<p>"When the student files a FAFSA, the student provides a snapshot of his or her family's financial situation as of the date the student signed the original application. If the information on the student's Student Aid Report (SAR) doesn't accurately show the situation as of the signature date, then corrections may be needed. However, the student should not correct FAFSA answers if his or her financial situation was correct when the student filed the FAFSA but has since changed. Instead, the student should contact the school's financial aid office before making any corrections."</p>
<p>I am so confused. For fafsa, do we HAVE to make corrections on the 2003 tax returns for the 2004 one, or can I just simply send in the 2004 hardcopy to colleges that request it?</p>
<p>The passage above was from the correction site and the info I inputted was correct as of the signature date.....??</p>
<p>If the input was basically correct i.e. estimation of expenses etc. on the day you submitted it then don't make corrections...that is what I understood from the wording. We corrected our fafsa since I made an error on it with the original data. As far as taxes go, I figure I will just send updated information on to the schools with my 2005-2006 forms. I think if you make corrections it just slows the process done. Anyone out there who has gone through this before, let me know if this is wrong.</p>
<p>I thing this means you correct the tax return info, but you do not change the amounts of cash and assets on hand unless it was wrong on the date of signature.</p>
<p>Somemom is correct. There are only certain questions on the FAFSA related to cash, checking, savings, etc. which ask you to report the actual figures as of the date you are submitting the FAFSA. They expect you to check balances, etc. with your bank and report the actual figures.</p>
<p>The instructions you quoted DO NOT apply to updating your FAFSA with accurate 2004 figures. These instructions refer only to changes on questions that require reporting date accuracy. If the information you reported for these questions was correct as of the day you reported, then they do not apply to you. </p>
<p>But let's say that you filed your FAFSA on 1/22 and on that day your savings account had a balance of $1000, but by mistake you typed in $10000 -- then you WOULD be able to correct the information.</p>
<p>However if on 1/22 you reported $1000 in savings which was the actual balance in your account, but on 1/24 you go and withdraw $500 from that account, reducing the balance by half -- you should not report this as a correction on FAFSA, but rather contact your college and discuss the reason for the change.</p>
<p>You CAN and should update your FAFSA with actual 2004 figures when your return is available. You can either do this online with a Pin#, or by mail if you used the paper form. IMO, if you just send in the copy of the returns & W2's and expect the colleges to match them up & make the corrections, you might be setting yourself up for mixups and delays.</p>
<p>I know this whole process is complicated and frustrating ... but I would try to make it as simple as possible for the "nice people" (hopefully!) who will be working on our finaid packages!</p>
<p>As happygolucky said, the corrections apply to mistakes and tax return data. The example given about paying a bill 2 days after filing is the exact type of example to plan to avoid. Before you file the fafsa, look at all your bills, pay any that are due and THEN declare the amountin your accounts.</p>
<p>Think carefully about possible payments- a frequent example is your car....if you ahve $10,000 in cash in the bank and you owe $10,000 on the car, your FAFSA finaidwould have you money ahead if you paid off the car before filing. That assumes that you will not need to use that $10,000 for other things.</p>
<p>Thank you so much Happygolucky and somemom. I did initially intended to simply send the whole mess of financial aid tax returns and w2s to colleges without correcting fafsa because I had slaved over getting the fafsa and profile using 2003 income tax returns to get them as accurately as possible almost completley by myself and i didn't want to go over it all again with 2004, but you made me reconsider. It's all so confusing!</p>
<p>Although I have several more questions (sorry!). Do you think it would be more efficient if i printed out my sar and profile acknowledgment, make the proper corrections to it, and send it in to each colleges (i have 7 colleges so i don't want to run into the trouble of correcting it, then wait several more days for some sort of confirmation to update one more college) along with my mother's and mine's 2004 tax return and w-2s when they finally arrive? They should all arrive well before march. And if by doing so, would the updated info (sar+acknow.) sent along that time be too late for colleges or would it put me at a severe disadvantage?</p>
<p>Argh, by next year, i should be well versed at this, i hope. Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>Oh, and it's funny of you to mention the cash in banks/and saving account thing. I don't have much in the bank, but my friend told me she asked her mother to withdrew 70k from her mother's account and stored it (cash) in her room just so they could evade those questions. I didn't know what to say.</p>
<p>Hmmm, if i had $70k or even $7k in cash hidden in my bedroom, I sure wouldn't be telling people, but that is really unethical of her to do. Feel free to let her know there is nothing wrong with understanding the rules and making sure you don't make a silly mistake and lose funding, but she is a cheater :(</p>
<p>On the FAFSA, you file now with estimates, when your return is done you do corrections. The school will ask you for verification and/or tax returns, if they need them. I have never mailed anything in with the FAFSA. If you have 7 schools, you might be down to 6 or less by the time your corrections come through then you could do it just once.</p>
<p>Ok, does this mean that if for the CSS Profile I used 2004 estimates and those estimates now turn out to be completely off, I need to print out the acknowlegement form, make corrections and send it in to all three schools that requested the Profile?</p>