<p>I hate to see kids like you slip through the cracks and possibly lose out because you neglected to meet the FA deadlines. It’s a shame, but there may still be time. </p>
<p>You can fill out the FAFSA and Profile TONIGHT with estimated numbers. When FAFSA is processed, it stamps it with the date it was done so don’t delay any longer. As Sue suggested, you and your parents’ income figures from end of year paychecks can provide most of the info you need (at least for the income questions). Is it possible your parents made copies of their w2s before handing them to the accountant? They don’t NEED the tax return info, although it’s more accurate. You can use last year’s tax return along with this year’s end of year paycheck stubs to ESTIMATE the numbers.</p>
<p>As for the assets questions, most banks and investment companies will allow online access to you (and your parents’) bank and investment accounts. You all should be able to sign on TONIGHT and determine the current balance in all the accounts, even their 401Ks and IRAs. You should be able to do that with your own personal checking and savings accounts. If you own EE Bonds, you can use an online calculator to determine current value. If you need to estimate, try to be as accurate as possible or your FA package may be adjusted later on. </p>
<p>To determine current house value (of your primary residence), you could use this website as one source.
[FinAid</a> | Calculators | Federal Housing Index Calculator](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid)</p>
<p>Don’t forget the schools’ own FA forms. Some schools have their own forms. These are in addition to the FAFSA and Profle. I know Brown, Cornell and possibly Princeton do, I can’t remember if Yale does. </p>
<p>Go to each of your school’s website and look for the link to Financial Aid for Prospective Students. Each college has its own FA procedure and it should be spelled out on the website. But many of these things can be done AFTER your initial FAFSA. You MUST get that submitted ASAP. Some schools require you to send in copies of taxes, w2s, and other info through IDOC, which is an separate procedure - meaning you don’t send the info directly to the college. Lthers want the materials sent directly to their FA departments (not admissions department, where application materials were sent).</p>
<p>It would be wise to do this “research” immediately and make yourself a chart of what each school requires. Rather than spend time stressing about what you haven’t done, just get moving. Contact each college through email (so it’s in writing), explain you were delayed and hopefully you can tell them that you just submitted your FAFSA and you will send all required materials ASAP. Some schools MAY allow you to fax copies and follow up with mailed originals. That might speed up the process. I remember my son hand delivered his tax forms to Yale when he was there for an interview, because it was so close to the deadline for EA applicants. You may be too late to qualify for some money but you never know.</p>
<p>If you complete the FAFSA and Profile with tax estimates, you can go back and make changes AFTER submitting your taxes or even before completing your taxes if you have more accurate data. FAFSA allows you to make changes more than once. FAFSA allows you to do updates online (and it’s a simple procedure), but Profile has NO online updating procedure. Call your colleges (that use Profile) and ask them how to update it. Colleges have different procedures. Most of our schools asked us to print out the Profile, make changes in red ink and send the updated forms back to the school.</p>
<p>BTW, you are only supposed to update data that is affected by a change in tax info.(not assets) Meaning that on the day you submit the FAFSA and Profile, you state the amount of assets in your accounts. Even if you then spend all that money the next day, you are not allowed to change that number to reflect the amount in your account on the day you UPDATE. So, the lesson is to pay all your bills BEFORE submitting the initial FAFSA.</p>
<p>Good luck. Don’t delay any longer.</p>