<p>well my mom's income went up by 10,000...dont really know if that will have a significant effect but anyways...since her income wont be the same as 2004, should i wait to fill the FAFSA today or later?</p>
<p>the figures required for the FAFSA 2006-2007 school year will be the numbers you used for your 2005 taxes. You and your parents need to fill out your 2005 tax forms BEFORE you do the FAFSA (it will ask you for information on specific lines of the federal tax forms). </p>
<p>This means that it doesn't matter if you fill out the FAFSA today or a couple of months from today as far as your mother's income (it does make a difference if you have money in the bank today, but will use it to make a major purchase in the near future).</p>
<p>your mother's income for the entire year of 2005 will be used to calculate the EFC.</p>
<p>You can always estimate the figures on the income tax forms and then make corrections to those figures -- and your parents 2004 income tax forms and their last paycheck stubs, should give you a good idea of what those figures might be.</p>
<p>thanx so much...what would u recommend i do then? wait until my mom gets the 2005 income tax instead of estimating?...do they give more money to the people who file first?</p>
<p>Do colleges receive an update of your SAR report everytime you make corrections to your FAFSA application?</p>
<p>I would file the FAFSA now, if you can estimate what would be on the 2005 income taxes. That will allow you to see what your EFC is now (it is usually alot higher than you expect) and plan for that. Update it as soon as you can with actual figures. This is not the year for your parents to complete their taxes in march or april --that may cost you! Talk to them about doing the taxes ASAP. Most W-2's and other forms will be in by the end of January, so plan on doing them by the end of February and update the FAFSA then and you should be fine.</p>
<p>Also -- remember that you file the FAFSA every year and that your EFC changes depending on the figures you file. If your mother just recently got a raise of 10,000 as you indicated, it will not have much effect on this years FAFSA, since she only got a portion of that 10,000 for the time she worked under that new salary. However, that will be figured in when you do the FAFSA for the 2007-2008 school year, so your EFC for that year will increase. It is better to plan ahead than to be caught short and have to borrow.</p>
<p>As far as the SAR, yes -- all schools get an update when you correct your FAFSA. When you put your school code in, the school can access those records anytime. You may want to play it safe and call the school's financial aid office about a week after you update the FAFSA (it takes 3-4 days to process the online one) and let them know that it was updated.</p>
<p>(it is usually alot higher than you expect) </p>
<p>Haha, I wasn't expecting to receive an estimated efc after I was done, it was definitely higher than the estimates I got from using the colleges' own caculator...why doesn't FAFSA take into account the money parents owe on homes, cars, etc.?</p>
<p>I am not really sure how the FAFSA is calculated -- it is very complicated!</p>
<p>I think that they basically take your parents income and figure out how much of that they should pay toward your college expenses. It is your parents decision to buy a car on credit, pay off a mortgage or pay off credit cards bills. I think that they allow a certain amount to go towards housing, which can be used to pay a mortgage payment.</p>
<p>You have to look at it this way -- the "government" isn't the one giving you money to go to school, it is the american citizens who are paying via taxes. Soooo -- if your parents choose to own 2+ cars that they had to borrow to pay for and they owe alot on their house and they charged alot, so they have big credit card bills -- that is a decision they made. Why should I (or my parents, or someone who is 50 and never had kids) who owns 2 cars, fully paid for although they are older, has a house almost paid for because I never took a cruise or vacation to europe so no extra mortgage, but put my money towards my bills and only use credit cards for convenience or emergencies, so I pay the total balance off each month -- why should they pay for you to go to college? I sacrificed and lived within my means so that I and may family would be secure -- not to pay for someone who is living beyond their means could have me pay for their child to go to school.</p>
<p>I am not saying this is the case -- and what is really a pain is that YOU (the student) is not the one that made the decisions regarding money, but it effects you.</p>
<p>But just so you understand the background on all of this.</p>
<p>We are very poor and have been for about 3 years, due to some extenuating circumstances. We made less than $25000 last year and we do not receive any public assistance. We own 2 cars and rent a nice house and pay all out bills and have no credit card balances -- you can imagine that we have nothing new, nothing fancy and our big entertainment expenses are a monthly subscription to netflix. So it is really, really hard for me to imagine that someone making $100,000+ cannot pay for a child to go to school. it really comes down to choices -- do i think that the $40,000 per year that I would have to pay for my child to go to school really worth it or would I rather have a new car or a bigger house.</p>
<p>wait a minute...so i don't use the 2004 tax return for the Fafsa? i'm so confused!!!</p>
<p>You can use the 2004 tax return to estimate 2005 figures in order to get the FAFSA done on time, before your school's deadline. Then you'll need to correct it later with the actual numbers from your 2005 tax return(s) when they are completed. The FAFSA will ask you whether you're filling in the actual numbers for '05 from your already filed tax return, or estimating prior to completing your tax return.</p>
<p>Also-- if you're estimating -- estimate in your favor. Better to slightly underestimate income, and slightly overestimate expenses. You'll get a lower initial EFC-- and it will be easier to let them take away a little aid, than to persuade them to give you more $$ after much of the aid has been alloted.</p>