Are there some questions that I do not have to answer? Like Retirement income, whether I went to college or not, my social security number?
Ask the school(s) if there are some questions you don’t have to answer. But be prepared for the answer that they need all info. You are, after all, asking for their money so they want as much info as they can to support your request.
If those questions appear on your Profile, you must answer them.
Why don’t you want to answer them?
Are you the student or the parent?
I’m the parent. They say such info as the value of the retirement income does not factor into the scheme of things; so what’s the need for me to start looking them up and include them?
Retirement SAVINGS does not enter into the calculation. Your question is about income. They want to know about retirement savings to get a full financial picture.
It literally takes less time to look up the value of your retirement accounts than it took to create a college confidential account and post here.
Do you have a social security number? Why would you not answer the question about college?
Here’s a question: What do you think would be the outcome of the financial aid request if you do not fully complete the form?
You don’t have to answer any of the questions. And if you choose not to answer a question, the school wouldn’t feel obligated to consider your child’s application for need-based financial aid.
If you wish to have your child considered for need based financial aid, you need to provide every answer on the form. Otherwise your financial aid application will be incomplete.
If you wish to be full pay, you don’t need to complete the FAFSA or Profile at all.
The schools want all of the questions answered on these forms.
Also, there is a HUGE difference between the “value of your retirement accounts”, and “retirement income”.
Retirement INCOME most definitely IS used to determine need based aid…it’s income.
The value of your retirement account is used to determine if your income and retirement savings align. If you have $2,000,000 in retirement savings but you are Pell eligible, someone could justifiably ask how that happened. Folks who are giving your kid need based aid can ask whatever they choose to ask to determine the accuracy of your financial aid application form. That is their job.