<p>I have been trying to fill out FAFSA for a couple weeks now (let's not even talk about PROFILE, you'll see why in a second), and my dad is being incredibly uncooperative. He is
unemployed and my mom has been working part time for a few months. I also work part time.</p>
<p>Everytime I ask him to help me with the financial part, which is obviously most of it, he gets really annoyed at me and won't answer my questions. A recurring comment: "I haven't filed my taxes this year, how am I supposed to know!"</p>
<p>A lot of my schools have a February 1 or 15 deadline for FAFSA, and seeing as I have two weeks until the first deadline, I'm really trying to get it done.</p>
<p>I guess my question is, if my information is not as accurate as they would probably like, will it have any sort of negative impact? We'll update when we file taxes, but I'm still unsure. Same thing for PROFILE, because I heard I can't change that information? (I may have misheard, I really can't wrap my head around all this.)</p>
<p>Apologies if this question has been asked repeatedly, or for any glaring typos.</p>
<p>Ask your mother if she has her final check for 2013 and use that as her income. If your father received unemployment in 2013, that may be his only income.</p>
<p>An alternative is to use their 2012 taxes, even though those amounts are going to be much higher. Your father might not understand that you are just supposed to estimate and then when he does file the information will transfer over quickly. Tell him that waiting to file works against you, and you may actually get a lot of aid if he’s had a low income year.</p>
<p>There is a question that asks if parent a ‘displaced worker’ and if your father is, you may not have to answer all the questions.</p>
<p>The negative affect of poor estimates will be that the finaid offers you receive and upon which you will base your decision won’t be accurate. The actual amounts you will receive will be based on the actual numbers when you submit them. It’s easy to estimate accurately from year-end or last paystubs for wage earners. It is more difficult for the self-employed, business owners and other situations.</p>
<p>Ask your dad if he can just privately enter some “best guesses” for his part of the FAFSA and use your mother’s year end pay stub for income. The info will be cross checked through IRS retrieval tools with your parents’ 2013 tax returns, so they should do those as soon as possible. So as Annoyingdad says, the packages will be based on your estimates; what you actually get will be revised using actual numbers. But if they are close, then, get them in so that some of the aid that goes fast can go to you. Colleges are limited in some of their funds. </p>
<p>Also let the schools know that your father is unemployed as that may result in a displaced worker designation and might result in some additional consideration. </p>
<p>You can correct PROFILE, it just has to be by hand and by school, but that’s what many do since the info submitted is often not exact with the real numbers coming in at tax time. It’s an imperfect way to do things but to have packages ready by the time the college acceptance letters are released, it’s the only way to do it.</p>
<p>Thank you all for your responses.</p>
<p>If I, for whatever reason, can’t get an accurate estimate, would I be better off underestimating or overestimating incomes and taxes? In other words, should I make it look like we have less money, or more? Not drastically, of course.</p>
<p>I think the student should ask mom. It sounds like this whole thing is a sensitive area for dad since he’s unemployed. Have mom pull last year’s tax info and have her estimate how much different it is.</p>
<p>If you don’t know the actual amount how would you know if you are over or underestimating? Make sure your father knows that an estimate is fine and that you stand to get a good aid offer if you can get your forms filed on time. Do you know if he worked at all in 2013? It does sound like a better plan to discuss the situation with your mother and make sure she is aware that the more you need the more you get so getting in a decent estimate is in your favor.</p>
<p>If the dad rec’d unemployment benefits or a severance pay out last year, then the mom needs to consider those amounts and put them in the appropriate places. Those amounts would have a different calculation that monies from a working a job.</p>
<p>By over/underestimating, I meant if I had a range, which boundary to list, but it’s kind of a moot question if I just list the average.</p>
<p>My mom lets my dad handle all of the finances, so I don’t have a choice really. He seems to be realizing though, he told me he started to get his tax documents together, so there’s hope yet.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all your help everyone.</p>
<p>MHO: This is not an “accurate FAFSA” issue.</p>
<p>The O/P’s family apparently has other “issues” which need to be addressed, either internally or with professional assistance.</p>
<p>Good luck. (<-- That comes out sounding sarcastic in print but is not meant to be.)</p>