@mommdc - Sorry, I remembered the issue incorrectly. It was rollovers that was the issue.
And kelsmom agrees that it’s a problem that the FAFSA allows us to do something that the schools then flag as an issue!
@ClaremontMom, you are right, there was a problem with rollovers. The FAFSA instructions said to put amount of rollover, but that messed up the DRT info.
I don’t know if this FAFSA fixed that?
I thought the rollover issue was fixed for the 2017-2018 FAFSA.
Could very well be fixed, I have no idea…I have not even thought about filling out the latest FAFSA…probably won’t for a while.
D17 and S20 each have a small Coverdell/ESA, owned by the non-custodial parent. Where should these be reported on the FAFSA, if at all?
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-column-feldman-idUSBRE93S0LZ20130429
@Mommertons, this article addresses that scenario, but it is from 2013. I think that it doesn’t count as an asset unless the account owner is student after they turn 18. But if non custodial parent pays money out of that for student, student might have to report it as income on next year’s FAFSA under “money received or paid on student’s behalf”, question 45j.
@kelsmom or @BelknapPoint please correct me if I’m wrong.
If my daughter is applying to more than 10 schools, I saw in a comment above that we should send FAFSA to the first 10 then wait for them to be submitted then go back in to the form and remove schools and add others. We sent to 10 schools yesterday. How long to wait before sending to number 11? What happens to the FAFSA report to the “removed” schools if it is already sent if they are “deleted”? I may call FAFSA and try to get them to walk me through this. My daughter has 11 on her list.
We filled out the new FAFSA yesterday and I could not believe how easy it was- almost all of the information was filled in from last year once we transferred over the IRS data. There were only 3 financial questions that we needed to answer, plus a few regarding how many in college etc. We will do the profile next week #:-S
I don’t know how else it could be handled, with the way things are set up. Be proactive - contact the school, let them know about the rollover - give them proof of the rollover & a tax transcript. That will cut down on any problems that may arise if you just let it ride.
For those who found the FAFSA submission easy this time, consider yourself fortunate. Yes… it seemed short and easy to fill out, but in our case, we could then not submit electronically. It would not accept my parent ID/password combination. I clearly knew what it was, as I already have a daughter who is a junior in college. I changed it 3 times to try and make it word, but it still would not accept it. So my daughter submitted it, and I printed a signature page instead and mailed it in.
We went back in later to see if I could now sign it electronically. It looked like it would let me, but then it says that the parent SSNs now do not match.
I just got off the phone with them, and they say that it will now be on hold for 14 days for that reason with neither them nor us even being able to see it for two weeks. I thought that this was strange and asked why… she simply says that “such is the federal government”. We submitted on Saturday, an error was discovered quickly… they know it and we know it, yet there is no way to fix a simple error. By design, the system locks the application for an arbitrary period of 14 days for no apparent reason so that even FAFSA staff cannot see it or fix it. Truly bizarre.
But as she said herself… that is how the government chooses to deal with even a simple issue. Shut down and lock the application for two weeks. Ugh.
@WWWard, did you use the same FSA ID on last year’s FAFSA? Did you use it on your junior D’s FAFSA? If there was a problem with the ID it would have not worked on an earlier FAFSA (2026/17) I would think.
My D was planning on submitting the FAFSA since one of her schools requested it to be eligible for merit aid.
The question I have is “What method can be used to value real estate investments?” Zillow? Property Appraisers Market value assessment? Do I need to hire an MIA appraiser to get point in time appraisals?
@mommdc Yes… I used the same FSA ID. The first issue was some glitch in their system refusing to recognize my password. I kept changing it via email, but they still refused to accept it.
Issue two was likely our fault… if we did actually enter my SSN incorrectly. I suspect an issue with layout or tabs - as I clearly know it lol. But such a simple typo should then not lock/freeze your application for two weeks without even their staff being able to correct it. Can you imagine if the entire world worked that way? Sorry… you mistyped your credit card #, you can no longer use Amazon or any online retailer for two weeks.
It just seems like a very odd approach to processing thousands and thousands of applications…
If my SSN was entered incorrectly in the first place, what they should have been telling us was… your SSN for the FSA ID you are trying to use does not match the SSN in the application. Then I simply would have fixed it…
I had completely forgotten that S had some savings bonds. Ugh. Found them though and figured out the value. Guess they can go back in the drawer for another year. Note to anyone considering cashing them for QEE. My understanding is that only works if it is a bond issued in the parents name, not the child. So if you child was given them as a gift, they can’t use them for QEE until they are 24 without tax implications. And, since they’ve not matured yet anyway…likely not a great use of them anyways.
@CaucAsianDad I have read not to use your tax assessment but rather based on current market value. So to that end, Zillow would be appropriate I think. We have some timeshares and I looked at comparable listings to estimate the value of ours.
@Mommertons that would be considered a parental asset and for FAFSA, I believe, since it is NCP, does not need to be listed. It would have to be listed for PROFILE if they ask for NCP info.
Pretty sure. I know that we have never provided 529 info for my stepdaughter in the past although my H holds the 529. She only filed FAFSA once though, for the year she and her brother overlapped.
@kelsmom, I forgot this FAFSA is based on prior, prior info. so when it asked if DS worked during this time period I told him it meant 2016 (which makes the answer “no”). As soon as he submitted I realized the time period is 2015 (which makes the answer “yes.”) We did the NYS HESC form correctly and will update the FAFSA after it processes, but I wonder if this will trigger tax verification. DS qualifies for a few hundred in aid from each based on our income, but his income was < $2k so I don’t think that affected his aid at all. Will that update trigger an automatic verification? If so, which forms should I start collecting so they’re ready to submit?
@austinmshauri, if he filed a 2015 tax return you can just go in after the FAFSA processes (about 3 days I think), and use the IRS data retrieval tool to import his income.
What did you do on the 2016/17 FAFSA? Did he just list his 2015 income and you were verified?
@mommdc, We linked to the DRT, but we’ve been verified for both his freshman and sophomore years anyway. We only had to verify our taxes, not his, so I suspect it’s because I’m not working right now. But I forget what forms we had to file to verify it. There was one from the college that we had to fill out, but I think I had to request some kind of tax form from the IRS too.
@austinmshauri hopefully the linking of the tax returns will take care of verification and you won’t have to send in a transcript.
Well… despite the FAFSA customer service people saying this morning (post earlier today above) that my daughter’s application would be locked for 14 days now, we were actually able to log back in and try to correct it just now.
Its claimed error was that my SSN, which was in fact entered correctly, did not match the Social Security Administration’s records. I deleted and re-entered it exactly the same three times, but the error persisted. So I called FAFSA again, and the customer service rep confirmed, of course, that I am right (that I know my own SSN) and that they are somehow wrong (of that SSA is).
Well… she must have done something on her end, as the fourth edit while on the phone with her worked, and we were able to finally submit the new FAFSA for D2 without an issue.
Oddly though, our EFC, without any changes in income, as it is still using the 2015 #s that had just been submitted for D1 in January, is now over 400% from what it was in Jan 2016. So… same income and two kids in college instead of one next year means we are expected to pay more than 4 times as much…? The lady on the phone was confused too.
Oh well… maybe it will work out over time when the financial aid offices actually get involved. But needless to say, the FAFSA system has its issues this week one.
Good luck… 