My son applied to a ton of schools…are we supposed to send the FAFSA to all those schools even though he has not been admitted to most of them yet? Or just the ones he’s admitted at? I’m kind of confused.
Also, I am estimating my 2014 earnings and deductions for the form and I have a pretty good idea of those, but I really have no way of knowing what my tax will be. Is it ok to take a wild guess?
Send to all, now. If you know your income and deductions, it’s pretty easy to estimate the taxes. You can fill out a paper 1040 and look up the tax in the tax tables. If your income is similar to last year’s you can just use those numbers.
Ok thanks!
Does the tax amount affect anything? Our income is higher this year than last year, so my taxes will probably be a lot higher. I looked up IRS tax tables and I have a rough idea how much it could be, but it could be really different too. Will the estimated amount of tax affect the amount of aid? I just don’t want to mess things up with a guess.
None of the estimates matter in the end. The actual numbers after you update fafsa after filing taxes matter. But filing fafsa now with estimates means schools can start working on aid packages and it can reserve your spot in line for federal aid that can be limited such as FSEOG and work study if your eligible. The actual tax you wind up paying reduces your EFC because that amount isn’t available to be used for college costs.
Just try to get your actual taxes done ASAP. This is not the year to wait until April to complete your 2014 tax return. Do asap after February 1.