fafsa question

[efab]

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i am applying for a tax extension this year for the first time in my life - feel like i have no choice - my situation is more complex this year and am hiring an accountant. he can't take me until after april 15th.

at any rate, i am an independent who makes less than 45,000/yr and of course, won't work while in vet school. meaning my financial needs are high.

i am wondering if creating a tax return on 4/17 and applying for fafsa same day or 4/18 is considered late, putting me at risk for not receiving a decent subsidized f.a. package.

any thoughts?

 

[VAgirl]

i am applying for a tax extension this year for the first time in my life - feel like i have no choice - my situation is more complex this year and am hiring an accountant. he can't take me until after april 15th.

at any rate, i am an independent who makes less than 45,000/yr and of course, won't work while in vet school. meaning my financial needs are high.

i am wondering if creating a tax return on 4/17 and applying for fafsa same day or 4/18 is considered late, putting me at risk for not receiving a decent subsidized f.a. package.

any thoughts?

You're coming to Davis, right? Our priority FAFSA due date was 3/2. You can file a FAFSA without having done your taxes, you'll just estimate and then redo stuff once your taxes are done if anything changed. I would strongly recommend you to do your FAFSA now. I'm not sure what the potential consequences really are, but I personally wouldn't want to mess with them.

 

[lirpa]

well i am just assuming, being an independent making under 45000 myself that you are not going to owe anything
as long you do not owe the government you will generally not be penalized for being late, i say generally because i dont want some crazy person with some rare situation yelling at me for telling you that, but my mother has been an accountant for 30 years so i can say that with confidence..you may not recieve as much money for filling late (grants and state funded money which is first come first serve) but you will still be accepted for fasfa and any loan you apply for pending that your previous financial stats meet the requirements and what not!

 

[VAgirl]

well i am just assuming, being an independent making under 45000 myself that you are not going to owe anything
as long you do not owe the government you will generally not be penalized for being late, i say generally because i dont want some crazy person with some rare situation yelling at me for telling you that, but my mother has been an accountant for 30 years so i can say that with confidence..you may not recieve as much money for filling late (grants and state funded money which is first come first serve) but you will still be accepted for fasfa and any loan you apply for pending that your previous financial stats meet the requirements and what not!

But why would one want to possibly miss out on grants and potentially other sources of free money if they didn't have to? My point is that you don't have to have completed your taxes to submit your FAFSA. So why put off FAFSA submission at all? (Plus the FAFSA is fairly easy to do.)

 

[shelterURIgirl]

well i am just assuming, being an independent making under 45000 myself that you are not going to owe anything as long you do not owe the government you will generally not be penalized for being late, i say generally because i dont want some crazy person with some rare situation yelling at me for telling you that, but my mother has been an accountant for 30 years so i can say that with confidence..you may not recieve as much money for filling late (grants and state funded money which is first come first serve) but you will still be accepted for fasfa and any loan you apply for pending that your previous financial stats meet the requirements and what not!

I don't understand this statement at all. What do you mean "not going to owe anything?" You know for grad school it is mostly loans, right? Its not like undergrad at all.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you worked during the 2008 tax period that income is what is going to be used to determine your financial need. An income around 45k is going to increase your expected contribution quite significantly. Unfortunately, the FAFSA will not take into account that you will not be working during your first year of vet school. So I think its in your best interest to file your FAFSA because you may not be eligible for what you think.

If I got this wrong please let me know. I have had TWO discussions with the financial aid office on campus, they tell me that they inflate the vet school budget to accommodate students who are leaving a good paying job but who knows. You might get screwed that first year so I would file ASAP at least to make sure you're loan requirement is covered.

 

[ckgilabert]

I don't understand this statement at all. What do you mean "not going to owe anything?" You know for grad school it is mostly loans, right? Its not like undergrad at all.

lirpa meant that efab wont owe any federal taxes.

I know that for undergrad that if you're not going to be working anymore, that you can contact the financial aid department and you have to fill out a special form so that you can qualify for more money.

good luck with filling out your paperwork and talk to the financial aid office. hopefully they can help you out. 🙂

 

[lirpa]

thank you ckgilabert,
that is exactly what i meant..obviously your gonna owe the government for your loans in the end, but that has nothing to do with doing your taxes now!!!

and yes you can file your fafsa with out your tax info but honestly it CAN cause a bigger and longer mess in the end, but yes if you have all your information(w2's/1099/whatever) than you can fill it out, but they ask if you have filed yet on the form..so when you put no, then it will just put your application on hold untill you do!!?
..and obviously you do not want to miss out on any money/grants etc...but it is april and if you are applying for fafsa in the fall 2009/2010 you are already late anyway and a couple of weeks will not make much of a difference, you will still qualify for the same amount of loans but if your school has grants or state funds then, it is first come first serve!
also as long as your fafsa says your were approved before the date your tuition is due, than your school will deffer your payment for tuition untill they recieve the money from the government.

Also that is correct that the amount of money available increases with the tuition increase and most schools have a petition that you can fill out regarding your decrease in income or loss of job do to being in school, usually you have to have proof from your employer that you are or will no longer be employed or working half time so forth.
Sorry if this was not made clear, let me know if you have any other questions. Ive been dealing with fafsa for 6 years!

 

[VAgirl]

I know that for undergrad that if you're not going to be working anymore, that you can contact the financial aid department and you have to fill out a special form so that you can qualify for more money.

good luck with filling out your paperwork and talk to the financial aid office. hopefully they can help you out. 🙂

Some schools do this, but I'm pretty sure UC Davis doesn't.

I say pretty sure because of the following:
1) I knew about the form you're referencing last year when I went to info sessions at all of the schools I applied to,
2) I know I asked a bunch of schools about this form, and
3) I didn't submit any form of the type for Davis.
This leads me to believe that I asked them about it and was told Davis doesn't do anything like this.

Unfortunately, I can't actually remember a conversation with a Davis rep to this effect. 🙂 So you probably should check on it anyway (policy could have changed, too. And of course, please share what you find with the rest of us!). But like I said, I'm fairly sure that Davis doesn't make these kinds of adjustments.