<p>my son will enter college in fall of 06. why would we want to fill out the common profile and fafsa this fall? wouldn't i want to wait until february and use all my tax info from 2005? are people filling these things out early to get an idea of what their contributions might be? i don't understand why anyone would use 2004 numbers for a 2006 entry.....i was planning on waiting until i had all the 2005 numbers ....would i be making a mistake?</p>
<p>Firstly filing is free and you can do it whenever you wish. The numbers required for you son's FA considerations are filing in 2006 as you said. One salient factor which you didn't mention.....two dates: School date and State date. I don't know the school or your state but you will need to abide. Of course if you are Private all the way the only money will be from through school so keep that in mind.</p>
<p>If you are applying EA/ED, you may need to file the Profile by Nov 1, based on the school req. Otherwise, you fiel the FAFSA the first week of January, with estimated number essentially as a place-saver. It gives you a place in line. Once you have filed your taxes, you make your corrections, and in my experience, most schools seem to want a copy for adjustments. If you are self-employed, they can/do add back in certain deductions to your income.</p>
<p>The way I understand it, the schools have funds available, and you must file before their due date to be in the group considered. If you file late, they may not have the monies left to fund your "need"</p>
<p>we have applied ED to a private school. if i file the profile by november 1, do i estimate my 2005 numbers? there is a significant difference between 2004 income and 2005 income.</p>
<p>Yes, we had to do this, we did the profile, as per that school's date requirement, Nov 1
I estimated numbers. I always do the estimates in 000 endings so that I can easily tell it is estimated, then I redid it in January for other private schools- after the first one said, "no"</p>
<p>If oyu are accepted, they will tell you when to update.</p>
<p>You cannot do the FAFSA until January 1</p>
<p>thanks so much! i have to get some things together so that i can get all of this ready to go.</p>