Business/Farm Supplement for few hundred dollars freelance? Really?

Paying for College
1

<p>I thought I was done, but now I'm noticing a few schools want the Business/Farm Supplement.</p>

<p>In both 2010 and 2011, I made only a few hundred dollars in freelance work (although in previous years it was in the thousands).</p>

<p>All of 2010 and 2011 freelance income is documented in the CSS Profile and included in income totals for FAFSA.</p>

<p>So do I really have to submit it? I will, of course, if I have to.</p>

<p>Given it's such a small amount will we be penalized for submitting after priority deadlines?</p>

<p>I did read on one college's website that they want the Business/Farm supplement along with the IDOC--March 5. Can I assume that that's a reasonable deadline for non-IDOC schools? Or not?</p>

<p>All of my other documentation was submitted well in advance of the deadlines.</p>

<p>Recently, I called one of the schools with a CSS Profile question, and got to chatting with the head of financial aid, who was the one who happened to pick up the phone. He says he does some finaid consulting for kids at the local high school, and admitted, "I have to scratch my head," when he sees some of the questions.</p>

<p>So if the finaid director at a prestigious college can be stymied, what's a poor plebian like me to do?</p>

<p>This is torture.</p>

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<p>Each school should have posted on their website what their deadlines are. I think for all of my S’s schools that want IDOC, the deadline is 3/1. But we’ve had one school that wanted everything by 2/1 (their supplemental FA app), oh and all the documents I think we had to have in by 2/15. So it does vary.</p>

<p>Low income from the business means the supplement is easier to fill out :-). I would say fill it out… it’s like dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s.</p>