Was this information from the College Board/CSS?
No, it was from notes from the most recent NACAC annual conference, which a rep from CB attended.
(PY means prior year and PPY mean prior prior year)
https://collegewise.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Collegewise-Lessons-Learned-NACAC-2015.pdf
I read that as Profile schools not wanting to lose prospects to FAFSA-only schools who would be able to deliver FA packages sooner in the app cycle. The whole section of that doc is interesting reading, it starts on page 12.
Boston University only required the Profile for the first year also.
It appears that Boston University now requires returning students to complete CSS Profile in order to be eligible for institutional aid.
http://www.bu.edu/finaid/apply/returning/
Some other colleges that require CSS Profile to be filed for each year that a student is seeking institutional aid:
Amherst
Bates
Bowdoin
Colby
Columbia
Connecticut College
Cornell
Hamilton
Harvard
Middlebury
MIT
Mt. Holyoke
Penn
Smith
Tufts
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Williams
Yale
This is only after looking at the Ivies, NESCACs, and a few others (MIT and some of the seven sisters). Some from those categories not on the list above require their own, school-specific form each year to be considered for institutional aid (Princeton, for one).
DU requires Profile every year. For some students (including my S) they meet full need, and our award changed this year when our financial situation changed a bit. I’m expecting another change for next year (based on this year’s income), and anxiously watching this issue, because if 2015 is going to count twice, it makes it even more important that I get some things right this year (and it also means I can shift income to 2016 and not have to worry about it any more, snce 2015 will be my last year of concern). If CSS doesn’t switch, then shifting income from 2015 to 2016 doesn’t help as much.
Northeastern requires FAFSA/CSS for the first year, but only requires FAFSA for subsequent years. Actually it would be beneficial if we can draw up two lists, one for colleges that require CSS only the first year, and one for colleges that require CSS even in subsequent years
Northeastern also guarantees not to lower grant aid in future years (indeed to increase it along with tuition raises), which may be why they don’t require Profile after the first year. http://www.northeastern.edu/financialaid/aid/thenortheasternpromise/
UMich does not guarantee aids for latter years, but they do say the aid should be comparable if there is no major change in family income and asset.
@thumper1 and anyone else who would like to weigh in. I just learned about 2015 tax returns counting twice for two years of financial aid. We are a low income family receiving maximum grants and loans to afford college. Those two years which will rely on 2015 tax return I will have one son in junior and senior years of college. Unfortunately for my family, we had an unexpected one time increase in income in 2015. Our income has reduced back to normal level for 2016. Frankly with our low income we simply will not have the money in 2017 due to our income reducing to pay the EFC for 2017-2018 college year. We anticipated the need to do so for the 2016-2017 college year and we saved sufficient funds from the increase in income, but we will not have that money to do so two years in a row as we do not have two years of that increased income. Frankly, I think it’s outrageous to ask families to pay for college based upon the same income (2015) for two years. I read the following in Forbes “On a White House conference call this morning, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan did say that college financial aid administrators have been told to make sure that when this change goes into effect next October it does not negatively impact a student’s eligibility for aid if his or her parents’ income was unusually high in 2015 for some reason. We shall see how this plays out.” Yes we shall and I will do what I can to hold Secretary Arne Duncan to his word. I will request professional judgment review for the 2017-2018 because I have no choice. We will almost 50% less in 2016 than 2015 (which is what we earned in 2012,2013,2014). I understand why the federal government wanted to do this, I mean I understand that it’s easier for them and for applicants to simply import their tax return figures that are already in IRS system into the fafsa. However, requiring that two years of college aid be based on one year of income is simply wrong. It’s like paying taxes twice for the same year. It would’ve been much more accurate to average 2014 and 2015 income or 2015 and 2016 income but that doesn’t fit their nifty importing tool which will only have 2015 return figures at the time of the transition in October. Regardless, there are people who will suddenly be unemployed or have a death of a parent or simply a huge drop in income in 2016. How can they possibly pay for college in 2017-2018 college year using 2015 income? They won’t. Therefore the fafsa should not be based on 2015 income for the 2017-2018 college year.
I think you should save your indignation and energy for a situation where something bad has actually happened to you. If professional judgment doesn’t take your out-of-the-ordinary 2015 income into account when you file your 2017-2018 FAFSA, then by all means come back here and tell us how screwed up this FAFSA change to prior-prior year is.
Will eligibility for the Simplified Needs Test and/or Automatic 0 EFC be based on 2015 return only? One of the requirements is being able to file a 1040A/EZ. Will they be looking at 2015 or 2016 for this question?
My husband and I are self employed so our 0 EFC was not based on the simplified needs test. I have searched and been unable to find a situation in which the FAFSA in October will ask about 2016 income. I hope so though.
I wouldn’t think so. 2016 income won’t come into play for FAFSA purposes until the fall of 2017, when the 2018-2019 FAFSA will become available.
We also have about $25,000 more income for 2015 than we had in 2014 or will have in 2016. I’m not sure that colleges will be making adjustments for all the families in this situation. Certainly ask…but I’m quite sure we aren’t the only ones in this boat!
@BelknapPoint you’re right. The way it’s setup 2016 income won’t matter until 2018-2019 FAFSA. But it doesn’t make sense to have college aid based upon income from two years prior. This change means that the government and college financial aid administrators will be basing aid on income that won’t be used to pay for that year of college. The income that will be used to pay for that year of college won’t be examined at all until two years later for a college year it won’t pay for. Obviously this is counter intuitive because ability to pay should be based on the most recent financial information available. That’s how it’s always been because it makes sense. Frankly I see this only working for people whose income doesnt change much from year to year. Perhaps that’s the majority of people. But even for those people all it takes is one year where you lose your job or have some other anomaly. Then suddenly you have to pay for college using a dramatically different income than the one that your aid is based upon. My kids are on reduced price/free lunch in 2016 and I lost my job in August of 2015 (we’re self employed but I worked a part time job to help make ends meet). None of this will be considered until 2018-2019 FAFSA. @thumper1 I’m in a similar situation in that we have about 30k more income for 2015 than we had for 2011-2014 years and will have in 2016. I’m hoping that since the college my son attends knows this because he has had full financial aid for two years and have his prior fafsas and our prior tax returns that through professional judgment I can get some kind of accommodation for 2017-2018 by providing paperwork showing that the additional income in 2015 was a one time thing. But this is all so new who knows? Additionally, I have another son who is starting college in 2016-2017. I knew the spike in income in 2015 would effect both my sons so we set aside the money to pay for the increase in EFC for that college year for both of them. But we don’t have it to pay for two years because we don’t have two years of that income.
This web page from the National Association for College Admissions Counseling does a pretty good job of explaining why you are wrong:
http://www.nacacnet.org/issues-action/LegislativeNews/Pages/PPY.aspx
@BelknapPoint the link you provide doesn’t address any of the points I’ve made. It brings up points I already acknowledged that this is administratively easier. But it doesn’t address what will happen to people henceforth whose income to pay for college is different from the income from two years prior.
Two words: professional judgment.
You said:
The link I provided makes some very good points about why it absolutely does make sense to have college aid based upon income from two years prior. Are you saying that “administratively easier” doesn’t count? And besides, the benefits to many future aid applicants go way beyond “administratively easier,” which in and of itself could be the difference between applying for aid and not applying for aid, getting aid and not getting aid, and in the final analysis going to college or not going to college.