CSS/FAFSA/Tax Form Questions

Paying for College
1

<p>Hello, I am a high school senior and will be paying my own way through college. My first question is should I let colleges know that I'm not receiving any help? I have 2 brothers with severe learning disabilities which means there is nothing extra to go around nor has there been enough to set up any sort of college fund. It's so frustrating to see these FA calculators ask for my parents income over and over and spitting back the EFCs including my mom's income when that is the least accurate idea of my financial situation possible >.<</p>

<p>Secondly, the EFCs I'm getting back are stupidly high (like 90%+ of my mothers income) I'm guessing because all of her $50k-60k income is "untaxed income" which apparently means the same thing to them as "disposable income." This leads me to my second question - how closely do FA offices actually look at these forms? Do they just use a calculator like the website or will they realize that all of the other fields are 0 and that her untaxed income is her only income?</p>

<p>Thirdly, what forms will the colleges want reported to them? I know they will want my mom's 1040, but her 1040 is amended by a K-1 because the 1040 shows absolutely $0 and everything shows up on the K-1. I'm scared because, as of now, my mom hasn't let me confirm any of the numbers she has been giving me and I don't want the FA that I do get jeopardized by her giving me false information.</p>

<p>Lastly, as you can probably already infer, my mom is very sensitive about all of this and I can't necessarily trust what she is telling me. Do any of you have advice about how to handle this with her? The best that I've come up with is to give her the forms and have her give me numbers to input into the computer, but I'm scared about how many of these are estimates and I want to sit down and confirm all of these numbers. I think my fear is well founded, given that she literally just told me a couple of days ago that she does have a small fund in my name that is worth about $2000 or so - not that it is enough to make a huge difference, but it makes me very doubtful about everything that she's told me. Parent perspectives would be hugely appreciated, but please, I'll take any ideas that anyone has. I know my mom does want the best for me, but I don't know if she understands how huge and stressful FA is going to be for me.</p>

<p>Thanks again in advance for any help/advice/answers!</p>

2

<p>For your purposes, the K-1 is like a W2 for your mother. It reports her share of earnings from a trust. If it is in fact a trust, her share of the trust is reported as an asset on FAFSA. The income that is distributed to her from the trust is reported both on FAFSA and on her 1040 as income. </p>

<p>If the net price calculators are showing an EFC of 90% of your mother’s income, it may be due to assets - they don’t just assume untaxed income is disposable income, there’s something else going on. In January (or as soon after as you can, given that your mother ‘s income is reported on a K-1), you will fill out the FAFSA. Your EFC will be calculated, and that number will be passed along to the colleges. From there, they will determine their FA packages. You should contact each FA office to discuss your situation, because your situation is unusual. They may be willing to take into consideration any extra expenses you family has due to your brothers’ disabilities.</p>

3

<p>Sounds like you’ll need to focus on merit aid at schools. Are you a senior? What are your stats and your home state?</p>