Divorce recently finalized. With FAFSA will get some FA. Likely some also IF the ex will complete/complete correctly the CSS. DS has Nov 1 deadline for EA/ED. File now - hope that Financial Aid offices will let me give my plea? The ex’s taxes are not correct (as in he also claimed kids as dependents).
File your CSS when it is ready. Encourage the ex to file his as soon as possible.
What kind of “plea” will you be making to financial aid offices? The best you can do is get your paperwork in on time and hope that your ex does. I don’t believe they’ll discuss anything on your ex’s financial aid forms with you.
Is there anything in the divorce agreement about who pays for college?
Your divorce is final…right? Frankly there is no better or worse time for you to file the FAFSA or Profile…unless you will be getting some lump sum cash settlement that will be sitting in your bank account sometime soon.
When you complete the 2019-2020 FAFSA, you will use ONLY your income and tax information from 2017 if you are the custodial parent.so if you filed taxes jointly…you will need copies of your former spouses w2 forms so you know what to subtract. In addition, you won’t be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, so order a tax transcript…now.
You might be selected for verification so have your divorce papers ready to show them.
For the Profile, again, you will use ONLY your 2017 information on the actual Profile. Your former spouse will then complete the non-custodial parent form.
ETA…remember, you are using 2017 tax year info for the 2019-2020 financial aid forms. How did you file your taxes that year? Were you already separated?
Thanks @thumper1. Divorce just final, but not all financial accounts/house/etc have been transferred. But didn’t know if I could submit later than the ED application bc might impact how ex will comply with Decree (making me have to get a contempt order which already doing for CS). Was surprised at how much CS impacted the FAFSA. LIke CS received for half of 2017 (only time received) is NOT going to impact anything after DS turns 18 next month - but of course FAFSA uses it to determine how much I can pay NEXT year! So wanted to be careful and the CSS and hope that discussions with FA offices will be enough of my “plea” for them to truly understand the situation. Appreciate your help.
Can you afford this ED college? That is question number one.
Do NOT miss the deadline for submitting your Profile…not even by a day. Get it done ASAP.
In terms of your income being lower for 2019-2020, you will have to deal with the colleges on this.
Colleges do not and will not care about your divorce decree. Their will look at the income and assets of both you ane your ex to determine how much you are expected to pay. If your ex refuses to pay or does not pay child support, then this is a red flag that your D should not be applying to a school that will use his information to determine her aid.
Keep in mind, his completing the paperwork does not obligate him to pay for college. If he refuses to pay, the school is not going to give you any additional aid (there are in-tact families where one parent refuses to pay or will limit the amount of money that they will pay). Even if court order child support ends when your daughter turns 18, the college will still look at his ability to pay and will expect him to pay.
If your child is applying ED, you must submit all required financial aid forms by the deadline in order to get the financial aid award on the acceptance day (assuming your child is accepted). If you do not submit FA forms on time (and at this point there’s not too much time remaining), how will you know if you can afford the ED college? ED is a binding commitment. Did you mean to say ED (early decision)? Or did you mean just to say EA (early action), which is not binding?
Also remember that if your child gets aid dependent on ex filing paperwork that this process will need to be repeated 3 more times.
Maybe…maybe not. Some colleges do NOT require the Profile after freshman year. Neither of the colleges my kids attended require the Profile after freshman year. They do require the FAFSA… but the non-custodial parent has nothing to do with that. So…YMMV.
Thanks for the correction. I should have said this process might need to be repeated. Something to keep in mind if this is a difficult process.
While they may not have to file the profile in subsequent years, unless there is a major life event. (Loss of job, death, etc), the EFC and amount of aid given will be approximately the same for the remaining 3 years. OP will be tied to ex to “pay his share.”