Hi, everyone. Some questions about filling the CSS profile.
I am currently filling out the CSS profile right now. There is a blank asking "How much did (parent 1) earn from work?"
I wonder if this blank will require the students to put in the after-tax income or the before-tax income. And if it is after-tax income, will the forced payment be excluded as well(such as a retirement plan)? Your response is very much appreciated.
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This is really the wrong place to ask questions about how to fill out financial aid forms that your parents are responsible for.
For parent 1 or parent 2 income there are specific instructions your parents have to fill out relating to their filed 1040 tax form. Unless you have direct access to the filed form or get their blessing and permission for transcribing the data into the CSS profile, you should let your parents fill out the CSS profile. They want the AGI or adjust gross income line so you have to look for that on the 1040 form and copy that as parent 1 income. If your parents have filed separate 1040s then there will be an AGI for parent 2 as well.
AGI is neither the Gross income before taxes nor the Net income after taxes. It is the adjusted gross income after all applicable and legal deductions have been applied to income prior to looking up the taxes due on the tax table.
On the CSS profile, there are other parts that specifically ask for inputs of additional income like social security, retirement plans, income from other sources like child support or alimony, etc, etc.
Since you are required to have the IRS send a copy of your parent's tax forms to CSS Profile's list of colleges, the colleges will be cross-referencing your answers with the actual tax forms as a backup. Therefore please take this very seriously because if the answers that your parents are supposed to provide and sign off on are different than the ones you as the student stubbed in and shouldn't be doing, your financial aid package can be held up and you will spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to work with these colleges to correct this during a very stressful senior year.
Your parent(s) or guardian(s) are responsible for filing out the CSS Profile and FAFSA, not you. Be mindful that this blog is not the place to ask how to fill out the CSS profile or other financial aid forms. I'm just doing you a solid favor and answering this. No HS kids should be filing out these forms and signing as their parents as if their parents fill it out. That's a big no-no.
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A little tweak to this, FAFSA has allowed a student to access the FAFSA form and allowed them to fill it out with correct information and just need the consent and approval of one parent. So I say it both the parent and the student's responsibility. But yes, this isn't the place to ask for financial help.