<p>The FAFSA should take into account siblings who are no longer dependents since many colleges base their aid entirely on the FAFSA. I’m the youngest of five, but I appear to be an “only” child (according to the FAFSA) whose parents were able to save for years instead of spending money on raising five kids.</p>
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<p>The Federal Gov’t only uses FAFSA to determine federal grant eligibility. This is the sole purpose and colleges are free to ask for more information.
Why should the Feds ask for a whole bunch of info that is irrelevant to them?
This has nothing to do with fairness to the middle class. Figuring out Pell grant eligibility is pretty simple and the middle class isn’t eligible.
I think the FAFSA EFC should just be replaced with a simple YES (Pell eligible) or NO ( Pell not eligible). This will eliminate a lot of false hope and misunderstandings.</p>
<p>More individual colleges that are fafsa only schools now will develop their own forms or ask for profile information.</p>
<p>While it would certainly be annoying for students to have to fill out more than one form, don’t forget that there are MANY schools that don’t give any aid besides federal aid. I attended two community colleges and neither gave any aid besides the federal aid. In these cases, students would not need to fill out a separate form to receive school aid.</p>
<p>I think for some of my classmates at community college a radically simplified FAFSA would have encouraged them to file for aid. I did know a few classmates who simply didn’t do the FAFSA because it looked “too hard.” These are 1st gen college students who are 17, 18, 19 and are managing financial aid all on their own. The whole process of having to gather tax forms and bring them into the financial aid office can be a huge burden, especially when your parents didn’t go to college and don’t really understand the importance of what you are trying to do.</p>
<p>fafsa is also used to determine subsidized stafford eligibility…</p>
<p>Bluebayou, you are correct - and this is exactly the thing I have a problem with. The plan to do away with subsidies for loans does take away one of the only helpful aid programs for the middle class (and I am not talking about the upper middle class/lower upper class - I am talking about those who make too much for Pell but not enough to cover COA even by federal EFC formula standards). That & work study are the only things that are available from the feds to at least take a bit of the sting out of financing college.</p>
<p>I wish FAFSA would change the fact that if your parents are divorced, BOTH parents’ income affects how much aid you are eligible for. Because, for example, I live with my mother and my father does not give us jack ****, yet his income is still considered when in reality, I won’t be receiving any money from him.
Though I really don’t know how they could fix that.</p>
<p>h00dr1chh, FAFSA won’t need any information about your father if your parents are divorced and you live with your mother. The CSS Profile form will ask about your father’s income and assets, but that form is used at the discretion of (mostly) private colleges that give away their own money. FAFSA, however, does not ask, and will not ask.</p>
<p>It’s commonly agreed that filing the FAFSA is a pain in the @$$. Especially for those who have rather complicated tax returns (itemized deductions, etc.) There are a million different exceptions and “do this if/subtract that if…” that make it a huge headache for lots of people. Not to mention all the hassle of the pin and the fact that their website/support is pretty poor. Plus, many colleges ask you for the forms by the end of February, so in order to get that done you have to work on your taxes 2 months earlier, a huuge task in and of itself. It’s a complicated task for all kinds of families of all means, unless you’re rich enough to not care about/expect any aid from the school.</p>
<p>sueinphilly - its not that easy for everyone. my dad owns his own business and my mom is an indpendant contractor. neither of them have recieved a pay stub for 20 years or more.</p>
<p>I surely agree that the fafsa is long, complicated, drawn out, and a pain in the ass. But what isn’t when your dealing with the government? People will find a way to get it filled out if they want free money, no doubt in my mind about that… maybe they make it hard because they know that a certain percentage of people will just say screw it and not fill it out. if everyone did, they wouldnt have enough money. just a thought…</p>
<p>“I surely agree that the fafsa is long, complicated, drawn out, and a pain in the ass. But what isn’t when your dealing with the government? People will find a way to get it filled out if they want free money, no doubt in my mind about that… maybe they make it hard because they know that a certain percentage of people will just say screw it and not fill it out. if everyone did, they wouldnt have enough money. just a thought…”</p>
<p>For those of us that filled it out and found no free money, it was a complete waste of time and revelation of our income and asset status to people that shouldn’t have access to it.</p>
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<p>NOT TRUE…for FAFSA, you only report the income of your custodial parent…the one with whom your reside.</p>
<p>I’ve long advocated for a direct link between the tax prep software (turbo tax and the like) and the FAFSA. Importing the information from the tax software into the FAFSA would be so much easier than looking for line number whatever (not that it’s hard…but it would be ONE less step to have that info imported directly onto the FAFSA). In fact TT piloted this last year, but I don’t know how it went. I (sadly) was not asked to be part of the pilot!!</p>
<p>The FAFSA is not a difficult form to complete. If you complete the worksheets first, it’s even easier to do. </p>
<p>Still…I’m VERY HAPPY that I’ve completed my LAST FAFSA…woohoo!!</p>
<p>I did my taxes with tax act online and it asked me if I wanted to import my tax information into my fafsa.</p>
<p>Posh, I use TaxAct too - it doesn’t actually import to FAFSA but will turn your tax numbers into a minimally useful Fafsa worksheet format.</p>
<p>we’re talking about maybe 3 numbers that are on the tax form that go onto the fafsa.
If you can survive the tax form, the fafsa is a walk in the park (except for maybe people with businesses or lots of non-traditional income sources)</p>
<p>I agree … but believe it or not, parents routinely report “taxes paid” incorrectly. It’s a disappointment when students think they are going to get a Pell grant & all the other grants that often go along with Pell … then I look at their 1040 & see taxes paid are 0 rather than $6000. When I change the amount & recalculate need, voila … EFC is too high for Pell. I cannot stress enough the importance of finding the line the FAFSA tells you to use when reporting income! I know the FAFSA is confusing … but when they give you the line numbers, use 'em, please. I do know why some report incorrectly. They use the tax recap page, rather than the form itself.</p>
<p>The FAFSA was not complex at all. I filled it out myself as a high school senior with my parents information and it was straightforward, simple, and included exact directions as to what should be included. The CSS Profile however was WAY more complex. The FAFSA was a piece of cake.</p>
<p>Im in total agreement!</p>
<p>when does the FAFSA go up for the 2010-2011 year?</p>
<p>January 1st, 2010</p>