Should I file fafsa without my 2007 income slip?

[CanAmPremed]

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So ya guys..should I?

I called my employer and I won't be getting my 2007 income slip until the beginning of march which means I can't file my return and consequently, FAFSA. I have a general idea of what my 2007 income was and would probably be off by at most 1000 dollars (although prolly much less). The reason why i can't wait until March is that I will be going on a month long trip to a place where I will rarely get to use the internet and when I do it will be slow as f**k and will be once every couple of weeks. So I want to get this stuff done here now if possible..

So is it a good idea to enter in an approximate income, since I was told by my financial aid office that I could be chosen at "random" for an audit of my FAFSA.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

I presume this is because you live in Canada? In the US, your employer MUST provide you with your W-2 by 1/31.

But, do you have your last paystub(s) from your job(s)? That (or the sum of those) should agree with your total income. You should be able to get closer than $1000 with those. In that case, I would just file now with that estimate. But, even so, $1000 isn't going to make much of a difference in what you will get. So, file with your estimate and update it later if there is that much difference.

 

[CanAmPremed]

I presume this is because you live in Canada? In the US, your employer MUST provide you with your W-2 by 1/31.

But, do you have your last paystub(s) from your job(s)? That (or the sum of those) should agree with your total income. You should be able to get closer than $1000 with those. In that case, I would just file now with that estimate. But, even so, $1000 isn't going to make much of a difference in what you will get. So, file with your estimate and update it later if there is that much difference.

Well its not really a matter of what I will be awarded but just that they will end up screwing me over b/c the amount I enter isn't exact even though it will be off by only a small amount...thats what I'm worried about. I mean in the end its only about 11-12 grand (was a student and on vacation most of 2007).

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Though I don't work for a financial aid office, I really don't think you need to worry about your school's financial aid office requesting your return, and then saying, "A-HA, the income that you entered was off by $100, you're busted, we're yanking ALL of your financial aid." If you act in good faith and are not trying to defraud the system, most people are reasonable and will see that. My school's financial aid office recommends filling out the FAFSA ASAP with estimates and then making corrections later. So, I would just fill it out now with your best estimate and make the correction when you get your income slip.

 

[CanAmPremed]

Though I don't work for a financial aid office, I really don't think you need to worry about your school's financial aid office requesting your return, and then saying, "A-HA, the income that you entered was off by $100, you're busted, we're yanking ALL of your financial aid." If you act in good faith and are not trying to defraud the system, most people are reasonable and will see that. My school's financial aid office recommends filling out the FAFSA ASAP with estimates and then making corrections later. So, I would just fill it out now with your best estimate and make the correction when you get your income slip.

Good stuff...sounds decent. Thanks for the advice.