<p>I have submitted my FAFSA, CSS profile, and Cal Grant, and am in the process of submitting my parents federal tax returns. Do all schools require that we file these returns?</p>
<p>I am applying to these schools:</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon
NYU
UCLA
UC Berkeley
USC
Columbia
Northwestern
Yale</p>
<p>I know that USC requires that we send our parents tax returns, and I have already sent that in. As for the other schools, does anybody know if they require them? And if so, at what website can I access the information for these schools.</p>
<p>I have searched through the financial aid websites of all these schols but only USC has told me I need to file these tax returns.</p>
<p>I also figured out a little more of my problem.</p>
<p>WHen I submitted the CCS profile, collegeboard never sent me the IDOC info. UGH! SO I had to find the site and fill everything out... Hopefully collegeboard will get my tax stuff before March 1st.</p>
<p>check the "document tracking" feature on your Columbia FinAid application status page, it'll say that the tax forms are missing if you haven't submitted them.</p>
<p>It varies -- some schools want them, some don't. For example, Brown only wants to see them for admitted students in April, so no need to submit early on.</p>
<p>It also can vary in individual cases -- that is, some colleges will ask for tax returns on a case-by-case basis. This makes sense for people with unusual tax situations; typically the colleges like to see the returns for self-employed people. </p>
<p>Here is my suggestion (what I did). Make a bunch of copies of the returns - more than you need right away -- but only mail to the colleges that specifically say that they want them. But with the extra copies, you'll be able to send off returns quickly if and when the colleges ask for them. I've got my copies stored in the same box with a lot of US priority mail envelopes so down the line, sending them out is simply a matter of sticking the docs in the envelope and filling out an address label.</p>