I know this has probably been discussed but I'm gonna ask it anyway. We thought that applying would cover the cost of everything but now it looks like the CSS is going to be additional cost for each school. Every discussion I have read has suggested that the college will just assume I don't need additional financial aid which is not true, and they will be aware because they will also have FAFSA. It seems a bit excessive to submit the FAFSA, CSS, and IDOC before acceptance, can't we just wait since they will already know I require financial aid?
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CSS Profile
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Parent self-employed, but didn't completed tax forms
My father is a taxi driver for around 3 years. He does not own a taxi, he rents other peoples taxis daily and has a irregular income. I have a document that says he is unemployed, but he does not get an unemployment payment; and his income is crucial for our family so I must report it. But I don't know how to report it in the CSS Profile, ISFAA and ISCOF.
(Also submitted all my applications as "unemployed, taxi driver." How should I inform colleges if I have to change it?)
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Moved: Ithaca Park Scholars Program
This discussion has been moved.
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Scholarship / Financial Support Available for US Citizens Studying Abroad
I'm currently a 4th year undergraduate studying in Japan.
I need a scholarship or financial support to continue for masters degree in Japan.
I have a US citizenship but I currently do not have address in US.
Please help.
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No income during 2017, however parent employed in 2018
(From Turkey) My parents were both unemployed during 2017; however, one of them started working in January 2018 and has a steady income. However all the documents including CSS, ISFAA and ISCOF ask for 2017 figures. What should I do?
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Unweighted GPA vs Weighted GPA for scholarships
If I have a 3.61 GPA unweighted and a 4.61 weighted with the rigorous AP classes I take, will I even be considered for a scholarship that requires a 3.8?
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Moved: Documents for Proving Residency
This discussion has been moved.
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ISCOF Help
While filling the ISCOF form I run into some problems. In ISFAA there are nice little instructions at the beginning clarifying a lot, but there is no such thing in ISCOF. So, since both forms are from College Board, do the same instructions apply? And if they differ:
- Do I consider the non-custodial parent as "parent" or "sponsor"?
- What is the difference between putting, for example, $10k in "savings" and $0 in "parents" and the other way around?
- There is about a half-page blank space at the end, can I use it to provide additional information or explanations?
- In question 16, "What are the sources and amounts of support available to you during summer?", what am I supposed to enter if I just plan to come back home during summers?
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Filling out Profile, have questions.
I am trying to finish up the profile and have some questions if anyone can help.
Employment: I work cleaning my church but am issued a 1099 so not considered an employee. I listed occupation as contract cleaning, checked the box for self-employed, but then on name of employer I put the church's name. Technically they aren't my employer I guess, but I don't know what else to put in that box.
Participates in the following retirement plans: I checked the box for plan to draw social security upon retirement and also checked the box for 401(k) but am not sure if that means that you are currently contributing to one or just that you have in the past and still have money in there. I am not currently making contributions to any plans but have a couple of small 401(k)'s from years past. Current value of tax-deferred retirement, pension, annuity, and savings plans: do I just list the current balances of my two plans?
Other parent information: Occupation/employer, he has been on disability for about 2 1/2 years but just started a teaching job last week. I have no idea if he will continue working or if he will quit/get fired, he has a few months to give it a try before getting kicked off disability. Would I list him as disabled or as a teacher?
For amount earned in 2017 I put the amount the amount listed as business income on schedule C, which was amount paid minus a small amount of expenses. I had $0 contributions to tax deferred accounts for 2017.
For social security benefits received for all family members except any who will be in college in 2019-2020, that were not reported on a tax return. This is the amount that they draw because their father is on disability, $6,168 for 2017 for the younger two.
For 2018 income and benefits I put 7800 which is the amount I was paid, and 6168 in untaxed income and benefits for the SSA payments received by 2 children. It doesn't specify in this section to exclude any received by student who will be enrolled in college for 2019-2020 but I just followed what I entered in the last section.
Under child support I marked no, that no child support was received, though the court is counting the SSA payments in place of child support.
Under housing details: we purchased our home in 2002 for 40,000 but added on in 2010 doubling size and spending an additional 40,000. I'm not sure if that should be reflected in purchase price or not.
Under parent business/farm setup I checked own or operate a business that is a primary income source(though technically it isn't a real business), do I list 1 business owned or operated? The next page then asks for all sorts of business information(name, type of business, etc.) and I have no idea what to put there.
Parent expenses: I marked medical and dental expenses not covered by insurance but on repayment of student loan debt in 2017 & 2018 I assume that even though I am on a payment plan that since the payment was $0 that I don't check those boxes.
For medical and dental expenses detail, I assume that is the amount I paid for any household members, including myself?
On student income and benefits, I put the information from my son's tax return for his job. Other untaxed income: would I list the SSA checks he received? His siblings were listed under my information but since it didn't have me list his there would I list here or ignore it?
On student's expected income and benefits, I basically guessed. $500 for summer 2019 earnings and 1500 for 2019-2020 school year. His SSA check stops when he graduates so I didn't put any expected untaxed income.
I put the amount in his savings account(only about $200 left) but his father's parents might have a savings account for him, they aren't likely to give me any information though.
Other student assets asks about a student owned business. His job issues a 1099 so it is considered business income but of course he doesn't actually own a business, not sure what to mark.
I don't think any of the special circumstances apply, but I am very confused at this point.
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Moved: International Fin. Aid
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Urgent!Please help to international student
Guys my parents are self-employed and dont work. So can i put zero income in CSS profile and only note my assets?
i am confused
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SAP Appeal Chances
Hi, I am a senior in college and have to do a financial aid appeal. Unfortunately, this is not my first appeal. I had to appeal due to severe depression, major medical illness and homelessness in the past. I am NOT asking for sympathy; I know there are students who have been through worse than me and got degrees. I have made a lot of progress from my freshman year, but I have failed in places as well.
I absolutely cannot pay for college out of pocket, and as a senior, my local community college doesn't have any courses remotely related to my major that I could take and try to pay for out of pocket. I could just take a random course, but that is my absolute worst case scenario because I'm not sure how I could pay for it and I'm trying not to take up anymore time in school. Not including the courses I'm currently signed up for, I have 19 hours left - three semesters, unless I can convince my college to allow me to take more than the maximum hours in the summer or take certain courses concurrently.
I initially planned on transferring to a different school after failing this past semester, but I only applied for one school at the time and they did not accept me because they calculate GPA differently from my school and I didn't meet the requirements. I'm going to appeal at my school again, and I need advice on whether or not this is acceptable.
THIS IS NOT THE APPEAL LETTER! Just a summary:
The main point of my appeal is that I got involved in an abusive relationship with an alcoholic midway through the semester. I felt I was doing well in school but very empty in my personal life, and ignored red flags in school and the relationship until too late. With school, I genuinely believed I would pass all my coursework up until finals week. By that point, I had already certainly failed two courses, so I needed B+ to B's in the rest of my courses, and I only got B-'s. I didn't drop the failed classes because I wouldn't meet PACE and again, I thought I would make it out okay in the end.
With my relationship, the binge drinking got out of control quickly. I have photographs of extensive damage to my property from fights, recordings of verbal abuse, text messages between me and friends (who live far away) talking about the situation and feeling unsafe, a chemical evaluation my partner did, and records of AA meeting they attended. I am also attending AA meetings myself now as someone who was addicted to an addict, and have records of that. Finally, I recently got a low key, work from home job that offers EPA so I can go to therapy again. I am considering going to the same therapist I went to years ago to see if they would say I'm better or worse than before. I also might start with someone new since I have had new issues since that time. I also did attempt to go to therapy at my school during all of this but the mental health facility was booked for the ENTIRE semester; I am not exaggerating. They only recommended the support hotline. I don't have any evidence of physical abuse or the few times contacted the police.
My plan going forward is regular therapy, AA meetings, taking writing-based/less strenuous (for me) courses, and keeping positive habits I made in the past (study groups, reaching out to professors early, doing extra credit, going to class. I plan on mentioning the courses I improved in, how I have a high GPA in my minor which I'll be finishing this semester, and that I'm close to graduating.
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Whitworth scholarship
I got accepted into whitworth today as an international student. However, I was expecting a scholarship based on my stats. I have a CGPA of 3.80. 3A* 6As at gcse and AAAA* at A level. Is there any chance that they may offer a scholarship later on? Or is a scholarship awarded at the time of an admission decision. Help me out please!
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CSS Profile - currency
Hello. I am applying for financial aid for colleges for 2019. I am a bit confused about selecting the currency in my CSS profile. I am a US citizen and have been living in USA for the last 6 months. My dad is a Pakistani citizen and before coming to USA, i had lived all my life in Pakistan. According to FAFSA, I am still dependent on my father. However, the issue with currency is that all my dad's tax returns are in pakistani rupee (the local currency). Then, the CSS Profile also requires the student's (myself) information e.g. income, assets etc. and that I have in US Dollars because i live in US now. So, i don't understand that when the application asks for 'your' primary currency, is it referring to the student or the parent? And then as a consequence, i would have to convert one currency into the other (the primary currency). Which currency do i use?
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international assets
I'm filling out fafsa, and my parents are moving by the end of this semester to our second house, which is currently standing empty, in australia, selling the house that we are currently in. what should I report as my investment?
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Merit Scholarships when applying Early Decision
Anyone know about receiving merit scholarships when applying and getting accepted via Early Decision? My child applied Early Decision, was accepted and on the same day was accepted to another school she applied to. Prior to declining the offer from the other school, she received a substantial merit scholarship. We decline the school, as it obviously wasn't her first choice. I'm wondering if applying early decision eliminates your changes of receiving a merit scholarship. We haven't heard anything yet from the college she accepted.
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How Does Parent Create Their Own FSA ID?
My mom and I are both working on the FAFSA together, in the same room, on the same computer, under my student FSA ID. Anyway, now that we've gotten to the signature page, I'm confused as to how she creates her own "account." It seems like it allows a signature as both the parent and the student under the same ID, but the website stresses two IDs are needed.
Would she just create another ID as if it were a new account?
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FAFSA EFC value and college cost of attendance
Parents,
Can someone clarify these doubts:
If the college cost of attendance per year is 30k and if FAFSA EFC value is 50k, will the college ask parents to pay 50k?
If the parent is filling FAFSA for school year 2019-2020, should the parent report salary for the year 2017 or current salary?
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Reliable Scholarships
What are good websites to apply for scholarships that are reliable?
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1098-T and 1099-Q not matching. Problematic?
From my understanding, the amounts never match on the 1098-T and 1099-Q (the form generated from a 529 fund manager showing distributions). That's because 1098-T can show what was billed or what was paid; and they often don't account for R&B; and they certainly couldn't account for books and supplies, which are QEE for using 529 funds. Schools won't know what you paid for those QEEs.
However, I've been reading quite a bit that this very common mismatch causes an auto-generated letter claiming you have non-qualified distributions. In many cases, I've read that you send a simple letter back outlining QEEs, with receipts if needed, to show that your distributions did not exceed QEEs . And that's all it takes, though it's all stressful and annoying. So now I'm just wondering if I should just come to expect this every year for the next umpteen years that I will be withdrawing funds from our 529.
• For 2018, I made two withdrawals from the 529. One withdrawal went to DS (beneficiary). One went to the school directly for R&B and fees. The 1099-Q should be sent to DS, not to me.
• I have not yet seen a 1098-T yet for 2018 but assume those numbers and the numbers on the 1099-Q will not match, because one of the withdrawals I took was for his computer.
• All 529 funds were used for QEEs.
• Therefore, my understanding is we wouldn't report any non-qualified income on our return or on DS' return.
Knowing the above, I'm interested to hear if anyone has encountered one of these dreaded letters from the IRS even though their 529 withdrawals are qualified. If so, how long after you filed did you hear from them and was it easy to resolve?
Thanks in advance.
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