<p>Tell me again, why the rush to complete the form Jan 1, 2007? I was looking over the website and the instructions and hardly can figure out where to start. Collecting documents I guess. Kid and parents both have sections to fill out. But we don't have all of our tax documents for 2006 yet. Estimates are acceptable? I think procrastination is in order. I am filling this out in case of disaster scenario, ie major change in our circumstances. I do not anticipate applying for need based aid. This made me laugh!
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The U.S. Department of Education estimates that for first-time users, FAFSA on the Web will take you less than one hour to complete.
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riiiiiight...</p>
<p>Is this a test? .... You will have one hour to complete fafsa on the web. You may begin.......... now!</p>
<p>I dunno, I oversee them all the time with students in my program, and an hour seems about right if you already have the paperwork together. Most of my students have to do this themselves (parents don't speak English, or in general don't know anything about these kinds of forms and assume it's the kid's job.) So I'll sit next to them at the computer and help answer questions if they get confused. By the time I got to my S's, it felt like old hat to me.</p>
<p>I guess if you have really complicated finances it might get tougher; but we don't. (Now, Profile, that's another story....)</p>
<p>All you need are last year's income tax returns and some estimates. You base this year's FAFSA on last year's returns and make estimated adjustments for any major changes or salary increases. Eventually, you may need to revise the FAFSA numbers when you have complete information for the past year. Many of us have a hard time getting that done by April 15.</p>
<p>If you have simple finances, the FAFSA (like taxes) is easy to complete. If you have investments, high medical expenses, uneven pay, kids with unpredictable pay, or whatever, it gets tricky. Also trying to predict your 2006 adjusted gross income takes some understanding of 2006 deductions. For instance, that $4000 deduction for college - it got approved by Congress too late to be on the tax forms! My husband practically had to fill out our taxes on Turbo tax before he could get numbers for FAFSA and CSS. </p>
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Isn't the adjusted income just line 37 on the 1040 and this is before you take out most itemized deductions?</p>
<p>Guess I need to look but looked to me like the FAFSA is more worried by income and not really deductions.
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<p>Yes, and then the FAFSA also wants to know how much you pay in tax, and without deductions, the amount we would pay is way higher than we actually pay. I am halfway through the FAFSA, I have all my docs but none of my daughter's. Filling out these kinds of forms gives me such anxiety!</p>
<p>Is it just federal tax that they want or are state and local income taxes included? (Can you tell I'm procrastinating even looking at the thing?)</p>
<p>I have a very strong aversion to this kind of thing. Similar aversion to doing my taxes. I retrieved my pin that I got in September 2005 (never filed fafsa). I think I will file this year. For 2006, totally unplanned, I will have a relatively low income, as income was shifted into 2005 and 2007... by accident!</p>
<p>NJres, that's good for you! Anyway, our Fafsa was easy because our income is basically the same as last year's, and D hasn't worked yet. So I put in lots of zeroes for her! (It did take less than an hour, but as Weenie says, it varies according to your situation.)</p>
<p>And, like NJres, I also don't see what the rush to complete Fafsa on Jan. 1 is about. But everyone says to do that, including the financial aid guy who came to speak at D's high school a few months ago, so I did it. But I don't know why.</p>
<p>And regarding the Fafsa PIN, I don't know how long it takes. But a friend says she got an e-mail telling her within 15 days. That seems like a lot to me, because I had mine the next day (I filed for it in October). You don't need a PIN to complete Fafsa though, right?</p>
<p>I also started Profile, and that is a lot more complicated, as Garland said.</p>
<p>If you're not a first time filer, go by the priority date your school gives. (actually, even if you are a first time filer, go by the date the school gives.) If it's March 15th for example (where I work), everyone filing by that date gets equal consideration. I've never heard from any school that filing now is in any way more efficient. (and I've sat through a lot of FA seminars for professionals). My S's school has an April 30th date; so I'm in no hurry at all. I'd rather get the taxes done right first.</p>
<p>What about the business/farm supplement if you own your own small business? I am the sole employee, but am dreading doing that without having done all of my taxes. Can that be estimated too?</p>
<p>My own practice is to guesstimate the business/farm supplement and low ball it as well. My d's college can and will get the real figures off my schedule C when it is done. </p>
<p>But part of this attitude is due to my utter contempt for College Board & the whole profile system -- there is absolutely no reason at all that I can think of that any college ought to be using that for renewals of already enrolled students. They could simply ask the questions they want using their own financial aid forms, and avoid redundancy. </p>
<p>I will put in effort to get my taxes done early and get them to the college, but given that I am self employed it is hard to do that before around March 1.</p>
<p>NJres, I hate these things too, but, seriously, the hardest part is getting started. Once you start you sort of get on a roll. And it doesn't take an hour - my stuff is pretty weird; I generally do these things in sort of a clueless fog, and even the first year it didn't take longer than 20 minutes. Subsequent years the thing sort of auto-populates the fields or rather the historical information is loaded so all you have to do is update anything that may have changed. </p>
<p>My advice is to file an estimate as quickly as possible - D's school has always said that the earlier you get the numbers in, you're first in line for merit funds - I don't know how true that is (probably it's just something they say to make everyone get their stuff in on time), but, it's easy enough to file a conservative estimate (over estimate income and underestimate the things that would ordinarily benefit you so that you're not embarrassed later), then go back and adjust with the real numbers later.</p>
<p>Jan 1st is the FIRST day that a FAFSA can be filed - and every school has a deadline when it is due - guestimated or real - so don't panic - best thing to do is to get the PIN # as early as you can - and make sure to save it - you will need it year after year.</p>