The FAFSA for the 2018-2019 school year is here. Here are some FAFSA FAQs: Q: What does FAFSA mean by “income?” Gross, taxable, AGI? Something else? A: All of it. FAFSA wants to know each parent’s gross income, including tax-deferred retirement plan contributions. The easiest way to take care of the income is to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool…
Here is an article I wrote for another advisor’s site on college affordability.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, this is a bit of a refresher post. There are three aid formulas: Federal methodology (FM), based on the FAFSA; Institutional Methodology (IM), based on the CSS PROFILE; and Consensus Methodology (CM), which uses both aid forms. Each is a different way of calculating a family’s
With price gains in most housing markets nationwide over the last few years, parents need to understand how aid formulas treat home equity. The good news: the FAFSA doesn’t consider home equity. The bad news: the CSS PROFILE requests information on home equity, and schools using the CSS PROFILE may calculate your home equity’s value for EFC purposes in one…
The FAFSA for next school year will be available starting Oct. 1, so now is a good time to start getting ready for it. A few key points: