<p>Hi there,</p>
<p>New member to CC and although enjoing CC posts tremendously, the whole FA process scares me. We have finished FAFSA and CSS by Feb 1st deadline but obviously have to put estimates in since our taxes were not even done by a long shot. Do we have to update FAFSA and CSS when our taxes are done and is there a deadline for that? We did send the IDOC paperwork in but had to use old tax returns since DH is self-employed and his tax portion was not going to be ready by yesterday. I do realize that we might have messed up the whole thing but we so new to this process, that before I looked at CSS profile, I thought we would be able to knock it out in a half an hour. Little did I know!!!</p>
<p>You didn’t mess up the whole thing. What you’ll get is a tentative aid award, but it won’t be finalized until you get the corrections made and the final tax returns done. You just need to know that if your final numbers are different, your financial aid award will be adjusted. It may end up being higher or lower – if your 2010 situation is similar to 2009, there probably won’t be much difference.</p>
<p>I have not heard of deadlines on corrections being done, but if you’re concerned about that, you could call the colleges’ FA aid offices and ask.</p>
<p>Thanks! Do we make corrections to colleges or online thru FAFSA and CSS website?</p>
<p>You can correct the FAFSA online. The Profile doesn’t have that option, so you’ll have to call the colleges’ FA office and see how they want you to do that. My son’s college did not require that we send them changes to the Profile, but others may ask you to send in the corrections directly to the FA office.</p>