Financial Aid Forms

Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)

The FAFSA form is required to be completed to determine student eligibility for all need based federal, and in many cases insititutional financial aid. Students applying for the need based Direct Subsidized Loan and the non need based Direct Unsubsidized Loan also need to fill the FAFSA.

This makes the FAFSA deadline a very important one. The federal FAFSA deadline for 2017-18 is June 30, 2018. However, the different states may have an earlier deadline (check this PDF for details), and certain colleges may also require it to be filed earlier if the student wants to be considered for insitutional aid. Please check the deadlines for finacial aid for each college on your list. There are some colleges that require the applicants to file the FAFSA for any merit aid consideration. In such cases, more information can be found on the college's website.

What is considered income?

All content in this section is the copyright of Vuefolio, Inc, a SEC registered investment advisor, and is reproduced with permission.

All Universities will ask for basic information about your income.

Documents you will need to get this information

  • Your 1040 (pay attention to line 37!)
  • Your W2
  • Bank and investment account statements
  • Property valuation and mortgage documents

Sources of Income which count towards College

Taxable Income
  • Salary/Wages
  • Interest from your investments
  • Dividends
  • Capital Gains
  • Rental Income
  • Any income from your
    1. Farm
    2. Business
    3. Royalties
    4. Estate
    5. Trust
  • Any distributions from your
    1. IRA*
    2. Pension
    3. Annuilties
  • Gains from any stock options which are exercised from the child's 11th grade through their college years.
Untaxed Income
  • Annual Contributions by individual to retirement plans (401(k), 403(b), SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh, IRAs)
  • Annual Contributions by individuals to HSA (health spending accounts)
  • Social Security Beenfits
  • Any alimony received
  • Any child support received
  • Tax exempt income (e.g., interest from muni bonds)
  • Any distributions from your
    1. IRA*
    2. Pension
    3. Annuilties
  • Welfare benefits
* Note about IRA/Pension/Annuity distributions:
  1. Tax status of these distributions depends on whether the IRA/Pension/Annuity was funded with pre- or post-tax dollars.
  2. Depends upon the age of the parent at time of the withdrawal.

How FAFSA sees your Assets

All content in this section is the copyright of Vuefolio, Inc, a SEC registered investment advisor, and is reproduced with permission.

Considered as Asset

  • Cash/Savings/Checkings
  • Investments: stocks, ESPP, bonds, mutual funds/ETFs, REIT, money market funds, certificates of deposit (CDs), vested portions of RSU (restricted stock units) and stock options, any other securities, commodities, land sale contracts, mortgages held, loans held, any private equity investments
  • Educational Savings: 529 plans, Coverdell savings, cash (refund) value of prepaid 529 plans.
  • Real estate (other than your primary residence)
  • Any income producing property
  • Farm assets* (unless the farm is your primary residence)
  • Business assets† (if the business employs at least 100 people)
  • UGMA/UTMA accounts where the parent is the owner and not the custodian

Not Considered as Asset

  • Assets in retirement accounts: 401(k), 403(b), SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh, IRAs
  • Assets in post tax retirement accounts: Roth IRA
  • Home equity of your primary home
  • Annuities
  • Life Insurance Policies

* If you live on your farm and that is your primary residence, then it is not considered an asset and does not need to be reported.
† Family owned businesses with less than 100 full-time employees are excluded as an asset.

Please read the guidelines for filing the FAFSA from the US. Dept of Education. See the changes to the 2017-18 filing.

CSS / Financial Aid PROFILE

The CSS Profile is required by over 400 (mostly private) colleges and scholarship programs. The Profile application opens up online every year on October 1. Read the instructions and requirements before filing the Profile.

The CSS Profile looks at your income in exactly the same way as FAFSA.

How CSS see your assets

Considered as Asset

  • Cash/Savings/Checkings
  • Investments: stocks, ESPP, bonds, mutual funds/ETFs, REIT, money market funds, certificates of deposit (CDs), vested portions of RSU (restricted stock units) and stock options, any other securities, commodities, land sale contracts, mortgages held, loans held, any private equity investments
  • Educational Savings: 529 plans, Coverdell savings, cash (refund) value of prepaid 529 plans
  • Real estate (other than your primary residence)
  • Home equity of your primary home (some colleges cap this at a multiple of your income)
  • Any income producing property
  • Any farm assets
  • Any business assets*
  • Non-qualified annuilties
  • UGMA/UTMA accounts where the parent is the owner and not the custodian

Not Considered as Asset

  • Assets in retirement accounts: 401(k), 403(b), SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh, IRAs
  • Assets in post tax retirement account: Roth IRA
  • Life Insurance Policies

* Unlike on the FAFSA, there is no size cutoff for family owned businesses. All business assets owned by the family have to reported.


Retirement accounts are reported on CSS Profile for the purpose of understanding the health of the parent's retirement savings. However, those assets are not counted amoungst the assets (see above) which are available for paying for college. Expenses are are also reported on the CSS profile so that the family's cashflow and possible money available for college can be determined.

Khan Academy also has nice walkthrough for both FAFSA and CSS Profile.

©2016–2024 O's List, LLC. All rights reserved.