<p>Hi all,
I'm just another stressed-out college applicant in need of some serious assistance! OK, here's the deal: I need financial aid to go to college. Period. My parents remind me of this more than anyone. HOWEVER, despite the fact that they hassle me with kind, encouraging words like "Ha. Even if you got into Yale, you won't be going, because we can't afford it," they've almost completely neglected their end of the bargain. They're terrible about financial aid application materials. My mom submitted the CSS Profile to all my schools by February 1 (due to my incessant prodding), but she STILL hasn't submitted the FAFSA! Here's what they keep telling me: "Oh, we can't do any of that until we get all our tax stuff back. We don't have any of this year's documentation, and I don't want to give them wrong numbers."</p>
<p>Shoot me.</p>
<p>Please explain to them (and me, partially), how they should be filling out the FAFSA without current forms.</p>
<p>You can fill out the FAFSA using your information from 2007 as an estimate for your schools. Then, when you make corrections after completing your 2008 taxes.</p>
<p>Almost everyone does this almost every year. Especially those who file their FAFSA on January 1!</p>
<p><em>sigh</em>
We've basically missed the priority deadline for all my schools, meaning I'll get terrible FinAid from the ones that don't meet full need, thus proving my parents' point, even though it was ALL THEIR FAULT!</p>
<p>It's frustrating, hookem, I know. You might remind your parents that if they've already submitted the CSS Profile, everything they need in terms of estimates, they've probably already figured out. Just plug those figures into the FAFSA and correct it later.</p>
<p>I do some volunteer advising at the local high school for kids dealing with college apps and financial aid and whatnot. I don't know if it's any comfort to you, but you are not alone. When this is all new to parents who have been doing things a certain way for many years, it's difficult. I have one girl whose father was resisting filling out the FAFSA because he was worried about submitting personal financial information over the internet. I have another whose parents are extremely uncomfortable with estimating figures. I understand, they are trying to be accurate and honest in everything and it just feels iffy to them to estimate number to a government agency, even when they can read right there in the FAFSA instructions that estimating is just fine. On some level, they think they are going to get into trouble or get audited or something.</p>
<p>Others, particularly those whose EFC will make them ineligible for federal aid, feel like the questions are not anyone else's business. For students who need to have filed a FAFSA even for merit aid, that is very frustrating.</p>
<p>However, I haven't yet met a parent that was willfully trying to sabotage their kid. It's hard to patient with your old parents, but keep after them and answer their questions the best you can. Once they get through this the first time, it'll be easier next year.</p>
<p>^ Yeah, but unfortunately, this isn't some petty matter. We've had strife like this before, in which I consider them practically useless, but this time, it's different. The next 4 years of my life ride on them submitting this stuff in a timely manner. They don't get it right, I don't go to college. I already discovered that they completely missed Princeton's deadline. There's one school to cross off my dream list.</p>
<p>I hate doing this for the exact same reason I hate "group projects" in school. I intensely dislike my future/fate depending on the productivity of anyone else.</p>
<p>This might get some flak from the parents on the board, but do you know where your parents keep their old tax returns? Do you have a copy of what they submitted for the profile? Using these, could you fill out and submit the FAFSA yourself? I don't remember whether a parent has to sign the forms or not...</p>
<p>^ I finally got them to submit it today (which is, ironically, a couple of my schools' deadline). But, yes, if they hadn't, I would've totally resorted to that without a second thought.</p>
<p>Good luck, hookem. I hope you get some good acceptance offers and some good financial aid to make them do-able.</p>
<p>You'll also be relieved to know that next year when you're dealing with renewal applications for financial aid wherever you end up attending, those deadlines tend to be later. :)</p>