<p>I come from a military family. Almost every male in my family has served. I lost my brother in law in this war. Just like in some families college is the way to go, in others the military is the way that the child is “expected” to go. IMO, both ways (expecting your child to go one way or another) is unfortunate but there’s nothing wrong with that kind of mentality. While it’s not expected in my family to go into the military over college, they are both seen as equally valid choices.</p>
<p>There is NOTHING WRONG with serving in the military. Wanting your child to go that route is not backwards. To say it’s backwards suggests that there’s something dishonorable or low about the military.</p>
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<p>Why? How so? </p>
<p>Fwiw, most low income families I know do not expect their children to go into the military. </p>
<p>IMO, you’re projecting your family situation onto those of low income families everywhere. I work a LOT with low income families. I grew up in many different low income areas and I really haven’t experienced at all what you’re describing.</p>
I am a tax advisor, so I deal with the full range of people filing their taxes. Many of these low-income families wish to stay off the grid. It has little to do with paying their taxes (if anything, they are neurotic about filing their taxes). They choose not to have bank accounts, and would rather take a printed check from the IRS to the pawn shop to be cashed (and pay a significant chunk to the pawn shop for the “convenience.” They do not want their tax information sent anywhere else. Some of them do decide to fill out the FAFSA, but many do not. It is their right not to share their information beyond the IRS (and me in my office). </p>
<p>What you are proposing would be far more complicated than you think - just the process of designing software to fill the tax forms each year is daunting. As a tax preparer, I would love to be able to (with client’s permission), pull data directly from the IRS for any forms that are sent to them. They can’t even do that, and you want them to forward information to fill out the FAFSA? </p>
<p>And when exactly would this data be pulled? Keep in mind, if we file the FAFSA online, we can have the data pulled with our consent, a week or two after we file (that’s how long it takes for the IRS to finalize your return). If you pick a date, many people will not have filed their taxes. Many people can’t file by then, because they don’t have all the information they need (and the IRS doesn’t have that data yet either).</p>
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What social benefit? There is a benefit to the potential individual student, there is not a benefit to society. Turn your question around - why should students have the right to access their parents financial information without their consent? Withholding data does not prevent the kids from attending school, it prevents them from obtaining need-based aid. Note that it does not in any way prevent these same kids from obtaining merit aid.</p>
<p>I’ve worked with many of these “low income” families, and as I stated, many can be convinced to give the data, if it is to their benefit. Others choose not to. May experience with many of those that do not makes me believe that perhaps we should not be giving their kids a free ride anyway. It is insulting that such a student feels entitled to a free college education, when a middle-class kid is expected to contribute $5,000 on their own as part of their EFC. That entitlement grows out of the attitude that they are entitled to all the help their family has been given at the expense of taxpayers. I don’t begrudge them that help, but at some point they need to be encouraged to work for what they want.</p>
<p>If their parents won’t share the information for the FAFSA, they have some reason for making that decision. I don’t take the idea of the government overruling that decision lightly. There are mechanisms in place to help those who are in a true hardship but uncooperative parents is not such a hardship.</p>
<p>Thanks dodgersmom, I guess I didn’t read carefully enough. </p>
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<p>I thought you were talking about pulling data from the IRS? In which case, no one is hiding money from the government, just from the financial aid office and their own children. I very much understand the reluctance of parents to lay bare their financials to strangers and it took me many an exercise session to deal with the tension of sending financial aid officers so much personal information. In addition, I’ve seen many a case of addicted children stealing or taking advantage of their parent’s money. Personally, I’m looking forward to the end of applying for financial aid and keeping a bit of privacy.</p>
<p>OP - you are too young and your point of view seems limited to your particular shade of rose colored glass. There are pros and cons in every system, you have overlooked much of the down side in foreign systems in praise of what you perceive to be equal access. Perhaps you would be willing to require students to pass tests in middle school to prove their college track worthiness and plan the rest of their lives accordingly, would you also be comfortable with the government deciding how many slots are available in a given major based on the perceived needs of society if you are fortunate enough to qualify for a university education?</p>
<p>My daughter’s foreign friends have needed to leave their US college education on hold to complete military service in their home countries. Students with foreign residency options have sometimes found that they didn’t make the academic quota/cut for their liberal arts major of choice…and back to the US they have come to pursue the interests of their choice, albeit at a considerable financial cost.</p>
<p>To be sure there is much room for improvement in our own system, I don’t think further erosion of privacy is the answer. Better education for parents about how the college/financial aid system works is a much better goal in my opinion. What they do with the information is up to them.</p>
<p>There is another reason, as well. Many people do not have their taxes finalized by the time they fill out FAFSA. Many time financial aid is based on estimates and then fine tuned when the true tax return is filed. It takes time to be able officially do ones taxes, including all of the W-2s and other statements, send them to the IRS, and the IRS needs time to get that info onto their system. The financial aid office is not looking for a single number from the tax return, so the whole return needs to be entered into the system. It’s pretty tight as it is to get the info verified.</p>
<p>Know what? The adults here or younger folks with adult perspective are not being idealists. We’re aware of the challenges, threats- and complexities. That’s not what brings down the US ed system. Nor what denies FA to needy kids. That’s seasoning and some broad analytical skills. If anything, rushing to promote something that works on a very small scale (in comparison) is what gets many entities into trouble. </p>
<p>You have to watch out for, “I think it, so it must be true.”</p>
<p>I filled out the majority of the FAFSA on my own, which I kind of thought I was supposed to do. All my mother did was input her social security number and tax information.</p>
<p>^ And, for heaven’s sake, the Fafsa is a breeze compared with the CSS Profile. I can’t imagine a data repository for the sorts of details the Profile asks for.</p>
<p>I think it is coming closer to an auto system. The verification can be done directly now, and will be, from what I understand. The timeing issue will still be a problem since the date that the colleges come out with the acceptance letters and packages is before the due date of the forms, not to mention that W-2s and 1099s and other forms are not often even sent out until end of February. It’s tough enough getting those aid packages out as it is.</p>