<p>Child 3 is applying for college fall 2013. FAFSA and CSS Profile have a deadline early February for some colleges he applied to.
Child 1 & 2 are students at schools that require both FAFSA and Profile due end of March.
I will not be able to file taxes until after February 15(waiting on some 1099s)
I have the FAFSA and Profile ready for child 3 with close estimates. Should I also file now for child 1 and 2, with those estimated numbers or wait till end of February, after filing my own taxes and child 1 &2 taxes? The numbers on parents assets might be slightly different then, but the income for child1 & 2, as of now are very approximate since we did not get all the W2s for work-study and summer jobs. Any advice?</p>
<p>Personally, I’d do the whole shebang as soon as possible, making sure that I pay off bills and whatever to deplete the assets on the day I do the danged thing, and make sure the kids are zeroed out assetwise since every dollar they report is 20 cents towards the student EFC with no allowance. If they have non aid money stashed and don’t want to spend it, have them reimburse YOU for their expenses and set up a special college account joint with them but with your SSN and name primary on it so that it is treated as your asset not the kid’s. </p>
<p>Once the actual returns are filed, the colleges will all do the corrections anywas and it’s rare anyone gets it right exactly with forms outstanding unless they are right on top of the numbers. I would also underestimate so that more funds are set aside for your family rather than over estimate and find that the excess just can’t be covered due to lack of funds. And then, get those returns done ASAP too since if you are at the end of the line, the money could be gone. If you have to do so, file your tax return with some estimates and do a 1040 X later if there are hang ups.</p>
<p>I would submit now with estimates, some federal aid like work study can run out. Depending on the schools, some institutional aid could too I suppose. I’d ‘get in line’ now. You should be able to get exact numbers for 1&2 from their last summer job and work study pay stubs. This way parent asset numbers will be the same. You’ve already done the hard work of estimating parent info.</p>