<p>And I was wondering how that affects the CSS profile? </p>
<p>I know that my parentsonly need to put down their savings and what they want to contribute on the FAFSA.</p>
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I know that my parentsonly need to put down their savings and what they want to contribute on the FAFSA
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<p>Where did you get that idea? It is not correct at all. On FAFSA your parents have to put down their income and their assets and you have to enter your income and assets then those numbers are run through a formula which produces the (EFC Estimated Family Contribution). There is absolutely no 'what they want to contribute' involved.</p>
<p>I think the OP is a bit unclear, but she is probably referring to the fact that a family farm can be excluded from the formula on the FAFSA. I don't think the CSS Profile uses that exclusion. That formula will probably yield a much higher EFC for a family who owns a farm.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom: since farm incomes are not steady and you can't tell what you will get for yield/price, farmer kids don't fill the out FAFSA the same. Farmers don't fill out the same tax forms either, they don't even fill on the same day (March 1st? instead of April 15th. Since rent contract are usually due that day, that is the start of the farming year, money wise)</p>
<p>I know that is how it works on FAFSA (or something similar to that), what I was wondering is how that will affect the CSS profile?</p>
<p>Really? Huh. I had never heard that. Out of curiosity How do you do that? I have done FAFSA a couple of times and have not seen an alternate version. </p>
<p>I did not know farmers had different tax deadlines either. The things one learns on CC.</p>
<p>As far as CSS - don't know how they handle income but on FAFSA they exclude the value of family owned farms from the EFC calculation but on CSS it may be included as an asset. This would give a higher EFC. You would probably need to check with the individual schools to find out exactly how they would handle the farm as an asset.</p>
<p>I don't know how it works out exactly, but since it goes by tax returns, I guess that has something to do with it. I just know that is what my mom did for my brother.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestion, I'll e-mail the school.</p>
<p>mm99, your mom isn't supposed to just put whatever income she wants to put on the FAFSA. The only "break" a farm family gets is that the family farm can be excluded from being considered an asset. The income your parents earn must be claimed. If it isn't, then the FAFSA is not being filled out properly. Maybe your mom talked to your brother's financial aid office and they used professional judgment to adjust the income figure. That is done on a school by school basis, though. Just because one school allows it doesn't mean another will. Also, the FAFSA must first be filled out with the actual, correct income figures. If the financial aid administrator decides to use professional judgment & adjust the income figures he/she does it ... not your mom. I am going to assume your mom did this all correctly. If not, and she did adjust it herself, she should not have. She may think it was okay simply because she wasn't caught (so she didn't know it wasn't okay).</p>
<p>I processed FAFSAs for quite a few farmers back in the late 80s & did adjustments because of the drought. I don't remember the farmers having any kind of unusual tax forms. Maybe things have changed? But there wasn't anything about farm income being weird in my training materials.</p>
<p>We are a farm family and have filled out the FAFSA for the past 3 years.</p>
<p>Agree with Kelsmom (and swimcatsmom).</p>
<p>I prepare income tax returns for a living, including some farms. The filing deadlines are no different, but a farm does file a schedule F which most people don't do. It would be based on the same calendar year income as most filers, unless the farm was a business with a different year end date. Personal income tax return, however, would still be due April 15.</p>