<p>This is our first year applying for FA in a while, so IDOC is new to me. Silly me, I thought I would be able to provide scanned copies of our documents via some kind of electronic upload. But I just reviewed it, and noooo.... :( Just another item on the "reasons to hate CollegeBoard" list that I have been tracking this year.</p>
<p>I just printed out all my paperwork and saw you had to mail in everything.</p>
<p>At least fax would have been better than via the mail. We got a trial for eFax and were able to fax in 2011 tax forms to a couple of schools via the Internet, but not for these IDOC schools I guess.</p>
<p>I’m curious, do these IDOC schools give more money in financial aid and scholarship?</p>
<p>In my imagination I thought iDoc was going to be electronic, too. Apparently that’s only true from the side of the colleges. I don’t like sending all these documents with all our sensitive data via mail. Fax during business hours would make me feel better. Does this make anyone else nervous? </p>
<p>Only one of D’s colleges asked for information via iDoc, and yes, they were a high endowment/meet all need with very low loans type of school.</p>
<p>Seems to be quite the contradiction to the term doesn’t it? And you have to put your SS# on every page. For when they fall on the floor?</p>
<p>2013VAmom, one of D’s schools that takes IDOC is Swarthmore. They give essentially no merit aid, and their net price calculator showed the lowest need based aid of any of the eight colleges where she applied. So I don’t think so…</p>
<p>Musicmerit, lol! I think is is the “I” in “IDOC” that had me going there…</p>
<p>okay thanks@intparent</p>
<p>Fafsa, CSS Profile, IDOC, makes me look forward to just one more year…there has to be an easier way.</p>
<p>If they could just all be consistent… for example, if they ALL used IDOC, it would be easier. And no special forms for a given school. 
I know it isn’t so bad after the first year, since you only have to do it for the school your kid is in. But this year it is practically a full time job to get everything to all the schools.</p>
<p>Our IDOC submittal has probably over 50 pages. The crazy 1099 probably amounts to 40 pages with some of the pages showing $0.07-$3.00 interest income. I am not sure if it would be feasible to create a PDF file or Fax through company’s fax machine. I could get into trouble for that. But, I would not mind mailing it if one of the schools would offer $40K of grant. :D</p>
<p>Mailing mine off tomorrow! :). I also thought it was electronic. I think this will be it except for any scholarship information. YEAH!!!</p>
<p>I only have one school but I still have to wait for Sharebuilder 1099, ready Feb 15th</p>
<p>I was thinking the same thing (“It’s practically a full-time job to get everything to all the schools.”)</p>
<p>D has 2 iDoc schools & I also assumed it’d be an online process. A few of her other schools asked for returns but will accept faxed copies or have a place to upload them on their online portals. As expats, mailing overseas is an expense & a hassle. This year we’re in the process of repatriating so we have US income, foreign-earned income, self-employment income and 2 households. Returns have to be signed by both parents & we’re in 2 different countries at the moment. And the deadlines are so tight! We’ve never filed taxes before June (automatic extension for those who live overseas). This is our first time applying for FA & it’s so confusing & difficult to pull it all together in such a rush.</p>
<p>Well…faxing is a hassle, too. We gave up our land line this year, and signed up for an online fax service. But it turns out there is a limit on the size of the file that can be faxed, and my scanned returns are too big (have corporate & individual returns). Darned expensive to fax thru Fed Ex-Kinkos (cost me $14 to fax one set of returns in the fall for an EA application). There HAS to be a better way.</p>
<p>There’s a comparable service for prep school/boarding school financial aid applications . . . and, yes, everything can be uploaded electronically. It does make life easier!</p>
<p>I really can’t see the upside of CB wanting to scan all the documents themselves. Yes, I guess it might help them to ferret out forged documents . . . but who here really thinks that CB’s data entry people really have the skills (or time) to be looking for fake documents???</p>
<p>As for faxing - no way! With thousands of families all trying to fax documents at once, there’d be paper flying in every direction, and half the stuff probably wouldn’t even make it through! No, not unless you’re okay with half of your information ending up mixed in with half of mine.</p>
<p>Much as I like your posts, dodgersmom, can’t say I’d want our financial information intertwined. LOL, and good point.</p>
<p>With the iDoc, College Board scans just one set of information, once. Then the captured info is accessible by the colleges, who don’t have the hassle and security concerns of handling all of this very sensitive information.</p>
<p>The collection, and ultimate destruction, of sensitive financial information is a big issue. We’ve been requested via iDoc for 1099’s. Ok, I can see that you want income information. But the iDoc cover says ALL 1099’s. That means DIVs and INTs?! That means all your account numbers are also revealed to individuals in College Board AND in the colleges. Whoa, I’d call that a high risk.</p>
<p>The chances of my D getting into the school requesting this info, and of our being able to pay for it even with financial aid, is little better than the odds of winning the lottery. I don’t see where the odds are worth the risk of identity fraud. I’ve e-mailed them and asked what they really want.</p>
<p>Maybe some of you remember some scandals with banks over the last several years. They were dumping sensitive account information into dumpsters! Banks!</p>
<p>How much do you trust the College Board to totally, securely collect, maintain and then destroy your documents? </p>
<p>I’ve worked in computer security. The risk/benefit analysis doesn’t favor sharing imho.</p>
<p>To be fair, I think the larger colleges that ask to have data faxed (eg, U of Chicago) use fax servers. They aren’t getting paper on their end, the fax is received electronically and attached to your kid’s electronic file (probably as a .pdf). I know this because they had a failure in their fax service of some kind during the EA window, and I had to fax twice because they did not have the docs. So it was actually $14 times two - $28 total just for the 2011 returns. Kaching!</p>
<p>Agree that there is a potential security risk with IDOC. Not just identify theft, but account numbers… that is what concerns me. I wonder if it okay to redact most of the account number (just draw over with a black Sharpie, leaving only the last 4 digits exposed, or something like that). Argh.</p>
<p>intparent - Yes, theft of account numbers is the issue. I included a question about acceptability of redacted forms in my e-mail. Will post IF I get a reply!</p>
<p>LizzieT, that’s an important question that I hadn’t thought about. Please do post if you hear back. Thank you.</p>