Solutions
For those of you who want to know the answer to the Griddler below, here it is!!! You can link to the Excel file here or the Word file here. I'll also post a picture, but later in case anyone is still working on it.
Now on to the solution to the most pressing problem of the day! It is after March 1, and we at MIT still do not have all of your paperwork. What do you do?
First of all, don't panic.
March 1 is a priority deadline, not an absolute deadline. That is not to say that you should delay completing your application record, but if we do not have it now, you will not be penalized financially.
So what does a priority deadline really mean?
If you complete by March 1, we will commit to having an answer to you in time to make a decision about your admission with an MIT award letter in hand. If you complete later than March 1, we will still award you, but files will be reviewed in order of receipt, so it is possible that you may not have your answer until later.
Do we have an absolute deadline?
Well, don't push it! If you complete much after May 1, you will have to give us a pretty compelling reason as to why your application was so late. So, if you are still missing information, get cracking on it!
Answers to some questions from the blog.
Xiao Wei Chen asked “Do we need to fill out the IDOC and send it back to the College Board? College Board makes it seem like completing the IDOC is part of the Profile, but Autumn doesn't seem to mention the IDOC.“
IDOC is a sub-process which the College Board administers for us in which they collect the tax information for us, so that we receive your information as an image (no paper). You have to do the Profile to get an IDOC sheet (so international applicants will not complete the IDOC), and we do not track the IDOC separately from the 2004 tax return (although once you complete it, you will see a document on Autumn entitled “IDOC Cover Sheet“). So, you do fill out the IDOC and send it back to the College Board, they scan the information and send it to us.
-_-;; also had some IDOC questions. S/he posted that “I have not actually received an IDOC cover sheet from College Board even though i filed my profile awhile ago.“
You are correct, -_-;; (I feel like I am addressing the artist formally known as...), you should have already received an IDOC cover sheet by email. The College Board is sending IDOC cover sheet instructions by email to the email address you listed on the Profile. If for whatever reason, that email address does not work, or you did not provide one, they will mail you the sheet at your home address. Remember you can always reprint a cover sheet by logging in to the IDOC web page (you will need your SSN and Date of Birth -- or IDOC ID if you know it).
SHABIN had login problems on Autumn. Just to let you know, the Autumn database refreshes every night. It is possible that if you log in during refresh times (which I believe is midnight Eastern), you will get an error. Also, if the Autumn job fails to run, you may get an error. Best advice, give it 24 hours and try again. If that doesn't work, call us at 617-253-4971 to check the status of your application.
Arvind writes, “Hi Moneyman. I am an international student from India. I already sent my parents Tax information for year 2004. Do I also need to send the tax information for year 2003 as autumn provides a list of three things, The main form, taxform 2004, taxforms 2003.” And Suhail also asked, in part “In India the financial year is from 1st April to 31st March of the next year. It is because of this reason that income tax based on the income for the financial year won't be available at least till after 1st April 2005.” Saad Zaheer also writes “just one question, the application tracking system says that the only missing document is the parents 2004 income tax return, and 2003 tax return statement is shown submitted. now, 2004 statement is not available now and shall be received, i guess, in may or june this year, since my country follows a different system. what can i do now in place of this, and can i submit any other document as a proof of this?“
Arvind, the answer to your question is no. We only want the most recent return, so no need to send both. The problem here is that of what is considered the most recent return. In an earlier post, I stated that “The document should be based on the income and assets for the last completed tax year in your country that ends before April 1, 2005 (if your country operates its tax system on a January through December calendar, the last completed tax year will be 2004; if it operates April through March, the last tax year will end March 31, 2005; if it operates July 1 through June 30, the last tax year will be the one ending June 30, 2004).“ So for India, the tax return which reports the income from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2004 is the 2003 return, and the tax return which reports income from April 1, 2004 to March 31, 2005 is considered the 2004 return. For this reason, Suhail, we will eventually need the return your parents will complete coming in the next several months. This is no different that a US applicant who has not completed his tax return yet for calendar year 2004. We will provide an estimated award based on earlier data, but cannot finalize the award until the current tax return is received. By the way, Saad welcome to the blog! Nice to have you on board!
Alex asked, “I am a freshman applicant and I recently went online to check my financial aid requirements. The only file missing right now is "Documentation of U.S. Citizenship" and I was wondering is there a deadline to turn that piece of information in or could I wait on it? Also where should I mail it to?“
Alex, the reason we asked for this is that you failed a database match with either the Department of Homeland Security or the Social Security Administration. Information should have been provided to you about this on the Student Aid Report (SAR) you received after completing your FAFSA. In order to resolve this, you need to provide a copy of your documentation proving you are a US Citizen or Eligible Non Citizen to our office. This could include: copy of your birth certificate (if born in the US), copy of your US passport, copy of your Naturalization Certificate, copy of your “Green Card“ (which isn't Green and really isn't a card --- discuss), etc. One of these documents should be sent to Student Financial Aid at MIT at 11-320.
mit_hopefulgirl asked “Just a question - will MIT move towards the step Harvard is taking and not require a parental contribution if a student's family income is below $40,000 a year? How generous is MIT's aid at present? Thanks!” This question was also asked by her at College Confidential.
My answer (which I posted there as well) is:
Unlike Harvard, we do not have a stated "cut-off" point where students receive 100% financial aid, but rather we look at each case individually. I will tell you, though, that the majority of families earning less than $40,000 will receive full packages at MIT and Harvard and probably almost any place they would want to go. The contribution level expected from a family with less than $40,000 in earnings and no sizable assets would, by definition, be small. But I would be careful about using standard "cut-offs" since there are very many factors that go into our consideration. You may want to review the posts on the blog that specifically relate to how your EFC is determined, to get a sense of how we work it through.