<p>In checking over the FAFSA for son #2 I realized that I made a major mistake on the FAFSA for son #1. I already submitted the FAFSA for son #1 and I know that I can correct it after it's processed.</p>
<p>The thing is...I want to go make this correction ASAP because it's a huge one...I accidentally added our brokerage account value to the amount in our checking account instead of adding it to our other investment amounts.</p>
<p>I am going to need to go in and make a correction no matter what because we haven't filed our taxes yet...not even close. My husband managed to pull together some reasonable numbers for me to use for the FAFSA, but as he's partially self-employeed our income amounts fluctuate a lot from year to year.</p>
<p>Anyway...will I be able to go correct the FAFSA in a few days and then go correct it AGAIN once the taxes are filed?</p>
<p>Or do I need to make all the corrections at the same time?</p>
<p>(And I'm going to take a moment to whine about the FAFSA. I know that once you figure out the numbers you need it's simple...just plug the numbers into the right fields. But figuring out what the numbers are...I feel like I'm losing my mind here. The thing doesn't like the numbers my son has for earned income and adjusted gross...one of them is too high, but I can't figure out WHICH one it thinks is too high. Whine, whine, whine. There...I got it out of my system.)</p>
<p>No worries! Sit down with your correct numbers and your student’s Social security #, pin # and password (sigh) and log on and click on the corrections button. The form will pop up and you can start making corrections. </p>
<p>Take it all the way to the end and print off the new version. SAVE is NOT the same as SUBMITTED – so make sure you get to the submitted phase. </p>
<p>My first year we amended 8 times. </p>
<p>Stay on top of this. Think of how many thousands of dollars you are earning per hour of staring at the screen (it can be worth a lot in fin aid by the time it is done)
You’ll be an expert next year!</p>
<p>This is our second time through the FAFSA but last year I don’t think I needed to amend at all. Somehow we managed to get our taxes done prior to the financial aid deadlines and all that. I think that the deadlines are earlier for returning students or something. Or maybe I’m just remembering wrong. Who knows?</p>
<p>Right now I’m trying to get my one son to figure out how much he earned while working at college last semester. For some reason he didn’t think to locate the W-2 for that (he’s supposed to be able to access that online but is having trouble doing that I think) and include it on his tax return. So I know that his income is wrong on the FAFSA…AND his tax return for that matter!!! Oy.</p>
<p>He’s doing most of this process either from his dad’s house or from college so I just get scraps of conversation with him here and there and it’s hard to get a handle on the whole picture.</p>
<p>Mary Mary - I also made a mistake with assets. For some reason I used decimals which did not appear on Fafsa but enlarged my assets considerably. I called Fafsa and they said go in change it and change it again when my taxes are completed.</p>