<p>I submitted my FAFSA yesterday using the tax return from last year since the one for this year has not returned yet. However, I'm a little concerned, and I'm not sure if I did it correctly. </p>
<p>Last year, my mom relied on EDD for a while before finally finding a job again at the end of the year. Thus, the amount she actually earned by working + the amount my father earned by working do not add up to the total I submitted for both parents. Was I supposed to have indicated the EDD anywhere on the application, or was I supposed to have added the EDD amount onto her income (without indicating she received it from EDD)? I guess my general question is, how do I deal with EDD in general for FAFSA?</p>
<p>Since my first deadline is February 1st, I plan on going back and editing my information anyway once I receive the tax return for 2012, but I just wanted to make sure :( Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>EDD is just standard California unemployment compensation, correct? If so it is taxable and is entered on line 19 of the 1040 and thus would be included in AGI on the tax return and on the fafsa AGI question. The question I can’t find an answer to is whether social security tax is paid on unemployment compensation, but I don’t think it is. Does your mom have statements from EDD you can look at to see if SS was withheld? If SS was not withheld you don’t include it in her income from work. If it was withheld you do include in her income from work. The purpose of the income from work question is to subtract an allowance for SS payments from AGI.</p>
<p>The 2 income from work questions generally don’t add up to the AGI question because of interest/dividends/deductions etc.</p>
<p>Yes, by EDD I mean standard California unemployment compensation; sorry for the confusion. Thank you so much for helping me. I’m looking at my mom’s Form 1099G right now and for the box that says Federal Income Tax Withheld, it says $0. Does that mean it wasn’t withheld, or does that mean it was?
I also looked at line 19 from the 1040 and it does have a number on it; if so, was I supposed to include it as part of my mom’s income through work? Honestly I didn’t even know which box on FAFSA was the AGI; I merely followed their instructions on the box to the side about which boxes on the 1040 to use to fill out their form. There was a question about whether my parents are unemployed at the moment and I put no, but in 2011 my mother was… :
The problem is my mother’s income for 2011 was ~$10k (without EDD), and my father’s was ~$8k; however, the tax return claims we made ~$30k in total combined. This is because of the ~$4k debt we had from a credit card company that we were able to get rid of through a lawyer, and for some reason it was included in our tax return. I didn’t know how to put that into FAFSA, either.
Considering how I am allowed to go back in and make changes to the FAFSA once it’s been processed, even though I made so many mistakes on this one, it should be okay if I just fix it once the 2012 tax return is completed, right? ._. Ugh stupid Feb 1 deadline… I probably should have just estimated our 2012 income instead…</p>
<p>Wait. Your mom was unemployed during 2011? So you’re using the 2011 taxes to estimate fafsa for 2012 taxes? When you said last year I thought you meant 2012. Was the debt forgiveness in 2011 also? In this case, yes it would have been better to try to estimate the 2012 1040 from your parents year-end pay stubs. </p>
<p>You can start with the 2011 tax form, subtract the debt forgiveness if it was in 2011, remove the EDD and your mom’s job income in 2011 and add in your mom’s income from her last pay stub of 2012. Was your dad’s 2012 income similar to 2011?</p>
<p>You shouldn’t use anything from the 2011 tax form that doesn’t pertain to 2012.</p>
<p>Yeah, I am. Sorry, I think I forgot to mention that in my first post >w< Yes, it was from 2011… I went to a FAFSA workshop and they told me to use 2011 even with all this going on, but I honestly shouldn’t have listened to them ugh. They didn’t even know how to answer half my questions. =_=
The only concern I have is, I submitted my erroneous one on Friday. Hopefully it’ll be processed on Monday, so I can quickly go back in and use 2012 estimates. But if I correct it, I assume it will still take ~3 days for the new one to be processed. My first deadline is on February 1st, and I don’t know if they mean to just have one processed by then, or if it means I need everything to be down. I’m so confused just because I know I can go back to fix the numbers, but if I can do that, then what’s the point of having such an early deadline? I guess I’ll have to call the specific college on Monday >w<
My parents just finished calculating what should be their income for 2012, and its a couple hundred less than last year (my dad earned $2k less than 2011, but my mom made ~$14k more, so it balances out), but this year both my parents have jobs so there is no EDD and no credit card debt, either. I’m assuming when I go to edit the FAFSA I should just restart and put the estimate for their 2012 income in instead?</p>
<p>If your parents calculated only a few hundred dollars difference I wouldn’t worry about it, but if you feel better updating it go ahead. I think it’s been taking less than 3 days to process but the fafsa you submitted friday should ‘hold your place in line’ for finaid.</p>
<p>When do your parents think they can file their taxes for 2012? Do they do it themselves or take them to someone? The sooner they can file the better and you can make the final update.</p>
<p>The total I reported is a few hundred dollars off, and it’s my parents’ income + EDD for 2011. I’m just worried about incorrectly specifying my mom’s EDD; if I was supposed to input the EDD as part of her income, then I under-reported by ~$8k for her section, even though I added it as part of the total income for both parents. Heck, I didn’t even know where to indicate where that $8k came from. ._.; So the deadlines are really just there to let the university know that you need the financial aid? It’s not a “submit by this date and we will use this information to determine the amount of money you receive” kind of thing? Sorry I’m so clueless about all this, argh. </p>
<p>My mom’s W2 form for this year already came back, and for some reason the man who’s handling my dad’s is taking forever. We’re planning on calling tomorrow to tell him (again) to please hurry. We take it to someone to do it for us, and my parents said they’re pretty confident the person in charge of computing it will be done within a few days of us giving them our W2 forms… But I’m nearly 100% sure it won’t happen before Feb 1. I’m just worried that if I update my FAFSA and it shows up as processing rather than processed on FAFSA, the college won’t see it as submitted/completed in time for Feb 1.</p>
<p>I hope you’re not too stressed about this, I think you are in good shape regardless of what you choose to do.</p>
<p>Your friday fafsa is a decent estimate. That fact that your mom’s income from work is understated some isn’t a real problem. It doesn’t mean that you have been deceitful and under reported her income. It means that you won’t get the full credit for the SS tax she paid in 2012. That’s the purpose of that question. So the estimated awards that schools will give you based on your estimated fafsa may show a little less aid than you will get when you update fafsa with the final numbers after taxes are filed. </p>
<p>Alternatively, I think you will also be fine if you choose to update the fafsa with the 2012 estimates as soon as the friday fafsa is processed. Even if your update isn’t finished processing by Feb. 1, your Feb. 1 school will know that you submitted a fafsa before the deadline and will have access to your update as soon as it’s processed.</p>
<p>W-2s don’t have to be mailed to employees until 1/31. Schools know that. Your parents don’t have to get their taxes filed by Feb. 1, just as soon as they reasonably can after that.</p>
<p>When I realized I might have made a mistake yesterday I was stressing quite a bit, haha. As you can probably tell, I come from an extremely low-income family, yet I really want to go to a private school; if I messed up filling out the FAFSA, I would beat myself up over it, haha. </p>
<p>My dad said he’ll call the person in charge of our tax return tomorrow and remind him again we need to have it as soon as possible, and I’ll be calling the university after school just to clear up some details. </p>
<p>I’ll most likely follow your advice and just wait until the 2012 estimates come in and update it with that, since my next university’s deadline is February 15. </p>
<p>I think it’s kind of weird how they would make a deadline so early, then. I’m guessing schools just want to see about how much financial aid a student requires before the actual numbers roll in as a rough estimate for the entire student body, but I still find it troublesome and meaningless. >w<</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all your help! It was extremely helpful and it really helped to calm me down. :)</p>
<p>No problem but you mentioned private schools. Do all the private schools you are applying to only require FAFSA? Most private schools require either their own financial aid form or the CSS profile financial aid form be submitted in addition to FAFSA.</p>
<p>I’m applying to USF, UoP, and Dominican University of California, and as far as I know, for those three privates only the FAFSA is required. I know for a fact that UoP does not require the CSS profile, and I will be calling USF tomorrow to clarify whether or not they need it. I just received their post card the other day ironically reminding me to fill out the FAFSA. There is a verification worksheet I can print out after March 1, or forms that indicate the completion of the IRS Data Match on FAFSA (which I’m also confused about, honestly). Either way, I do believe these two things will be due after March begins, considering how the worksheet won’t be available until then. As far as UoP goes, I believe it is only the FAFSA + sending them a proof of the IRS ASAP. I won’t even worry about Dominican University for now, as it is not my top choice and their deadline isn’t until March 2nd; and even then, I believe it is still only the FAFSA.</p>
<p>I don’t think Pacific or USF meet full need, so you might be gapped or offered loans. Have you applied to any CSUs, particularly ones you might be able to commute to?</p>
<p>Yeah, my EFC is really, REALLY low, so I know for sure my private schools won’t meet full need I’m willing to carry some loans if I have to. What exactly does gap mean? </p>
<p>I’ve applied to some UCs + CSUs, and I’ve been accepted into SDSU, SFSU so far, waiting on the UCs and SJSU + Long Beach. I do have family members living in SF, so if I absolutely must I can always live with them after my first year or something. For everything else other than SJSU, which I can probably drive to everyday, I’m going to have to figure something out. </p>
<p>I have scholarships for UoP and Dominican, so that just kind of doubles up on my worries about USF since I don’t have any scholarships available to me; I’m going to have to rely on FAFSA and loans. ._.</p>
<p>Gap means that the school won’t offer you enough for you to cover the difference between its cost of attendance and your EFC. For example, if Pacific is $50K and your EFC is $10K, your need would be $40K. Pacific might offer you $20K in need-based aid and a $10K merit award, leaving you $10K short. That’s the gap you’d have to cover, assuming your family can afford your EFC to begin with. </p>
<p>Sigh, my EFC is so low it isn’t even anywhere near $10k. </p>
<p>I can commute to SJSU and SFSU, but for everything else I will probably have to live on campus for, unless my family plans on following me wherever I go to college. </p>
<p>The problem with UCs for me is I’m planning on majoring in International Business, and none of the UCs I know of have that major (or are particularly known for it). :</p>
<p>Thank you guys so much for all the concern, tips, and help. I’m so glad I joined this community I’ll keep everybody updated as soon as I know what’s going on.</p>
<p>I just kind of wanted to let annoyingdad know that I was actually able to receive my 2012 tax return today, and my FAFSA was also processed today while I was in school, so I went back and updated everything with my 2012 information Everything should be correct now! Thank you so much!</p>
I’ll keep everybody updated as soon as I know what’s going on.</p>