I am still confused. How would the FAFSA customer service know if your soc sec # is right? Wouldn’t the one on file at SSA be right? Or do they have the wrong number on file at SSA? You should find out.
But then it should have caused an error when you first set up your FAFSA ID.
And your EFC with 2 in college and same income should not be more than EFC with one in college.
Look at SAR from January, is everything the same except assets and number in college?
Just clarifying, to send to more than 10 schools I enter the first 10, wait the three days or so until the FAFSA goes through, then delete and send the next 10? And this will not impact the first 10 receiving our info, correct?
@austinmshauri , I would be surprised if the change you describe triggers verification. If the EFC increases, I very much doubt it will be selected. Did he file a tax return in 2015? If so, have him link to it - that will decrease the chance of verification. If he was not a tax filer in 2015, and if he is a returning student, make sure the info matches the income info on the 2015-2016 FAFSA (the processor will compare the two years, and a mismatch may trigger verification).
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.
Are you saying that your 2016-2017 EFC is 4 times your 2015-2016 EFC, even with an extra kid in college? If so, definitely double-check all of your non-income entries. Are there some extra 0’s somewhere on the asset side? Did you report some non-income info this year that wasn’t reported last year? Does your kid suddenly have more assets or untaxed income for the year (such as a 529 payment from a grandparent for the 2015-2016 year)?
@kelsmom, Yes he did file taxes for 2015. I think he earned ~$1836 because he only worked part-time over the summer before his freshman year of college. I’ll make sure he links to the DRT and double check our figures. Thank you. 
@mommdc When you are on the phone with the customer service reps at FAFSA, they ask you a # of questions to confirm who they are talking with… name, date of birth, FSA ID, email used for verification, SSN. So she then confirmed to me that the SSN that I provided over the phone was what they had on file for my FSA ID and confirmed that the SSA had previously verified it and my identity. So that is how they know if your soc sec # is right.
The issue was that the FAFSA online program was either wrong or failed when attempting to re-confirm it. I do not think that the program actually linked with the SSA. If it did, there would be no problem. But that is what it claimed. I was reading her the error message over the phone, and she was just as confused as I was. And she was saying… “No you are right. That is the SSN we have on file for you… the one already verified with SSA years ago”.
It all seems fine now, it was just a frustrating three days. We were just unlucky in that it did not want to take my FSA ID or password combination to e-sign… all driven apparently by their system not being able to confirm my SSN automatically on their end. I just kept deleting and re-entering the exact same info… and the 4th time, while on the phone with them, it finally worked. I do not know if she did anything to actually fix it or whether it was just a coincidence that I was talking to her when it finally worked. Once it worked, I could then also e-sign.
I fully agree… our EFC with 2 in college and the exact same income, assets, etc. should be less or maybe the same… but not over four times more.
When I receive the new SAR, I will compare it line by line with the one from January as you suggest.
@socalmom007 Yes. I asked her that too. She said to wait for the email saying that it was processed fully and then go back and delete/add new schools.
@kelsmom Yes. The EFC is over 4 times as high for D2’s FAFSA (for her 2017-18 freshman year), filed Oct 1st, as the EFC received in Jan for D1’s FAFSA (for her 2016-2017 junior year). All #s were exactly the same. But I will certainly compare the SARs side by side upon receipt.
Thanks. Hopefully we are alone in this early glitch. I guess that it serves us right for trying to file on day one… lol
Another issue with DRT is that those of us who had an issue with identity theft can’t use it. Based on comments above, I proatively ordered a 2015 tax transcript to have on hand. I hope this doesn’t trip us up when we try to submit the FAFSA.
Question: @CaucAsianDad mentioned he needed to submit FAFSA for purposes of a merit award. Can holding off on the FAFSA (and/or CSS PROFILE) hold up admission decisions? Should I get this finished up quickly, since we have submitted half a dozen apps? Most of the schools sites still say submit by March 1, 2017.
I don’t think that decisions on admission will be delayed, but you will have to wait to be able to compare financial aid packages, so if cost will be a factor in which school to attend the matriculation decision will be pushed back.
I also found that not submitting FAFSA early delayed the application of merit aid. The FA office was waiting to process everything at once. This was for sophomore year so we sort of knew what we were getting, but nothing posteduntil the FAFSA was done. If we hadn’t been planning on filing a FAFSA, I think I would have had to contact the school and let them know so that they could have gone ahead and processEd the merit and grants.
I know this is a FAFSA thread but I have a FAFSA vs PROFILE question that I am hoping someone can confirm.
Specific to educational account assets held by parents for students.
On FAFSA, for assets, you need to include all college savings accounts for all children held by the parents regardless of the age of the student (so could be for one in college now, the current applicant/senior and one that is still in HS).
On PROFILE however, it says to enter the total value of your parents’ assets held in the names of your (the student’s) brothers and sisters who are under age 19 and not college students.
So using the example above, I’m only reporting assets for 1 kid, versus 3?
I went to a college night presentation and the FA officer from the local State U (my D applied there as a safety) gave a presentation where she said they wait on the FASFA info to create the “package.” The “package” includes need and / or merit aid, this is similar to what @twoinanddone described. She also said they give merit and school supplied need-based aid until it runs out and the earlier the decision the more generous they can be as the money does run out. The FA officer said their deadline for submitting the FASFA Nov. 1 if you expect aid.
They use rolling admissions so acceptances start to go out in September. Aid evaluations start in October and based on posting on CC from previous years the scholarship offers are greatly reduced by the end of November.
So no, acceptances are not delayed, just merit aid, and delayed merit aid is reduced merit aid.
That Profile question is asking about money that is actually owned by the parents, but for tax avoidance purposes has been retitled in the name of one of the student’s siblings. This is an ethically questionable practice, and is not as common as it once was since the so-called “kiddie tax” has been beefed up.
Profile treats parent-owned 529 accounts the same way that FAFSA does: they are reported as a parent asset, regardless of who the named beneficiary is.
thanks, I was reading it incorrectly
I hope this doesn’t sound dumb but my question is,
If the student is awarded state aid, must that aid be used in state or can it go toward oos tuition?
It depends on any conditions attached to the award. Every state will set their own conditions.
It sounds to me like you placed a decimal point in the wrong place…making something like $10,000 appear as $100,000 or something like that.
Did you print out the FAFSA you submitted (always do that)? If so…go line by line and check your entries.
@thumper1 Reasonable theory, but no. We just got the SAR. It was accurate and matched the SAR from January. The only key differential is an EFC that grew by over 400%. Hopefully the FA Dept where D2 ends up can figure it out, especially if she gets her wish and can attend USC with D1. Having a single FA Dept coordinating aid for both would be a dream scenario for me too…
Could it be possible to get two different EFC’s for 2 kids in college if the kids have different income and investments? It can right, that would make sense why they are different for each kid. Please confirm.
Yes, two different kids in the same family can have different EFCs, depending on individual income and assets.
Yes, they could be different if their finances are different. I would assume in most cases it wouldn’t differ (at least by any significant amount) since the parent’s income is most likely the major factor, but it’s certainly possible.