<p>I've got some questions on these two items.</p>
<p>I'm a high school senior who'll go to college in the fall of 2007.</p>
<p>Does that mean that I'm supposed to apply for 2006-2007 FAFSA and 2006 - 2007 CSS Profile?</p>
<p>Yes, at minimum you must file the FAFSA (at almost every school) as it determines your eligibility for federal aid (Pell/ seog grants, stafford and perkins loans). The CSS profile is used at different colleges that distribute their own institutional aid.</p>
<p>Read carefully for the required financial aid forms and deadlines at each school you are interested in. One of the biggest reasons students are shut out of the money is late and incomplete applications.</p>
<p>There will be a big difference between the EFC numbers your get for the FAFSA which only determines your eligibility for federal aid (pell grants and loans) and the CSS profile which is what the college uses to determine how they are going to distribute their institutional funds .</p>
<p>I would recommend running your numbers on the college board's FA calculator using both the federal and the institutional methodology.</p>
<p>Differences between the IM and FM models are</p>
<p>IM collects information on estimated academic year family income, medical expenses, elementary and secondary school tuition and unusual circumstances. FM omits these questions.</p>
<p>IM considers a fuller range of family asset information, while FM ignores assets of siblings, all assets of certain families with less than $50,000 of income, and both home and family farm equity.</p>
<p>FM defines income as the adjusted gross income on federal tax returns, plus various categories of untaxed income. IM includes in total income any paper depreciation, business, rental or capital losses which artificially reduce adjusted gross income.</p>
<p>FM does not assume a minimum student contribution to education; IM expects the student, as primary beneficiary of the education, to devote some time each year to earning money to pay for education.</p>
<p>FM ignores the noncustodial parent in cases of divorce or separation; IM expects parents to help pay for education, regardless of current marital status.</p>
<p>FM and IM apply different percentages to adjust the parental contribution when multiple siblings are simultaneously enrolled in college, and IM considers only siblings enrolled in undergraduate programs.</p>
<p>The IM expected family share represents a best estimate of a familys capacity (relative to other families) to absorb, over time, the costs of education. It is not an assessment of cash on hand, a value judgment about how much a family should be able to use current income, or a measure of liquidity. The final determinations of demonstrated need and awards rest with the University and are based upon a uniform and consistent treatment of family circumstances.</p>
<p>Except in the most extraordinary circumstances, Colleges classifies incoming students as dependent upon parents for institutional aid purposes, even though some students may meet the federal definition of independence.</p>
<p>Students enrolling as dependent students are considered dependent throughout their undergraduate years when need for institutional scholarships is determined.</p>
<p>For institutional aid purposes a student may not declare independence due to attainment of legal age, internal family arrangements, marriage or family disagreements.</p>
<p>Your COA (cost of attendance) is tuition, room board, books travel expenses and some misc. expenses associated with attending college.</p>
<p>As a student, there are cumulative limit of $23,000 which you can borrow for an undergraduate education using stafford loans.</p>
<p>Sybbie is so wonderful to share this information! </p>
<p>Manutd, </p>
<p>You will be using the 2007-2008 FAFSA and Profile if you go in the fall of 2007. The 2006-2007 is for students attending fall this year and spring term, next year.</p>
<p>Sybbie, you're a lifesaver.</p>
<p>When do you think the FAFSA and Profile will upload 2007 - 2008 applications?</p>
<p>I think in the September/October as to be ready for ED and rolling admissions applications .</p>
<p>If you are applying RD then you file the FAFSA (or amend your old one) at anytime on/after Jan 1, 2007.</p>
<p>Again, thank you so much.</p>
<p>The FAFSA for the 2007-2008 school year cannot be filed until January 1, 2007. Sometimes it is online and you can complete it in December of the previous year...but you cannot file it before january 1. Even for rolling admissions and ED and EA that is the case. The FAFSA cannot be filed by anyone for the 2007-08 school year until January 1, 2007. When you file it that day, you will likely be using estimates based on your income taxes from 2005. You will file the FAFSA as a "will file" meaning you will file your taxes. Once you complete the 2006 taxes, you will go back into the FAFSA and amend it with the correct data from your 2006 taxes. The year you are a college freshman it is imperative that your family and you complete your tax returns ASAP. This is not the year to wait until April 15 to file. Your final financial aid award will NOT be made until after your FAFSA is amended to indicate you have filed your taxes.</p>
<p>The Profile can be done in the fall...I believe after October 1 of 2006 for the 2007-08 school year. Keep a close eye on the deadline for priority filing for finaid if you are applying ED, EA or rolling. We had a school that required the PROFILE be completed by November 15 for all EA candidates. We got it done....barely.</p>
<p>Keep a close eye on all FA deadlines. Even with an RD application, my daughter had one college that wanted an estimated Profile by January 1.</p>
<p>My S will be a High School senior for the 2006 - 2007 year . The guidance counselor said to file the Profile this summer ( ? ) as early as possible , using estimates and last year's ( 2005 ) taxes . </p>
<p>I know FAFSA can not be filed until Jan 1st 2007 .</p>
<p>When can Profile be filed for 2007 - 2008 college year ?</p>
<p>He is not applying EA or ED anywhere .</p>
<p>thumper1 thinks that it'll be available around October 1.</p>
<p>According to the College board..</p>
<p>**Register at least two weeks before the earliest priority filing
date specified by your colleges and programs.* Go to the
PROFILE Online home page and click on Participating
Institutions to check the priority filing date for each of your
colleges and programs.*</p>
<p>The information for fall 2007-2008 is not available as 2006-07 is still listed on their website.</p>
<p>Warning about using estimated amounts on the Profile: Unless they've fixed this for the new school year, you cannot make any changes to the Profile once you have submitted information. You have to print out the Profile and make manual corrections, then mail the Profile to the college. Big pain.</p>
<p>The only reason I can think that you would want to do the profile this fall is if you are applying Early Decision. Otherwise, wait until you get your taxes done (which you should plan to get done as soon as you get all your tax info together).</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice about using estimates on Profile . The counselor at his school said that the earlier they get the Profile ( which I assume would be Oct 2007 ) , the better the awards that the college sets aside for certain students . Now I am in a quandary about what to do .............there are only two Profile schools . I wonder if we should annoy ourselves with the hard copies after our taxes are down ?</p>
<p>Thanks for tip on checking dates online , sybbie .</p>
<p>We made the profile corrections on paper. At the point that you are correcting, you have all the numbers readily available from either filling in or correcting (we corrected) the fafsa. If you applying to a lot of schools, correcting the fafsa is even a bigger pain (6 schools per fafsa, 6 schools per corrected copy, so if you are applying to 13 schools there are many copies). We just made a few changes on our profile, and that was it. We sent the corrected copies to the schools who use the profile. We made several copies of our original profile and then filed them for correction by hand later. It is not as horrible as it sounds. Getting taxes done early was the biggest pain.</p>