If you want to receive need-based financial aid from the institution you have to fill out FAFSA and CSS Profile for schools that also require that to distribute institutional aid, Notre Dame and Vandy require CSS Profile.
Have you run Notre Dame and Vandy’s net price calculators to see if you would qualify for any need based aid at each?
Thanks and I have (though did a more brief version at Notre Dame) and it showed we’d be full pay. This is surprising given our salaries but it seems like they factor retirement savings in as well- we got a rather late start on having kids so saved quite a bit in the 18-20 years post graduation, kid-free, though didn’t realize how much of a factor that would be. Again, I’m naïve about all of this though do know we’ll have 3 in college at once in 2 years which should be interesting.
Retirement savings are shielded from financial aid assessments if they are in a 401k, IRA, 407b, or similar account. If your retirement savings are in these types of accounts they do not affect your aid unless you entered the information incorrectly on the forms. If it is money in a “regular” savings or investment account that you intend for retirement then yes, it will be assessed for financial aid purposes.
Also the equity in your primary home may be included or excluded for financial aid purposes depending on the college. All FAFSA schools exclude it and some css profile schools exclude it, but some css profile schools include either full or Partial assessment of your home equity.
Also if you will have multiple kids in college at the same time, it is possible that some of the css profile schools will still provide more financial aid in those circumstances. That was the old rule. FAFSA schools will no longer do that, starting in 23-24 academic year, but the css profile schools have not announced their plans in this regard, as far as I know.
No they don’t. If your retirement savings is in actual real retirement accounts, you should not have listed the balances in those accounts on your financial aid assets section.
BUT the contributions you made to tax deferred retirement accounts are added back in as income…so maybe your actual income was higher than you thought.
Is it possible you have significant home equity in your primary residence? That could be it. Or are you self employed? Some business deductions allowed by the IRS are added back in as income for financial aid purposes.
When you did the FAFSA, did you use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool? If so….is there any chance you did a rollover of a tax deferred retirement account in 2020? If so, you needed to check a teeny little box on the FAFSA about this…or it would be included as income.
When you did the net price calculators, did you include balances IN your retirement accounts as assets?
Thank you! I’ll review with my husband tonight. I just did the quick calculator online for ND (MyinTuition) and it asked for retirement plan savings (401K, etc.) adn the value of those retirement plans so I assumed those were taken into consideration but perhaps not!
I recommend you use the NPC as it’s more in-depth than the MyIntuition calculator, see here: Net Price Calculator
Retirement plan savings such as 401Ks, etc., should not impact your aid estimate. You can check this by running the NPC with and without the 401K balance. NPCs may not be accurate if the parents are divorced, own a business, or own real estate beyond a primary home…are any of those the case for you?
They do ask for them – I have seen it stated (can’t remember where) that they ask for them so that users don’t get confused and add them in with the other assets!
Even though they are requested, the schools don’t include them in the calculations.
I agree with @mwfan1921, above, that you can check by rerunning without that data and you should see that the award is the same.
Also, yes to what @thumper1 said – if you had a rollover, there is a little box you are supposed to check for it to be processed correctly and a lot of people miss that box and get very inaccurate financial aid estimates/awards.
I encourage families to complete the financial aid requirements the first year, just in case. It doesn’t hurt, for sure. My D went to Vanderbilt, and we filled out forms annually. She did get need based aid. But in her 4th year, she got a scholarship that exceeded our unmet need … so I suppose it’s possible that filing for aid allowed her to be considered for a scholarship that was actually a merit scholarship. I believe in spending time & effort if there is even a slim chance it might pay off.
And I third the rollover explanation.
My D21 is currently attending a private college and my D22 will also be attending a private college next year. Are my FAFSA days over? Am I strictly a CSS guy now? I don’t know who determines the loans, FAFSA or CSS. TIA.
If you want a loan (or any other federal aid like a PEll grant or SEOG or work study) you need to complete the FAFSA. If you only want school aid, you might only need to do the CSS but check with the schools.
It’s important to find out what each school wants. Most colleges require the FAFSA, even if they also require the CSS and/or their own forms. This is because the policy is typically “federal aid first.” Hillsdale is a notable exception, and there may be others - which is why a quick look at the school’s financial aid requirements is in order.
I realize each case and school is different but how often are need based aid appeals successful? At least some of the time?
It depends. Some requests will be turned down by every school - there are certain federal regulations that can’t be changed. Other requests may be okayed by one school but not another. If the request for more money isn’t backed up by facts that support an increase, it may well be declined. But if the school wants or needs the student, they might throw a little extra to the student. So it’s worth an ask.
And I’ll add….these requests are handled on a case by case basis.
And as noted…some schools will reconsider your aid…and some simply won’t….for anyone.
Also, you need to contact the college and find out their process…and this will vary from school to school. They will also tell you when to make these requests.
There is an $800 difference in what I indicated my child earned in 2020 on the CSS and FAFSA which I filled out about 2.5 months apart. One school is asking us to rectify. This income was from babysitting, and it appears I overstated her income on the FAFSA but understated her income on the CSS. Since we pretty much only have Venmo and checks to go on for documentation, not sure how to fix this. Find a happy middle? Use the documentation we have and toss in a little extra for what she was paid in cash? Just correct one to the higher amount? Or correct both to the middle? I want to be accurate, but it’s hard with a job when there’s no paycheck to use for verification and 2020 is a year I’d like to forget! Thanks!
Unfortunately, taxes are required to be paid on self-employment income that exceeds $400: Can I File Income Taxes if I Got Paid Cash for Babysitting? | Pocketsense. If she earned more than $400 & didn’t file a return, the school is supposed to require that she do so in order to qualify to receive federal aid. I encourage you to gather the documentation you have and talk to the aid officer. You will probably be told what I would tell you … file a 2020 return.
Thank you. Is this true even if she was a minor and claimed as our dependent?
Yes, it applies for everyone. I honestly didn’t even consider that before I started working in financial aid & learned a whole lot of tax rules. Financial aid professionals hate having to enforce IRS rules, but they are required to do so. Regulations require that students can’t get aid if they should have filed a tax return but didn’t. The school won’t report the student to the IRS if they don’t, but they are not allowed to give the student federal aid if they don’t file as required.