<p>I am new to this, and emailed CSS with no response. Can anyone help with a phone # or ??</p>
<p>I have been self employed for 23 years in a general partnership. We have done well for a couple of moms with no business classes :) and wonderful not-so-silent partner husbands.
Two years ago, we incorporated. Our business is run out of our homes, and the clinicans who work for us are either contracted or employed by us to work at school sites. in a nutshell, districts and schools contact us when they need a speech therapist, and we supply one and take a cut. </p>
<p>We took out a Key Chick insurance policy (AKA key man) on each other, and are paying a premium based on an estimated value of one million dollars. Is that the value of our business? We have only a small amount of hard assets (phones, computers and the like). We do bill school programs over a million a year, but payout most of that to the people who work for us. We have never tried to sell our business. With the schools in CA in the state they are in, it is by the grace of God that we are having a great year, but next year could be very very different. </p>
<p>Frankly, because we are white/middle class/Presbytarian and our daughter's statistics are not especially outstanding, we do not expect to get any financial aid, so in a sense I feel like we are simply filling out the form for merit aide qualification. </p>
<p>How do we figure out how to value the business? Thank you for any help you can give!!!</p>
<p>CSS Profile has a supplemental form for businesses and farms which some colleges require you to file. I couldn’t find this year’s, but here’s one from last year to give you an idea of what they are looking for. You might want to run it by your accountant. I found it to be a major PITA when we filed it last year.
<a href=“Student Financial Support | Johns Hopkins University”>Student Financial Support | Johns Hopkins University;
<p>By the way, FAFSA only schools don’t consider the value of small businesses as an asset (under 100 employees) so you may want to consider that as your child chooses colleges.</p>
<p>I’ve been told that you use a fire sale value- basically if you were to liquidate your business and sell its assets today, what could you get. Only include cash and sellable assets (business vehicles, building- if you own it, equitpment, etc…). Since you work out of your home, you do not include that- I’d say you’re only looking at equiptment value.</p>
<p>Wow - our equipment, etc is probably not worth $5K, but if we sold the business I would think it would go for a pretty good sum (although in this economy? mmmm) </p>
<p>Is there no way to talk to CSS directly? I know my business partner’s husband put a million on their CSS form a few years ago - they received no financial aid of course.</p>
<p>AliMom, you so NAILED it!! Thank you so much! for the benefit of other posters, this is what they said.<br>
A service business is valued only as what the equipment, land, etc would be able to be sold for. In our case, since our offices are in our homes, and the only equipment is a small collection of materials and computer/office equipment, the value would be $5K.<br>
I asked for the supervisor and said that I felt uncomfortable valuing a service business so low, while simulaneously insuring myself and my partner for a million apiece in case something happened to us (it’s a buyout benefit for the husband, in a nutshell). I asked if CSS wouldn’t find it suspicious when they compared my reported income to the value of the business. She said no - what that is saying is that my service business was very successful last year. They will take that into account, but that it is not really an asset per se. I am the asset. :)</p>
<p>So there you have it - hopefully other people with this question will understand a bit better thanks to this thread! Thank you for helping me avoid a million dollar mistake!!!</p>