If schools are listed on the FAFSA being corrected, they will get the changes anyone makes. But they can’t see who the other schools are - This was a new feature as of 2017-18 FAFSA.
I am just hoping this thing will get resolved once we call them after I hear from all the colleges about admission. I feel its incorrect to add my parents’ 401K as FAFSA instructions clearly mention not to include them. My sibling goes to college too and this is all just a big financial burden! They’ll probably have to take out huge unsubsidized loans… I feel bad for my parents since they are willing to pay for our education:-(
@anonstem Did you send 2015 W2 forms of your parents to any colleges? The pretax 401k contributions would have been listed on the W2 but not on the tax return, since it is untaxed income.
As Thumper1 mentioned, 401(k) account balances are not reported on FAFSA, but any contributions that were made to a 401(k) during the applicable tax year must be reported. For parent 401(k) contributions, this would be done on FAFSA question 94.a.
If 401(k) contributions that were made in 2015 were not reported on the 2017-2018 FAFSA, it’s possible that a school that is also sent 2015 W-2 forms and sees the 401(k) contributions on a W-2 will correct the FAFSA to properly include the 401(k) contributions as untaxed income. In one of your earlier posts you stated that “They also changed other untaxed income from 0 to some # which makes no sense!” Perhaps a discrepancy in reporting 401(k) contributions is the reason for this?
I think of FAFSA as a big mailroom distribution center. You send in FAFSA and ask the mailroom to distribute copies to 10 schools. They are placed into the school mailboxes and there they sit until the schools pick up the mail. (my d’s school said they do a ‘pick up’ about once a week in the non-busy times, once a day or every other day in the busy times; big schools may pick up several batches a day) If YOU make a change a new copy of the FAFSA would be placed in each box. All 10 would get any changes YOU make.
If School #3 picks up its mail first and makes a change, YOU get a notice of the change, but the other 9 schools do not. School #6 may make a change and you’ll get notice of that too, but school #3 doesn’t. You now have 3 different versions of FAFSA out there, the ‘master’ filing that you made, school #3’s version, and school #6’s version. If you send another master version, schools #3 and #6 would have to merger your new master version with their changes.
The Profile has little or nothing to do with federally funded aid. That is determined by the FAFSA EFC.
But you point out something. If there is something that is disceptant between the Profile and Fafsa numbers, the school will likely look at the fafsa more carefully.
I don’t believe financial aid officers can do ANYTHING to modify a Profile. But they can…and are required to do so on,the fafsa if they see something that isn’t right.
But you should be able to,get a reason why this was changed. It may take some persistence…but call and ask to speak to an actual financial aid officer. Get that person’s name. If they don’t answer your question , move up the food,chain to a supervisor.
Now…if they give you a reason…but you don’t like it…that is a whole different issue.
Nice analogy and very well explained! But not sure about all schools not getting copies of the changes made by School#3 or #6 - it depends if the school only wanted itself to get the changes.
In my case, the school modified my FAFSA on day x and left all the schools on the list; so they must have gotten the changes. Later on day y, the same school went in and made more changes and removed other schools from the list; so other 9 schools will not get the changes.
@thumper1 My parents fall into the bracket that makes me ineligible for FA/Pell grant/etc. However, I still had to fill out CSS & FAFSA as schools need those for other types of aid/school grants/etc. It will mostly be sticker price for me & unsub loans for my parents
Not as they explained to me the other day. If you have not deleted the other 9 schools from FAFSA. Even if they've "picked it up" they will get a change if the change is made **prior** to the school being deleted. Feel free to call and confirm, but that is the information that both myself and the OP were told this week.
What? Until the fafsa is submitted with a change…no school can see that change. And if the change is made prior to submission…it hasn’t actually been MADE.
It has to be submitted for the change to be in the fafsa record.
