My mom and I did the CSS profile the end of October because it was due in early November for some of my early action schools. Now we just did the estimated FAFSA, using my parents’ last paystubs of the year. There is about a $10,000 difference (higher) between the estimated CSS and and the estimated FAFSA (which had the more reliable paystub information). This is because my mom increased the hours she works in the last quarter of the year. Is this a big deal? I am assuming that when these schools get the FAFSA they will figure it out, and its all estimated anyway. I am thinking it doesn’t really matter that much since the only aid I am going to qualify for is merit. If it is a big deal, how do I report it?
If you completed the FAFSA…you just “reported it” to your schools. Make sure you get your taxes done ASAP, and then amend your FAFSA to reflect the actual numbers on your tax return. And link to the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Then resubmit.
You can contact the schools to see if they want you to update the profile info any other way. They will tell you.