<p>I'm a high school senior trying to get his head wrapped around the complexities of fin aid. Specifically, I'm a bit confused as to when I need to submit my parent's tax returns. My mom said that she'll have my family's done by late March or early April, but that is after the fin aid deadlines for many of my schools. She's a tad upset as to why she has to disclose private information to universities. So, I'm wondering (1) if the taxes (for 2013) are allowed to be sent in March/April and if that's normal, and (2) why universities ask for tax returns in addition to the FAFSA and CSS Profiles. (I applied to 23 schools, so I've been trying my hardest to keep up with all of the documents going everywhere.) </p>
<p>Also, a little side question: my family's EFC is 41110. Does this mean 41110 after loans and aid? i.e., if I were going to go to Georgetown (if I'm accepted, fingers crossed!), which has a total cost of around 62000 (according to their website), where would the money come from for the delta between the EFC and the total cost of attendance? </p>
<p>1) This is not the year for your Mom to delay filing taxes unless absolutely unavoidable.</p>
<p>2) When you are asking for other people’s money(taxpayers and college endowments from donors), they may require proof of your financial situation.</p>
<p>You may get aid from Georgetown for the difference but it may include loans and funds from the university. 41K is what fafsa says your family’s expected contribution is but that’s only for federal aid and you will only qualify for federal loans. Based on profile, Georgetown may expect your family to contribute more than 41k.</p>
<p>Your EFC determines your eligibility for government assistance only: government grants and government subsidized loans.</p>
<p>Each school you apply to that provides its own financial aid (“institutional aid”) may (1) calculate your actual need to be either more or less than your EFC and (2) opt either to meet that need to not to meet that need, depending on the school’s individual financial aid policies.</p>
<p>So, School A may determine that your actual need is greater than what your FAFSA indicates, and it may also agree to meet that need in full through grants and/or loans. School B, on the other hand, may find your actual need is substantially less than your FAFSA EFC would indicate, and it may also agree to cover only a portion of that need, leaving you (in lay terms) up a creek with regard to the balance.</p>
<p>So, assuming you’re so fortunate as to be admitted to all of the 23 schools you apply to, your financial aid awards could vary dramatically . . . from generous (and affordable) to stingy (and not at all affordable).</p>
<p>And this is where your mother’s tax return comes into the picture. If these colleges require your mother’s tax information to be submitted by, for example, March 1, and she does not provide it until April 15, two things could happen: (1) one or more of your schools could flat out deny you any institutional (from the college itself, not from the government)) aid based on your failure to meet the deadline, or (2) your financial aid awards could be significantly delayed . . . meaning that you’d have to pick a college on May 1 without any idea how much financial aid you’re going to get!</p>
<p>So, as noted above, this is the year when your Mom really needs to get her tax return in early, whether she wants to or not . . . because without that info, you might not to be able to choose a college on May 1.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Tell your parent to file tax return as soon as possible if you need to get financial aid this year.</p></li>
<li><p>Submit your FAFSA and/or CSS profile with estimates now even if your parents are not ready to file tax return.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You may have missed some school deadline already. Some states also have earlier deadline (e.g. March 1 for Michigan). </p>
<p>From your EFC, it seems you are not likely to get need based aids. For schools that do not meet the need, you need to come up with the money to fill in the gap. Usually, you need some grant, scholarship, and loans (federal and third party) for that. If you really cannot come up with the money to fill in the gap, the school is not affordable to you.</p>
<p>If you don’t think you are going to meet some of these deadlines, you had better call the school’s financial aid offices and let them know and see if you can get an extension. Find out what you need to give them to get an extension, if there is a process to undergo. At some schools, you will be penalizes. Some schools that say they give 100% of need ONLY do so to those who meet the deadlines. You can see this clearly in their common data stats that some kids do not get that 100% of need met. So it’s important, and you need to let your parent know this. If there is no way the return can be filed, none, and the school won’t budge, you just have to take the chance that you may not get what you may have gotten filing on time. The other option is to discuss with your parent about filing a return with info handy, and then filing an amended return later to get that monkey off your back this year. Remember you are asking for other people’s money, here and the golden rule holds, ever so strong. “He who has the gold, makes the rules”.</p>
<p>In your case, your EFC of $41,110 most likely represents the very LEAST your family will be expected to pay before getting penny one in aid. Prolile schools usually compute their own expected contributions and they usually are higher than the EFC. The EFC says that you have to pay at least that much before being eligible for federal money, like work study, subsidized loans, etc. Any merit money is added onto that to REDUCE need, so unless you get more than$20K in scholarhship, when it comes to the $60K type schools, you are not likely to get any much reduction in costs. Not likely to get anything from state schools, as most are under that threshold. </p>
<p>But for some schools, it could mean a $20K or so package. If you are looking at Georgetown, they are a school that guarantees to meet full need, but they have their own way of calculating it. </p>