<p>I just received what appeared to be an automated email saying they are reviewing my FA application and need some more info - I logged on and they are asking for taxes due 5/15. I then checked the FA tab on Spire and they have updated with my merit scholarship information, but there is nothing about need based on there even though I have a fairly low EFC. Do I need to submit the taxes in order for them to finish processing my FA application by the May 1 enrollment deadline, or can I send them the taxes afterwards and still get a FA estimate based on FAFSA info? I was under the impression that taxes were only needed to verify a FA estimate if you decided to enroll. </p>
<p>Excellent question I too rec’d same email I hope someone in the forum is knowledgeable enough to answer I would like to know also .Did estimate back in Jnuary and have’nt even attempted to complete my taxes yet.</p>
<p>I guess our accounts were selected for verification so we need to fill out the verification form and submit a tax transcript… not sure if the FA office will still give us an estimate but I’m going to try and fill out these forms ASAP. Are tax transcripts the same as tax returns? I’m pretty clueless when it comes to this stuff.</p>
<p>You get a tax transcript from the IRS website after you have filed your tax return and the IRS has processed it. It can take anywhere from 1 week to several weeks after the IRS processes your return before the transcript is available.</p>
<p>If you owe money and are filing electronically, do not schedule the payment for April 15 or whatever, because the IRS will not process your return until they have collected the money. So that will delay your transcript until sometime in May. Pay the money immediately when you file (if you can).</p>
<p>Thank you for the information - does anyone know if I’ll still receive an estimate of my FA award from UMass in the meantime, or if I won’t know until I submit the verification worksheet? It looks like I won’t be able to receive the transcript for a few weeks looking at the info on the IRS website. Financial aid will be a big determinant of where I wind up going so it’s pretty important to me that I’ll be able to weigh offers before the May 1st enrollment deadline and preferably before April because a lot of scholarship applications ask for where I plan on going & how much it will cost. My Spire is still showing that the only FA I’m receiving is my $2k merit scholarship (with an EFC of $40), which is pretty disheartening to look at. Right now UMass is one of my best bets for FA because all the other schools I applied to get my father’s financials (and he’ll likely contribute next to nothing to my education).</p>
<p>I was told to verify my financial aid by submitting some tax docs and things like that, and right now my account only says that I am getting the merit scholarship I earned but nothing else so far. I emailed the financial aid office, and they told me that award letters should be coming out at the end of march around march 27th. I am assuming that means that they aren’t done with creating the financial aid packages yet, so hopefully everyone will be receiving more money. I also have a low EFC, and would need financial aid to realistically afford going to UMass. Hopefully they notify students soon…</p>
<p>Thanks, mmanni95, for this. My son’s portal only lists his scholarship (of which we’re very grateful). We will have two in college this coming year so our EFC is also pretty low. I’m hoping they’ll play ball.</p>
<p>I have submitted all of my FA stuff and so far my portal is only listing my scholarship – they probably just haven’t released FA package decisions yet. (My EFC is pretty low so I should have some form of aid, I think).</p>
<p>Just checked Spire account today. Financial aid was updated with loans and grant money.
Out of state with scholarships and grants still pretty high to send daughter there. Wish it was more affordable as daughter was admitted to the honors college and the new dorms look nice!</p>
<p>Just checked ours too. What I expected. We are instate and our EFC is only about $2-3k less than the COA. We just got Stafford loans (some sub and some unsub).</p>
<p>We are OOS as well. I have a very low EFC yet very little grant/scholarship. With just $5K as a grant, it’s unlikely my daughter will be able to afford to go there. Unfortunate as she was really leaning this way … hard to not take a hard look at Clarkson University and Ithaca College where she got $35-38K in grants/scholarships.</p>
<p>I called the FA office and the rep was very candid. They allocate more monies to instate candidates. Hard to argue with that. I just wish the SUNY schools in NY followed the same MO.</p>
<p>We are OOS as well. I have a very low EFC yet very little grant/scholarship. With just $5K as a grant, it’s unlikely my daughter will be able to afford to go there. Unfortunate as she was really leaning this way … hard to not take a hard look at Clarkson University and Ithaca College where she got $35-38K in grants/scholarships.</p>
<p>I called the FA office and the rep was very candid. They allocate more monies to instate candidates. Hard to argue with that. I just wish the SUNY schools in NY followed the same MO.</p>
<p>@IthacaMom - we’re OOS too and our financial aid from UMass is decent. We’re NH residents and basically got nothing from UNH. It’s kind of pitiful when our own state school so far is the most expensive of all the places my son’s been accepted. </p>
<p>We loved Ithaca College when we visited with my older son. It wasn’t the place for him (it’s a little too structured) but I could have seen it as a good match for my younger son. He didn’t want to be that far from home - he said no more than 3 hours or a plane trip!</p>
<p>Just checked our FA. Only an unsub loan for 5K standard from all schools. My son did not get any merit except for John and Abigail Adams scholarship. It is not true what they say about supporting instate kids. But the tuition is 10 k and you cannot beat that. If Duke does not give my son 37k with his admission he will be going to UMass.</p>
Just a small clarification (which you probably already know):</p>
<p>The Adams Scholarship is worth only $1714/year, because that’s what the actual tuition is. The rest of the $13000+ in “tuition and fees” is fees, and the Adams scholarship doesn’t cover fees.</p>
<p>My Spire updated today with FA info - I’m really happy with my FA package - outside of $5500 in govt. loans, it would be almost free for me. Now I’m just in the situation where I have to decide between my top choice(s) or going to UMass to save money… fortunately the gap isn’t that extremely wide (around a $6k difference per year… expensive, but relatively speaking a drop in the bucket) so I probably won’t end up attending, although UMass is a great school.</p>
<p>& Yeah, the Adams Scholarship is misleading. Full tuition sounds great until you realize that UMass avoids giving out decent scholarship money by tacking on ridiculous “curriculum fees” and whatnot. The Adams/Koplik scholarships do not cover these fees.</p>