can I still use the IRS DRT tool to update information?

19

If you didn’t amend your 2017 tax return, you can use the IRS DRT. Once your FAFSA has processed, you can go back into it…and link to the DRT.

It won’t create any changes UNLESS the info from the tax return is different than what you entered. The info from the DRT or a tax transcript would be the real deal.

So…yes, you can link to the DRT.

Submitting info after your initial submission will NOT hurt you. How would that be the case?

Did you apply early decision? Does this college also require the CSS Profile?

20

I applied EA and the school did not require CSS Profile. The financial aid notification for EA applicants is in early Feburary but if the fafsa is submitted by the ED deadline (November 15), EA applicants get their decisions right after their acceptance. The reason I am so held back over this is because I need to receive the financial aid information in December (in the event that I am accepted) in order to determine if I am going to apply to another school ED II. However, you have clarified that I can update information without it affecting me negatively, so I will try and use the IRS DRT.