<p>Hi,
My family is planning to fill out the FAFSA after our accountant finishes filing our 2012 taxes. However, we were told that there might be a delay with the filing process because of the fiscal cliff negotiations. Does anyone know about this? Do you think schools will give an extended deadline for FAFSA submissions because of this?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Most students file an estimated fafsa early before taxes are done. How easy that is to do depends on your family’s financial situation, self-employed, own a business, have rental properties etc. makes it harder. With just W-2 wages, interest, dividends, capital gains it’s easier. Later after taxes are done, you update the fafsa with the actual data. Schools are unlikely to give extensions to submit the estimated fafsa by their deadlines.</p>
<p>I’m in a situation where my parents have recently divorced, so they are filing their 2012 taxes separately. My dad is self employed and my mom is a proprietor so her only source of income is from rental property. I need to get my FAFSA and CSS Profile in by February 1 for USC, but my dad told me he couldn’t file until that day (because of delays from the fiscal cliff negotiations). I don’t know how accurate the estimates will be, so should I submit estimates anyways then update the FAFSA and send in tax returns and other documentation later?</p>
<p>@annoyingdad: My parent’s run a business, and we already sent the CSS with our estimated information. I was accepted ED so I’ve already received an estimated financial aid offer. However, my ability to attend this school hinges on whether or not this estimated number goes up. Should I still file the FAFSA with estimated data, or should I wait until the accurate numbers are ready?</p>
<p>Does the school have a deadline for fafsa, either on their website or in correspondence you’ve received? Since his is an ED situation, you could email and ask if you should do an estimated one. Otherwise, if you can’t meet the deadline with the accurate numbers I would do an estimated one. I don’t think they are going to move back deadlines until the stuff starts hitting the fan, if it ever does. Since you’ve done the hard part with estimating CSS, the fafsa should be a snap.</p>
<p>Altolove, how much time do you have to accept or bail on the ED offer…usually there is only a few weeks between the offer and the need to commit?</p>
<p>@momofthreeboys: I already accepted the offer, a few weeks ago actually. I accepted based on the tentative aid offer they gave me, because we knew our numbers weren’t going to change much.</p>