It’s not just being secretive, but knowing what some kids can handle. For many of us, having the student enter the data would have meant standing over them, line by line. If it were as simple as passing in a copy of the tax returns and a bank statement, maybe they could have done it.
Honestly, I didn’t want DH to fill out the Fafsa or CSS, either. He certainly knew our financial details. It was more that I knew I would be precise, try to understand the questions and answer properly. And even I struggled on some points and ended up leaning on a savvy friend who had been through it.
My son and I completed the FAFSA together. He’s commuting to one of our state schools, though, so it’s not difficult to find the time once I get all the paperwork together. We don’t make a whole lot (~$60k) and have no assets other than our house, so it’s fairly straightforward. I feel for the families with more complicated situations who have to manage filing while the kids are away at school.
We’ve only filed FAFSA once, so I’m not that familiar with it, but I thought the student signs that the student info. is correct and the parents sign that the parent info. is correct. Are they asking the student to swear that the parent info. is right too? If the parents are responsible for filling out their own section, they should be the ones signing off on its accuracy. I don’t know why the student would ever need to see it if the parents didn’t want to show it to them.
I think it’s ridiculous if students are expected to sign off on the parents’ information. How are they supposed to know if it’s correct? I think there should be two separate submissions. We never filed FAFSA, as we don’t qualify for financial aid, D’s merit scholarship didn’t require it and she didn’t need a loan. Had we needed to, however, it would have been me, not D, who was filling it out. Our tax return is a couple inches thick, and even if we were willing to provide D with access to our financial information (we’re not), I doubt she would have understood it.
Yeah, except that’s not what’s happening. The student signs off on the information that the student provides and the parent signs off on the information that the parent provides.