<p>My parents told me that they should receive their W2 Forms and 1040s by February. Problem is, I don't want to wait that long to fill out the FAFSA and CSS accurately. Not to mention one of my colleges require all financial aid docs to be sent by Feb. 1, and a couple more by Feb. 15. What are we supposed to do, then, if our forms won't come earlier? Should we just estimate using my parents' 2011 tax returns and W-2s and send them to the schools?</p>
<p>Yeah estimate using 2011 then use exact numbers once 2012 is finished</p>
<p>Yes, you estimate.</p>
<p>FAFSA is not a problem, just submit it as ‘will file’ now and when you update with final 2012 tax numbers, you will submit again as ‘filed’.</p>
<p>Profile is a little more complicated because you are unable to update online once it is submitted to a school (you can change it for submission to other schools; this can sometimes be helpful depending on deadlines). You need to later contact schools about submitting changes, many schools will request that you send them a hard copy with corrections noted.</p>
<p>Tell your parents that it’s important that they submit with estimates THIS year. The deadlines for continuing students are later and are usually much more doable after taxes have been finalized.</p>
<p>So for the CSS Profile, can I just submit my estimations for now? And by “hard copy” do you mean emailing them a copy of the whole profile with all corrections? Or just copies of our W-2s and 1040s? Or can the Profile be filled out more than once (filling it out for School A, which is due Feb. 1, then filling it out for School B once we have the 2012 info and just sending updates to School A), or can the Profile be filled and submitted once and only once?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You will be sending copies of W2 and tax forms via IDOC as part of the Profile process. How you deal with updates depends on the college, they will state this on their FA website or you can call/email for instructions. When I have done it, I made copies of the Profile, crossed out estimates and penned in the final numbers, then I snail mailed it to the school. However, like I said, colleges vary in how they deal with corrections. And these days they may accept emailed scans for changes.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yes, you can make changes and send to different schools; you just can’t send twice to the same school. If you do make changes to send to different schools, just be sure to keep records so that you know which numbers you sent to which schools.</p>
<p>Alright thanks!</p>