Changes to Fafsa

Paying for College
1

<p>When I originally filled out the Fafsa I made a pretty big mistake. For some reason (I have no idea why) I put my parent's income information under both the "parent" and "student" income section. The result was my household income being double what it should be.</p>

<p>After getting our taxes done I updated the Fafsa with our 2013 tax information and marked "no income" under the student section. Fafsa.gov says everything processed correctly and the updated information was sent to my colleges.</p>

<p>What I'm wondering about is whether I should contact my colleges and notify them of the initial error. All of my colleges are private schools, will send out their acceptance letters in late March / April, and require the CSS profile. The CSS profile was filled out correctly. </p>

<p>The only school that does NOT fit that description is University of Portland. Today I received my financial package and (surprise) I didn't get any financial information because it used the old estimated family contribution number. U of P is requiring me to send in my parent's tax information, and that should clear everything up (at least with them). </p>

2

<p>If it were me, I would contact University of Portland. You want them to prepare an accurate aid package for you.</p>

3

<p>That’s a good idea. I planned on writing them an email, but I wanted to get another person’s opinion. Anyone have thoughts about the other schools? </p>

4

<p>I’d send an email to the financial aid offices of ALL the schools notifying them of the initial error and subsequent correction. Yes, they should be able to discover it on their own, but why take the chance?</p>

<p>You didn’t mention IDOC. If any of the Profile schools also require IDOC, then they’ll be getting a copy of your tax records, and that will verify that the current FAFSA is correct.</p>