Difficulty with Need Access

[RedWine]

I'm having a really hard time with all the 2007 estimates they want filled in.  How am I supposed to know how much financial aid I anticipate receiving next year -- isn't this why I'm filling out the wretched form in the first place? 

Also, the way they have things broken down into academic year and summer categories is confusing because I'm going to be leaving my job about halfway through the summer but I'm not exactly sure when, so I really don't know how much my earnings for June through either mid-July or early August will be.  Yet I have to plug in both my estimated earnings for the year and my estimated summer earnings, even though the summer earnings will be included in the whole amount and I don't know what either of those amounts are.  I won't know how much student health insurance will be until the school tells me, yet they require an estimate of that -- my current insurance through work is awesome and cheap, so I don't know what it's like anywhere else.  And on, and on, and on.

Is anyone else experiencing this, or am I just particularly dumb about this stuff?  This form is horrible and the website doesn't give any real instructions about anything.  Argh.  Help!?!

[EEtoJD]

tag

[Denny Crane]

NeedAccess is the devil, pure and simple.  What helps me is the fact that I will be able to input "zero" for so many of the fields, especially the ones pertaining to my own finances.

[zephyr]

tag

[Zam]

I have to fill out the Need Access but I haven't yet.

I'm scared of it.

[knicksfan0323]

I HATE the needaccess form. It makes absolutely no sense. My parents are divorced and I'm not sure where I should be filling out what.

And to make matters worse, my mom is disabled and I support her 100% financially. She lives with me and my husband and I have no idea how to account for that.

[Denny Crane]

I HATE the needaccess form. It makes absolutely no sense. My parents are divorced and I'm not sure where I should be filling out what.

And to make matters worse, my mom is disabled and I support her 100% financially. She lives with me and my husband and I have no idea how to account for that.

I haven't completed the NeedAccess form yet, but if they ask for combined parental info, I assume that your mother does not generate an income, so you would probably just have to put your father's info.  To account for your mother, you might want to just list her as one of your dependents. 

[EEtoJD]

Um, tag.

Man this is gonna suck to fill out.

Yup. Especially when one of your parents is a male private part and hasn't and won't ever tell you his finances. The other parent has to tell me on the QT.

[Electric Counterpoint]

I'm having a really hard time with all the 2007 estimates they want filled in.  How am I supposed to know how much financial aid I anticipate receiving next year -- isn't this why I'm filling out the wretched form in the first place? 

Also, the way they have things broken down into academic year and summer categories is confusing because I'm going to be leaving my job about halfway through the summer but I'm not exactly sure when, so I really don't know how much my earnings for June through either mid-July or early August will be.  Yet I have to plug in both my estimated earnings for the year and my estimated summer earnings, even though the summer earnings will be included in the whole amount and I don't know what either of those amounts are.  I won't know how much student health insurance will be until the school tells me, yet they require an estimate of that -- my current insurance through work is awesome and cheap, so I don't know what it's like anywhere else.  And on, and on, and on.

Is anyone else experiencing this, or am I just particularly dumb about this stuff?  This form is horrible and the website doesn't give any real instructions about anything.  Argh.  Help!?!

Are you sure it's asking you how much financial aid you'll receive next year? I filled my form out last night and, horrible though it was, I don't remember that question. It definitely asked about financial aid during undergrad, though.

[Electric Counterpoint]

I'm having a really hard time with all the 2007 estimates they want filled in.  How am I supposed to know how much financial aid I anticipate receiving next year -- isn't this why I'm filling out the wretched form in the first place? 

Also, the way they have things broken down into academic year and summer categories is confusing because I'm going to be leaving my job about halfway through the summer but I'm not exactly sure when, so I really don't know how much my earnings for June through either mid-July or early August will be.  Yet I have to plug in both my estimated earnings for the year and my estimated summer earnings, even though the summer earnings will be included in the whole amount and I don't know what either of those amounts are.  I won't know how much student health insurance will be until the school tells me, yet they require an estimate of that -- my current insurance through work is awesome and cheap, so I don't know what it's like anywhere else.  And on, and on, and on.

Is anyone else experiencing this, or am I just particularly dumb about this stuff?  This form is horrible and the website doesn't give any real instructions about anything.  Argh.  Help!?!

Are you sure it's asking you how much financial aid you'll receive next year? I filled my form out last night and, horrible though it was, I don't remember that question. It definitely asked about financial aid during undergrad, though.

I HATE the needaccess form. It makes absolutely no sense. My parents are divorced and I'm not sure where I should be filling out what.

And to make matters worse, my mom is disabled and I support her 100% financially. She lives with me and my husband and I have no idea how to account for that.

You should be listing her as a dependent on your taxes, the FAFSA, and Need Access (but you can only have dependents if you yourself are not being claimed as a dependent by anyone else). Beyond that, I would indicate in the "special circumstances" area of the form (the very last box they ask you to fill in, both on the student's and parents' form) that she's disabled. You might also want to call the Fin Aid offices of the schools you're applying to -- this sounds like a pretty big issue.