<p>Wow I am so clueless about applying for aid! Hopefully I can get some help here from experienced applicants.</p>
<p>To start off, I made this list of the schools I'm applying to:</p>
<p>Harvard
- CSS Profile
Princeton
- Fill out online Fin-aid Application / deadline Feb 1
Yale
-
Dartmouth
- CSS Profile
- Student/Parents Tax return 2010
UPenn</p>
<p>Can anyone add on to this information? Including deadlines and forms required..</p>
<p>Also, what are the things I need to do to fill out the CSS profile? I need to find my parents' income tax return forms, but what else? I really hate going through the info on financial aid so I'm hoping you guys can help me XD.</p>
<p>For the CSS, you will also need your parents’ bank statements, an estimate on the value of your house, the amount of the mortgage (if any) on the house, statements from any investment accounts your parent may have, and your parents’ wage statements for 2010.</p>
<p>If your parents own any properties other than their primary residence, you will also need an estimate of their values (and the mortgages on them if there are any).</p>
<p>Some versions of the CSS and some individual schools FA forms will also ask for the make, model and year of all cars, boats and RVs you own.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply Wayoutwestmom! So I actually need to send them copies of these statements, or do I just need them for myself to fill out sections?</p>
<p>You can go to their websites and every piece of information you need will be displayed there. You can just google “XXX college financial aid” and 90% of the time clicking the first link will direct you to the instructions. If you still have questions, you can call the FA offices tomorrow.</p>
<p>You’ll probably need to send your parents’ tax returns and wage statements, but not the rest of the documents.</p>
<p>And I saw in the FA forum that your mother is self employed. This could be problematic. Is she an independent contractor? Or is she a small business owner? If it’s the latter, there will be much more documentation required–even if she didn’t have any clients in the past 12 months. Small businesses must provide estimate a valuation of the business. (And the valuation cannot be $0.)</p>
<p>@WayOutWestMom, thanks for the reply! I am not too sure about my mother’s situation. She reported some type of income and business expense (or no? not to sure about this one) to the government…but she is not registered as anything with the gov so hopefully “unemployed” status might suit her better…</p>
<p>Viggy I’m wondering about the deadlines too…it’s so hard to find that info on their websites. I only saw the deadlines on the CSS profile…anyone know about this?</p>
<p>Unemployed is usually a term reserved for people who held a full or part time salaried or hourly jobs and who were involuntarily severed from that job. Involuntarily is the important part. People who voluntarily leave their position are not unemployed. Self-employed individuals who are not ACTIVELY seeking clients/contracts are not unemployed. (Meaning that usually a self- employed person cannot be considered “unemployed” unless he/she has been vigorously and actively seeking clients/contracts and has been unable to land ANY contracts for at least 6 -12 months.) </p>
<p>Also if your mom is reporting business expenses on her taxes, then she is most probably considered a small business owner. (Contract employees don’t have business expenses.)</p>
<p>One thing’s for sure, she didn’t register any business with the government. So if she’s not working and is not seeking work…what should I have put as her status? (I should’ve known! The definition of unemployment was part of our economics test haha)</p>
<p>You don’t have to register a business in order to operate a small business (at least in the US). </p>
<p>For CSS purposes, if she filed taxes and deducted any business expenses (including but not limited to self-employment tax, insurance payments, depreciation, retirement contributions) at all from her income, then you/she must fill out the business owner’s section. (CSS will then add back in some her deductions as income and recompute her total income. Maybe that’s not fair, but that’s how it works.)</p>
<p>If she’s not working and she’s not actively seeking work, then you could list her as homemaker, housewife, retired, or not currently employed/not seeking employment. I’ve seen all of the above used. (At various times in my life, I’ve used all of the above.) </p>
<p>Or you could listed her using her former job category–teacher, accountant, etc. Simply listing a job name does not necessarily imply that one is currently working in that job. For CSS purposes, they really don’t care what job description you attach to your parents’ status. All CSS cares about is what their income is.</p>
<p>Hi, I’ve got a question too:
When my parents sent out their tax returns to Yale, I think they sent the entire thing. The package was pretty thick.
However, when they sent the Cornell/Chicago ones, they only used the first 4 pages or something.
Question is, when the Financial Aid offices want “income documentation”, how much of the tax return to we have to send them?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Every school will have its own policies and practices. You’ll need to contact the FA office at each school you’re applying to and ask what and how much documentation they want. Sorry–no simple answer to this.</p>
<p>Hey guys, have u done the IDOC stuff? If so…what forms did you have to submit? (in Canadian terms :P)…was there stuff that you couldn’t submit yet because the papers were not available?</p>
<p>Thanks Happysunnyshine! Btw what’s the 2010 Canadian tax returns? My parents haven’t filed taxes yet as far as I know…do I send in the sheet that is dated apr 2010 but is for 2009 income tax?</p>
<p>I’ve contacted a few schools regarding this issue and most of them say that if you cannot send 2010 tax docs to IDOC in time for March 1st deadlines then you should fax or mail 2009 docs directly to the university as soon as possible. Don’t send 2009 docs to IDOC. Some other schools say just wait until you’ve got your 2010 tax returns and send those to IDOC whenever you can.</p>