Glad to have the evil FAFSA done for 2017/2018!

Every year I dread doing it. Not sure why I find it so traumatic. I hate doing my taxes, too…and the two are kinda linked.

I am happy to report, this was the easiest year ever…

Was pretty cool to be able to use last year’s taxes to do next year’s FAFSA. Sure made things go faster…and now I don’t have any pressure to get the 2016 taxes done, which is kinda cool! Can wait till spring and do them at my leisure.

If you filled out the 2016-2017 FAFSA, you will use your 2015 tax info again for the 2017-2018 FAFSA. Sounds weird, doesn’t it? But it’s true…check the FAFSA site.

That handy IRS data retrieval tool works great.

Figured I’d make a post about this to

A. express my joy about being done.

B. Remind folks that FAFSA opened earlier this year…and that the sooner you have this thing turned in, the better. Some states and some schools have funds that are first come, first serve. Don’t miss out on funding cause they ran out of money before you got your (your kiddo’s) application in.

C. Check with your school to see if their FAFSA deadline for their own financial aid changed this year. Again, first come, first serve at many colleges. Get that thing in to optimize your odds if you’re a candidate for aid.

So yeah…one bright spot. Super easy FAFSA this year:)

Agreed. DD did hers, and it took all of 15 minutes.

I don’t mind doing the FAFSA – or the verification paperwork that inevitably follows. We don’t qualify for much aid, but if all that stands between my son and those dollars are a few forms then I’ll happily fill them out.

We keep all the necessary papers in a filing cabinet which makes filling out the forms fairly easy. If it helps, break down the money your child gets by the hour. I think we’re averaging ~$200/hour for the few hours I put in. It would take my son all summer to earn that.

I do our taxes every year in early Feb, as soon as I have all tax forms, get our refund (albeit smaller since only one kid still qualifies for child tax credit), within 10 days.

I don’t mind it.

This was the third FAFSA, and it was very quick to fill out.

D updated year in school, we linked our 2015 tax returns to the FAFSA.
We entered 401k contributions for 2015, and taxable scholarships D had reported in AGI.

What do you do if you have more than 10 schools to add to the FAFSA?

While we have done the FAFSA before, this number of schools is new to us.

@Waiting2exhale I had to do that last year as well. Thankfully, now back to only one!

There are many threads about that process here on CC, along with tips and tricks. Here are the official instructions from FAFSA: https://fafsa.ed.gov/help/fotwfaq14.htm.

Thanks for that. We were going to try the delete/add option, but were making it up as we went along.