<p>The CSS Profile for four of my schools were due yesterday. All four are schools that meet 100% of financial need, so I'm hoping that submitting it a day or so late won't be too big of an issue. The real problem is that my mom is incredibly tight-lipped about anything in regards to finances. A little bit of backstory: my parents have been divorced since Feb. 2013 and my mom is the custodial parent. She's been unemployed for ~14 years and our only income comes from alimony/child support. I had to fill out the CSS Profile late last year for my EA school, which was nightmarish enough, but the other day she told me that she isn't planning on submitting a tax return for 2013. Unfortunately, when I filled out the CSS Profile last year, I selected the option saying that she will file a tax return for 2013 but hadn't done so yet. I'm trying to update my CSS Profile with more up-to-date information, but I don't have an option to change my custodial parent's tax return data to will not file and so all of my answers to the questions asking about 2013 tax return estimates are kind of iffy...</p>
<p>I'm not really sure what to do. I have no idea if I should just use the Explanations/Special Circumstances part of the CSS Profile to explain my situation? Essentially, I'd write something about my mom not filing a tax return for 2013 b/c of unemployment and about how I'm unsure as to the legitimacy of my financial aid information because my parents have barely been helping me at all throughout all this. I'm really scared because this is already late, and I have no idea if all of my numbers are accurate. Also, if my mom doesn't submit a 2013 tax return, what documents will colleges ask to see? Will they ask for my dad's (non custodial parent) 2013 tax return? Will they ask to see 2012 tax returns from when my parents were still married?</p>
<p>Any help is super appreciated, thanks. I hope that the stuff up there made sense and wasn't too garbled; I'll clarify/expand on things if needed.</p>