Private University Financial Aid office requested my parents 2016 tax return for 2017/2018 school year after I submitted my CSS Profile and my 2015 tax return??? Why ??
2017/2018 school year suppose to based on 2015 tax return so have real #'s earlier and don’t have to wait for completion of 3016 taxes - I told my parents this so they didn’t have to rush doing their taxes again since they usually request extension and complete taxes this summer - but now financial aid office requesting my parents 2016 tax return so this was even more work than before since now requesting 2 years parents tax returns!! Now my financial aid application will be delayed at least until middle April /May 2017 for my parents submitted 2016 tax return!! Not good!
Has anyone else had request for 2016 tax return for financial aid ??
Private schools can ask for anything they want before awarding their money.
I’d contact the school and tell them about the delay. Maybe they will accept the w-2’s or other documentation.
FYI - I submitted the exact same 2015 tax return last year and no red flag- so don’t know why would be red flag now ??
It may be a school that doesn’t agree with the new ‘prior prior’ approach to awarding FA. Last year the 2015 tax return was the most current available. On the CSS it asks you to estimate 2016 income. Was it a big difference from 2015?
It’s up to the school. It asked for it. If you are a returning student, it shouldn’t be as big a deal not to have it in by 2/28. Just let them know why it is delayed (because your parents didn’t know they had a deadline to file, but they are now working on their taxes) and get the requested info in asap.
I had 4 schools ask for my parents 2016 taxes and they were all due by Feb. 15th so they had to get done as soon as they could- we made the deadline!
Born2ryde-Did you also submit 2015 tax return to these 4 schools that requested 2016 tax return ?
What happens to people who can’t file by the deadlines these schools set? My D attends a public school and has a merit scholarship so we never had to apply for financial aid or deal with the Profile, but my husband doesn’t get some K1s until September of the following year, so we always file an extension and never get our taxes filed until mid-October.
Exactly - this was reason they switched this year to using prior prior 2015 tax return but some colleges are still requesting 2016 tax returns too!’ Even more work to complete by deadlines before March 2017