I applied to LMU regular decision. LMU says that their priority deadline to file a fafsa is today and the final deadline is in May. Should I apply right now? Do you get more money if you file the fafsa by the priority deadline?
Do I have enough time to file a fafsa from scratch? If I live in EST time and the college is in pacific time, do I have until my midnight to complete it or 3:00AM my time(midnight in pacific time)?
You might.
Yes, if you don’t want to take a chance on losing out on any money.
Yes.
If you’re going to do it, just do it. Whenever you get done is when you get done.
Start right now. You have plenty of time to get a FAFSA done before midnight.
If you don’t file until May, you won’t have a financial aid package when you have to choose a college by May 1.
File now using a will file status. Use the best possible estimates for 2015. Then get those taxes done ASAP…and then amend the FAFSA.
Aldo list all possible schools (up to 10 with earliest deadlines, or state schools) on this FAFSA so they all get this info. You can add more in a few days if needed when the submitted FAFSA has been processed.
It is a pain but just do it. Don’t panic. If you encounter obstacles take a breath and keep going. It is possible and it is not a disaster if you are a little late. Just try to get it done today so you stop worrying.
The problem is that my dad said his tax for 2015 won’t be done until 2 weeks from now. He only has his for 2014. Can I use that for the 2016-2017 school year? My dad said his income for 2015 should somewhere the same as in 2014 give or take a few thousands.
Well…give or take a few thousand…he should know his income from end of year pay stubs. Use that info. Use the 2014 return as a guide. If incime is more, put the increased income. And adjust taxes paid up.
You will be amending this in two weeks? That is good…the sooner you get the accurate numbers to the college…the better.
But you don’t want to miss any deadlines either.
@thumper1 He doesn’t have a pay stub since he is the owner of a small salon.
Yes, just use the 2014 as an estimate. When he files the 2015 taxes, you’ll have to update the FAFSA and even if you are off by a lot, the actual 2015 numbers will be used. Filing with an estimate gets you in line.
If he is the owner, he should,have 2015 records of his earnings.
Not all business owners have their entries done for last year yet (mine aren’t).
They might not have entries done…but they should have some idea of how much they earned…maybe relative to 2014.
Also, to the OP…sometimes business owners ask for an extension until October to file their taxes. I don’t think this is the year for your family to do that.
As a business owner you might know how much income you received, but you can offset that by business deductions, utilities, insurance, supplies. He might not have added up all of his receipts for expenses yet.
Just do your best. Will your dad owe taxes when he files? Or did he make estimated payments during the year?
The sooner the tax return processes, the sooner the IRS data retrieval tool can be used to import tax information right into the FAFSA. I think the DRT becomes available next week.
It’s midnight where I live now and I couldn’t finish the fafsa in time :(. I think I can finish it in an hour from now.
Can I still submit it since it is only 9pm in California right now?
You are submitting the FAFSA to the clearinghouse, not to the individual schools. It will take most schools a week or more to ‘pull’ your information. File it as fast as you can.
Today is the priority deadline. You might miss out on some of the limited money (SEOG, work study) but other determinations, Pell and loans, don’t depend on the priority deadline.