FAFSA 2017-2018 School Year - Q&A Thread...

Last year my double- first- name daughter’s kept getting kicked back. Three times. I tried every combo of names and initials. Turns out it was her SSN that was put in wrong. Doh.

I don’t think the SS verification is as touchy as we think. Daughter’s entire name, first-first-middle-last, is all on the SS card without indication if she has 2 first, 2 middles or 2 last names. The FSA ID only asks for an initial, yet it worked for D. I think there is more of a problem if there is a double last name and sometimes the computer thinks the ‘first’ last name is actually a middle name. For mine, also kicked back, it was a birth date issue, as I’d reversed two numbers. Doh, doh.

That’s why I suggest just starting over. It took me wiping out all the info and entering every letter and digit again. When I review it, it all looked fine and 85 looked like 58.

Hope it works.

Regarding this question on the FAFSA: As of today, what is the net worth of your parents’ investments, including real estate (not your parents’ home)?

I’m thinking this does NOT include any retirement funds, am I correct?

How about the value of the 529 that the parent holds with the child as the beneficiary, is this a parental investment?

Thanks.

Grrrrr, I figured I wouldn’t be able to use the DRT due to our SS# being used to submit a fake tax return (thanks, TurboTax) a few years ago. I was right. There are still red flags on all our tax info apparently. What a pain. :-L :-?

Okay so I just submitted my FAFSA, but I may have done something wrong. I have a brother 1 year younger than me who plans on attending college (he graduates high school in 2018, I graduate high school 2017). For the question asking if another person from your household would be enrolled in a college by June 30, 2018, I said yes… was that wrong? I feel like it is but I wasn’t sure (someone help me please I want to be honest)

@plsplsacceptme If your brother graduates high school in the May/June of 2018, I don’t think he would be enrolled by June 30 in college.

I’m thinking this does NOT include any retirement funds, am I correct? Yes (although you do have to report untaxed retirement contributions made in 2015 as untaxed income)

How about the value of the 529 that the parent holds with the child as the beneficiary, is this a parental investment? Yes.

Thank you @kelsmom !

I did report untaxed retirement contributions from my W2s, thank you for the reminder.

Another question: I transferred from my investment account the maximum $11,000 ($5500 for me and my spouse) to my IRA retirement account in 2015. Is this also considered a untaxed retirement contribution? It wasn’t untaxed income so I’m a little confused.

I find it tricky that so much is populated by our tax returns and just a couple little questions are tripping me up! Thank you for your guidance.

No, the move is not reported. The reason you are required to report the untaxed retirement contributions is because they are actually income - you chose (wisely, IMO!) to save it for retirement, but it is income you “could have” used to fund college. The money you moved is just your own money that you moved around.

If this was a traditional IRA and you claimed a deduction for the contributions (1040 line 32 or 1040A line 17), that needs to be reported on FAFSA question 94.b.

Good catch, @BelknapPoint .

I did the entire form with my ID, child does not have one yet. Child will get ID tomorrow and sign and submit.

I am a single parent. On the students section of income it asks if they paid child support or received it. Is this asking for a child of their own or from the non custodial parent for the student?

I used IRS retrieval tool today and apparently our address was wrong. So I looked at the copy of our 2015 taxes and I noticed that the person who did our taxes used our old address (we moved last Summer). I already submitted the FAFSA and used the IRS retrieval tool to fill out the financial information but used my current and correct address for my personal information.

Will this affect my financial aid? Will the person who did our taxes have to redo them or submit an edit, even though it’s already mid 2016?

Also, what do I do if I’m applying to more than 10 schools? I know someone said to delete schools once you can edit it and then add the new school, but what if you make other corrections? Don’t you still have to send the corrected FAFSA to the other schools as well?

The child support question in the student section is asking about child support paid or received for any of the student’s children. The child support question in the parent section is asking about child support paid or received for any of the parent’s children.

So I suppose the goal of FAFSA is to calculate our Expected Family Contribution (EFC).

At what point do we find out our EFC?

How is the number communicated to us?

Yes, the student’s FSA ID is only needed to use the DRT for the student’s tax information, and of course for the student’s signature before the form can be submitted.

After the FAFSA has been processed (usually one to three days), you should get an email with the Student Aid Report (SAR). The SAR will have the EFC number.

Edited to add: slight correction – the student will receive an email informing that the FAFSA has been successfully processed, with a link to the SAR.

Thank you @BelknapPoint !

You’ve been so helpful in this thread!

You don’t have to wait for it to be processed. The EFC is on the confirmation page (unless something has changed from previous years–I haven’t done the new one).

I only did a FAFSA for one of my sons yesterday, not S17. I didn’t add in the value of the 529 plans because I didn’t realize that they were investments. This particular son only has about $100 in his - I move money from S17’s when it’s time to make a payment for the older boy and then move it out. I did list the value of our second home, so I think that I will be SOL anyway.

I am attending a workshop where they will help me fill out S17’s FAFSA in 2 weeks and I will find out about the 529’s.