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MerryAtHope

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Posts posted by MerryAtHope

    s/o: PSA: CC + transfer does not always equal "2+2"

    in The College Board

    Posted

    6 hours ago, Lori D. said:

    @MerryAtHope! So nice to "see" you. 😄

    Would love an update on what your adult kids are doing these days! It is always so nice to hear from others with kids who did not do the straight-to-4-year-university-after-high-school route. 😄 

    Aw, thanks! I always like reading your updates too. Oldest took a year off between CC and 4-year school to work and figure out what he wanted to do. I was so glad he chose something liberal-arts oriented so that all of his credits transferred! Covid did interfere with what he could take and when unfortunately, but he graduated in Media Studies in December and is working as an independent contractor in film editing. He’s also looking for a part time job on the side until he gets more clients, though he may be busier this summer as one business looks to expand.
     

    Youngest started out at the CC in pre-nursing, got her CNA, and then switched to Early Childhood Ed. That did extend her stay at the CC a bit! Also, one semester she attended 3 schools, thanks to Covid online options and her transfer school changing up a sequence! We initially looked at 4 schools, but 3 of them would have required an extra semester to a year and just were not feasible. We finally were able to finagle a path at the 4th that transferred 62 credits though. Thankfully she loved it when we visited! She has been there in person since fall, loves her classes, and is graduating in a year. She’s planning to do a summer mission with Cru this summer, so we won’t see her much.

    • Like 7

    Community College Admissions

    in The College Board

    Posted

    22 hours ago, Lori D. said:

    lol, and I was about to suggest the opposite because of our CC experience -- DS#1 who graduated from our homeschool high school, but with no idea what he wanted to do, did go to the CC for the first 2 years and then transferred to the 4-year university. His SAT and ACT scores earned him a hefty scholarship at the CC.

    That 2 + 2 option worked very well for DS, as it gave him time to figure out what he wanted to work towards for a degree, and he also landed a great renewable transfer scholarship to the 4-year university (result of having such a high GPA from the 2 years at the CC).

    I actually suggest that unless it would be a total disaster and university is not all in the cards for the student, it's always a good idea to do either an ACT or SAT to have that score "in the back pocket", just to help keep all potential future doors open. Esp. since students often change their minds several years out from high school graduation. 😉

    I know times are changing again re: standardized testing, and many colleges are going test-optional for admissions -- but some of those schools are still requiring it for homeschoolers. So it's not (yet) a simple decision of yes/no for homeschoolers on whether or not to take the ACT or SAT.


    The only time I've heard of CCs requiring an ACT/SAT score was for dual enrollment. (Not my state's CC -- that's from posts I have seen on these boards from people in other states.)

    Same situation, ACT scores replaced the cc testing for placement, and helped my kids earn scholarships. Additionally, my dd needed the act score for her major at her transfer school. No regrets in taking that, and several benefits. 

    • Like 1

    s/o: PSA: CC + transfer does not always equal "2+2"

    in The College Board

    Posted

    This can happen with education degrees too. Not so much because of sequencing per se, though that plays a role, but also because the requirements are so tightly scripted and may be specific to the school. Our state has an articulation agreement, but if one isn’t careful, a lot of classes could end up as meaningless elective transfer credits rather than going toward a degree. In education, there is zero room for miscellaneous electives. Some schools were more willing to work with us than others, but the variance was 60-80 credits left to take, depending on the school, after completing an Associates degree. It did take some extra legwork and an in person visit to work things out with requirements and also getting a sequence change approved to make everything work. I definitely needed to be the go-between advisor and do a lot of research, or it would have cost an extra year at the uni, which wasn’t really affordable for us. Cc was a great option for my kids, but did require me to be hands on!

    • Like 2

    Scanning a TON of old photos, like over 3,000 most likely

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I am intrigued by this app but haven’t tried it: https://photomyne.com/faq/pricing

    I have used Legacy Box for videos and they handled things well. They do photos—when you look at pricing, 1 “item” is 25 photos. So, if you have thousands, that would be cost prohibitive! They frequently have 50% off sales, and last Labor Day I saw 60% off. Even at that though, 3000 would be “120 items,” wow!

    College students and taxes? - Updated questions at end

    in The College Board

    Posted

    On 2/18/2022 at 1:21 PM, skimomma said:

     

    Dd does not qualify for the "advanced move" because she does not qualify for a Pell grant.

    I wanted to respond to this and say, "maybe, maybe not." ANY grant or scholarship that allows the money to be used for something beyond tuition (for example, if the school gave her a grant or scholarship and they allow it to be used toward room and board, or they don't specify that it's for tuition only) can be used for the advanced move. So, you have to know the parameters of her scholarship income. You have to allocate that income as going towards "unqualified expenses" when you fill out the forms if you are doing the advanced method. 

    Also, I'm only familiar with TaxAct, but it's not immediately clear where to enter scholarship income, and I tend to forget year-to-year! This year my dd and I mistakenly put it in as "other income" with the explanation and my dd was going to owe. When we looked at this year's summary compared to last year's, I caught that the program had put it in the wrong place (by our wrong "instruction" to it), so we had to go back and delete and look it up. If you are using TaxAct, here's where to enter any excess scholarship income that is in excess of qualified tuition/fees. When we did it the "right" way, she didn't owe. (Your dd might owe something anyway because of the NEC income, but it should be less if the scholarship income is in the right place.) 

    I felt TaxAct was a bit glitchy this year! There were a couple of times it took us to a wrong screen (things that were true last year that we marked as not true this year, but it still wanted us to go through those parts and wouldn't let us out until we went back and tried going forward again--then it appropriately skipped that section.) Weird. I don't usually have an issue with it. 

     

    • Like 1

    College students and taxes? - Updated questions at end

    in The College Board

    Posted

    2 hours ago, skimomma said:

    This is part of where I get confused.  When I look at the 1040 instructions, it appears that we can list her as a dependent but she only meets the requirements for us to claim a $500 tax credit for her.  And if that is the case AND we do not qualify for the American Opportunity Credit, it seems to me that there is little reason to even claim her to begin with IF she were to be able to claim herself for the standard exemption.  It all seems a little backwards so i keep looking at it again and again hoping to see the sense in it all.

    I am also struggling to find where on the 1040 the 1099-NEC income is supposed to be included.  I am assuming Line 1 (wages, salaries, tips.....) but the instructions do not say anything about 1099 income.  My head might explode.

    You can find so much just through googling. I simply googled "where to report 1099-nec on 1040" and found this: https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/irs/forms/form-1099-nec/#:~:text=You'll use the amount,report it on Schedule C.

    I've had independent contractor forms since 2008, so I've done a lot of reading on self-employment and taxes each year! I just haven't had that particular 1099, and I also have no experience with it for a student. As an adult, I look for all of the expenses I can to offset the self-employment income--things like travel expenses, gas or mileage, health insurance, equipment expenses--anything to reduce that income means owing less if she does owe something. Whether it's worth tracking that and whether she can claim all of those as a dependent though, I don't have any experience there. I would think there would be at least some she could claim though. (Like, maybe she can't claim mileage if you own the car, but maybe she can claim the actual gas she spent, things like that.) 

    I don't know what other credits may be available for you, but check this: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/family/rules-for-claiming-a-dependent-on-your-tax-return/L8LODbx94

    And here's another one: https://www.policygenius.com/taxes/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent-and-why-would-i-want-to/

    If she technically *can* be claimed as a dependent but you don't, I don't know if that means she gets a larger deduction (or whether that would help her). If I'm reading the information I linked earlier correctly, her deduction is her income + $350 up to the standard deduction for her filing type...so that doesn't sound like her deduction would be less if you claim her. I think I would try a sample run of her taxes through an online service (turbotax, taxact etc...) marking that she is a dependent and see what they look like. If it's not favorable, then try it the other way, with her as independent (but *could* be claimed as a dependent), and see if it's better. Just don't submit anything until you decide how you want to do them, and then go through them with her. I know it's a pain!!! 

    College students and taxes? - Updated questions at end

    in The College Board

    Posted

    3 hours ago, skimomma said:

    Yes!  You have been very helpful!

    I have the tax forms and instructions, which is where my questions came from.  They are not easy!

    The independent contractor income does muck things up.  She is a musician, so gets 1099-NEC forms from the festivals and gigs she plays.  It's annoying. LOL!

    She does not get a Pell grant.  But it looks like her university counts *my* employment benefit of reduced tuition for dependents as part of *her* scholarship/grants/529s, which is what pushed that above her qualified expenses since now her room and board are covered by her other scholarships.  This will happen every year so at least once we figure it out, it should not be a problem.

    I would really REALLY like to have a qualified preparer do this or at least answer my questions but I cannot find anyone local that is taking new clients.  Not even our own accountant, which is why she is "reluctant" to answer any of my questions.  And even if I did find one, I suspect the cost to have someone prepare dd's taxes would be far more than she even owes to begin with.

    So my plan is that we will help dd file her own taxes, which should not be too tricky.  We just need to then be sure we are giving the correct info to our own tax preparer so no one is double dipping or missing anything.  Dd will likely always have independent contractor income so hopefully once we help her this year, she can do her own or pay someone else to do it in future years.

    The "advanced move" I mentioned can be used for other grants/scholarships *IF* the grants/scholarships do not restrict their use just to tuition. So, if she has one or more scholarships that are allowed to be used for room and board, then you can allocate part or all of those particular ones for that purpose. It's definitely more to think through and you want to be sure you know what the parameters are of the scholarships. If they specify that they are only for tuition though, then you can't. 

    I usually do some sample runs of my kids' taxes to see if they would owe under various scenarios (and how much and whether it's still cheaper go give me the credit--if it is, I just pay what they owe) and to see what would be most beneficial, but without submitting them. Then I delete the "practice" taxes and have my kids do their own with me there, and I have them enter the scenario that worked out best. 

    College students and taxes? - Updated questions at end

    in The College Board

    Posted · Edited by MerryAtHope

    A few links:

    Is my child a dependent? https://www.irs.gov/faqs/filing-requirements-status-dependents/dependents
     

    Quote

     

    To claim your child as your dependent, your child must meet either the qualifying child test or the qualifying relative test:

    • To meet the qualifying child test, your child must be younger than you and either younger than 19 years old or be a "student" younger than 24 years old as of the end of the calendar year.

     

     

     

    Standard Deduction - https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc551

    Quote

    Dependents – If you can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer, your standard deduction for 2021 is limited to the greater of: (1) $1,100, or (2) your earned income plus $350 (but the total can't be more than the basic standard deduction for your filing status).

    This is how it worked for both of my kids last year. They both had different “standard deductions,” and both of their deductions equaled their wages plus $350.

     

    Parent or Child: deciding who takes college tax breaks - https://www.creditkarma.com/tax/i/student-tax-credit#everyone-needs-a-break (I reread your post and it doesn’t sound like she qualifies this year, but maybe for other years.) However, if she received a Pell Grant, there is an “advanced move” that could help you receive the credit if her income is just slightly over her qualified expenses. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/Pell AOTC 4 pager.pdf

     

    Tax Information for Students - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/students

     I hope this helps some!

     

    College students and taxes? - Updated questions at end

    in The College Board

    Posted · Edited by MerryAtHope

    8 hours ago, skimomma said:

    I took a deep dive into this and think I understand a few things.  If anyone can confirm I am going down the right road (or not), do chime in:

    1.  First, dd has 1099-NEC income in excess of $400 so she HAS to file.

    2.  Because dd is a full time qualifying student and did not provide 50% or more of her own support, we *may* claim her and she *must* check that someone else can claim her on her own taxes, even if we chose not to claim her.  Does that mean she cannot take her own exemption?

    3.  Because dd's scholarship/grants/529 funds exceed the amount of qualified education expenses (since room and board do not count), she *must* report education stuff on her own tax forms and we do not.

    4.  Our tax preparer is reluctant to give us any guidance in regard to how dd's taxes and ours intermingle.  The one thing she did say is: "Under current tax law, you don’t receive dependency exemptions anymore.  Your daughter gets her own $13,000 annual standard deduction.  She is most likely still your dependent for education credit purposes though."  I take this to mean that we could claim her as a dependent but that we can not take the dependency exemption for her since she is over 18.

    5.  Given #3 and 4, we would not benefit from claiming her at all.  But she also cannot take her own exemption because we *could* claim her, even if we do not.

    This really is all too hard.

    I would encourage you to look up stuff in the tax forms yourself or find a preparer who is more confident/able to advise on college tax issues. I'm *not* a tax preparer or offering any official advice, but I do quite a bit of reading and looking each year because I've had 2 in college and it makes quite a bit of financial difference with how you handle things! 

    #1 - NEC income--basically an independent contractor/self-employed? That is more involved, but not insurmountable. Yes, for over $400 she would have to file because basically, no company is paying medicare tax or social security tax for her and she will have to pay this for herself. (When you are an employee, you pay half and your employer pays half. When you are self-employed, you pay all of it.) 

    #2 - yes, you would claim her as a dependent. "Exemptions" were replaced (I believe in 2018) by a larger "deduction." That doesn't mean she will end up owing necessarily--there is still a deduction for dependents, you just have to follow the instructions since you are claiming her. 

    #3 - she reports the *income* on her forms. If she had less grants/scholarships than qualified expenses, you could take the American Opportunity credit on yours, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case this year, so she wouldn’t qualify for that.

    #4 - No--I think he's just trying to say that "exemptions" went away (in 2018). Yes, she's still a dependent (students up to age 24 who are full-time college students for at least one semester of the year are dependents. If FAFSA would make you claim her as a dependent, she's your dependent for taxes.) 

    Anyway...if you google, you would probably come up with the right tax forms and info on all of this. I'll see if I have time later to try to track things down a bit more.

     

    • Like 1

    College students and taxes? - Updated questions at end

    in The College Board

    Posted

    14 hours ago, Lanny said:

    Like you, we had been paying approximately $12 for the TaxACT "Premium" service, and then one year when I went to begin our taxes for the previous tax year, it had jumped tremendously in cost and that is when I found the IRS "Free File" on IRS.GOV

    I just looked (with my age and AGI) on IRS "Free File".  TaxSlayer (the one I used for our 2021 Taxes) and one I had never heard of (OLT.COM) do not show an upper age limit and for those filing in states that have a state income tax (we live overseas so do not have that problem) it is free for the state return also. 

    Thanks! Our state lets us file for free anyway and it’s pretty easy, so I don’t worry about that. Was this your first year using Tax Slayer? That could be why they wouldn’t let you import stuff. Tax act only imports it from their own system. Maybe a second year in tax slayer, they would let you import?

    Till what age did your girls grow in height

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    15 hours ago, Elizabeth86 said:

    Well, I reached 5’3” at about 12 and always was every time I was measured until I was 21 and then I grew to 5’4” 😂

    Almost this exact thing happened to my dd! She was 5’3” at 12.5 years old. She just grew 1.5 inches this fall at 22.5! So now she’s 5’4.5”! Blew all our minds, but she remembered her cousin growing in college too. She had always held out hope she’d eventually grow, and she did! 

    • Like 1

    College students and taxes? - Updated questions at end

    in The College Board

    Posted

    Thanks @Lanny, it was nice to hear how you have liked using the various services. We have used taxact under irs free file, but it has an age limit of 56 I think! So, when I hit that, I’ll have to switch to something else. I was bummed when I saw that, because it’s nice to be able to import info each year, plus I know their system well. I know some of the others have varying requirements, so I’ll see what will work out. 
     

    I remember the price jump you mentioned too! I used taxact when it was cheap…I think $12 or something, and then it tripled one year and I went looking for options. That’s when I found free file and wondered if I could have been using it for free the previous years! 

    College students and taxes? - Updated questions at end

    in The College Board

    Posted

    11 hours ago, skimomma said:

    I confess to being ridiculously uneducated on federal (and state) income taxes.  Once upon a time, I did file my own but we are small business owners and our taxes are very complicated.  We have had them done by our accountant for over two decades now.  Dd is a college freshman.  And until 2021, she did not have enough income to have to file taxes.  She does this year.  I am hopeful that she can just file her own taxes, without paying a preparer as they theoretically should not be complicated.  Some questions that those of you will college students might know:

    1.  I assume since we still claim her as a dependent that she just does not claim herself? 

    2.  We used 529 money for tuition this year.  Does that go on her taxes or ours?

    3.  Does merit aid and other scholarships come into play at all?  Again, ours or hers?

    4.  My place of employment happens to be the university dd attends and therefore dd has a very generous tuition discount as one of my benefits.  Does this go somewhere, tax-wise, and again whose?

     

     

    1, right, if you claim her, she doesn’t claim herself.

    2 and 3, here’s a good response—it can depend on how you do things. https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/college-education/discussion/if-we-paid-my-son-s-college-tuition-with-his-529-plan-do-we-claim-anything-in-our-taxes/00/752222
     

    4, sorry, I haven’t had to deal with that one, so I don’t know. Maybe your employer has information?

    • Like 2

    Wordle

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    8 hours ago, wintermom said:

    I'm SOOOO glad that there aren't too many really weird words, like in the AoPS article. That really scared me. I've only missed one word, and all the ones I've guessed so far have been pretty normal words. Thank goodness!

    Yeah, I was wondering the same! Good to know!

    • Like 1

    Enjoying ourselves during covid

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    I still go walking in teen temps and above too. I don’t get enough movement at home otherwise! I did go to a show this fall. It was masked and social distanced, but still felt very weird! When it was nicer out, my husband and I went to the botanical gardens, and that was lovely! 

    • Like 1

    Does this texture/type of cat food still exist?

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    On 1/6/2022 at 10:40 AM, Indigo Blue said:

    Interesting....just found this

    https://allaboutcats.com/semi-moist-cat-food

    And in this article it shows that Wellness does apparently make an air dried semi-moist food similar to semi-moist of old days. 

    But this article also explains why you can no longer find semi-moist foods.

    Thanks for posting that! My cat loves her kibble slightly wet, and while I do just a small amount and she usually finishes it all, every once in awhile there’s a little left. Usually I see and toss it, but I’ll be more vigilant now that I know it could be bad if left out. 

    • Like 1
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