<p>What do you do it you get a winfall bonus - or life insurance payment one year - which really messes up your application</p>
<p>A windfall to be grateful for. What else can you do but fill out the FA stuff honestly?</p>
<p>Feel fortunate you can now afford college?</p>
<p>OP - I think your question is as much a tax question as it is a FA question. It might be worth speaking to a tax preparer about ways to spread it out over more than one tax year - some type of income averaging method - to reduce taxes as well.</p>
<p>As far as FA goes - you do have the option of providing the school with a written stmt explaining that this lump sum was a one-time event. You could do this by letter or at the end of the CSS Profile.</p>
<p>If it is a work-related bonus - perhaps it can be paid in 2 installments - one in 2010 and one in 2011. Same thing with a life insurance payment - maybe it can be split into multiple payments - or turned into some type of tax free annuity.</p>
<p>I think there are options available - you just need to research them.</p>
<p>Thank goodness for windfalls!</p>
<p>Rockvillemom is right, though. Sometimes they can be managed (paid in installments over 2 calendar years).</p>
<p>If you have debt, use it to pay some/all off. If your mortgage is big, pay some down. If your retirement isn’t funded, put some there. </p>
<p>However, you probably will have to spend some for college. </p>
<p>But…if this windfall was to replace something…like payout to rebuild a home destroyed in a fire (so no money can really be used for college), then you probably need to request “professional judgment” at each school.</p>
<p>Last year, someone got a few hundred thou for a home fire, but of course, the money had to go to rebuild.</p>
<p>My coworker recently worked on a special circumstances request for a parent who had lost her job. She got a buyout, and she wanted consideration for the fact that the buyout is a one-time event & she does not have a new job. There are two parents, and one still has an income. The money she received just can’t be ignored, so she was asked for an accounting of the money (spent/saved). She said it was spent, so she was asked for documentation for expenditures from the lump sum buyout payment. Some went toward paying down her mortgage … this made sense in light of the job loss. Some went to a down payment on homes for 2 of her children and some went toward a brand new car for her husband. Only the money she used to pay down her own mortgage was given special consideration. The rest she could have used to pay for college; she chose to use it for other purposes.</p>
<p>manage the windfall carefully…please dont spend it all on ipads and ferraris…use it for college!..itll make up for the lost finaid and more</p>