So, here are some answers to your questions, comments, complaints, and other general jibbing!!! First of all, please bear with us. In the last three days we have received over six bins of mail and over 250 email messages and we are processing through it. That said, it may take us several days to get caught up and have your documents reflected on the MyMIT portal. We will be considering anyone who completes by the end of next week as still completed on-time, so no problem if you are a few days behind due to our mail coding!

Hopeful, International Financial Aid operates in a very similar manner to Domestic Freshmen awarding. We do ask for the College Board's International Student Financial Aid Application and documentation of income from your parents' employers, but our analysis is very similar to what we do for Domestic students.

If you have not yet received a foreign income tax return for 2006 in your country (this message is for Alexander) then we look for the 2005 return. In general practice, we say that if your country's tax deadline is before April 30, 2007, then we would like your 2006 return ultimately before we confirm your aid award (we will still make a preliminary award based on the 2005 information).

If your parents do not file taxes (yohini), then their salary statement will be sufficient.

The W-2 Statement is a US-only form (Utkarsh) and would not be applicable to you, so no concerns.

Another guy named Daniel, Feb. 15 was our deadline, but let me explain what the deadline means. Unlike the Admissions process, we do not have an absolute closing deadline. The Feb. 15 date is our priority deadline, meaning that if you file by this date, we confirm that we will provide an award to you before you need to make a decision about attending MIT (if you are admitted). If you complete after Feb. 15, we will make every effort to have your award to you soon, but it may be delayed. In practice, we are always able to get awards to students prior to May 1 for anyone who applies by April 1.

Anna, we still show it as not received, but given the backlog of mail and faxes, give us a week. If you still do not see it there, then resend.

Anonymous (1), some people get excited at anything!

Help, please do translate everything for us. We don't speak German (or shall I say, no sprecken zi Deutsch -- did I even spell that right?), so it is helpful if we have everything translated. As for why it may not show as received, look at the first paragraph!

Solomon, since you do not have a tax form in Ghana, we will take a letter from your parents' employers.

Mark Doss, yes, you are right. We only ask for the 2005 return if you cannot get us the 2006 return in time.

Mark Doss, yes, you are right. We only ask for the 2005 return if you cannot get us the 2006 return in time.

Mark Doss, yes, you are right. We only ask for the 2005 return if you cannot get us the 2006 return in time.

(OK, that might be overkill. But he asked the question three times!)

Me, your decription of what you sent sounds like it should satisfy what we need... Check on it next week and if we still show something missing email us at finaid(at)mit(dot)edu.

Carlos, see paragraph 1.

Bonnie and Nickie, we will have IDOC information posted to our system by next Friday (I hope), so the answer is no. If you got your information in to IDOC you are OK!!!

Madman, see above.

Theresa, you are fine! We will get the IDOC information as soon as it comes. No problems!

Robert, only send 2006 information to IDOC. Any 2005 information should be sent to us directly at MIT.

Theresa, thanks for answering that!

Elizabeth, thanks I appreciate it. Or was the "good luck" to all of the applicants?

K. Zulfiqar, give us a week (see paragraph 1). Thanks, bhushan!

Susan, once we get your 2006 information, we will make corrections (if necessary) to the award we provided you and send an update.

Jawwad, you can fax them, but we prefer mail...

Anna Sarfraz (isn't this the 2nd question?) give us a week!

Carlos (your 2nd question too!) we fixed this yesterday. Look again, it should be resolved!

JWRL, we would prefer Feb. 15, but we will take then whenever they come...

Mom, no panic attack, please. Everyone take a deep breath!!! PLEASE!!! We know this is a stressful time for you, so we will be (and are) understanding!!!

Anonymous (2), we get to them asap! We have been short-staffed this week with some scheduled time off, so be patient. We usually reply same day, but with 250 emails coming in one day, we may be a bit behind!! We will get to it ASAP!!!

Katherine, nope, your financial aid application is completely separate from your admissions app.

OK, I think I am caught up! Phew! Let me know if you have any other questions, and I will try to reply this weekend!

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

So many of the CSS and IDOC columns don't apply to international students that half of my forms (okay, perhaps this is a minor exaggeration) are virtually empty, what should I do?

Posted by: Peter on February 16, 2007

Kudos to Jason. He's proven adept at restoring a sense of balance to this process. Well done.

Posted by: Dad of '11 on February 16, 2007

You all get a gold star for efficiency and helpfulness there in the financial aid office! Truly, you stand out compared to other universities that we have dealt with so far. So, take a moment to pat yourselves on the back!

Posted by: Hopeful's Mom on February 16, 2007

lol- I meant good luck to all the applicants, but good luck to you too!

Posted by: Elizabeth on February 16, 2007

Excellent. We actually got the stuff sent off on February 15th, so hopefully you'll get it before too long. Never give up, right?

Posted by: Another guy named Daniel on February 16, 2007

MIT has the most responsive admissions and financial aid office of the colleges and universities to which our daughter applied. I asked her to email you a question, and she received an answer within 24 hours. Kudos!

Posted by: Another parent on February 16, 2007

Muches Gracias, Sinor Don Para su respondar tan bueno.

Posted by: The madman who makes people fly on February 16, 2007

Mi página que sigue ahora demuestra que todo es criterios requeridos aceptables.........

Posted by: The madman who makes people fly aka Captain SS Wan on February 16, 2007

My mom is self employed and she doesnt really file a W-2. Is the W-2 still nessesary?

Posted by: Kenechi on February 16, 2007

lol sorry about accidentally posting three times.

thanks for the response.

Posted by: Mark Doss on February 16, 2007

Can I fax in the 2006 tax returns and can you provide the fax no.?

Posted by: Sarab on February 16, 2007

Thank you so much for writing this blog. I really appreciate the fact that MIT staff answers questions in blogs like these because it saves me (and the staff) a lot of time that might otherwise be wasted through the process of email and response. I sent my packet to IDOC using overnight postal service and my UPS tracking shows that my packet has been delivered. However, the IDOC page still shows that they have not received anything. It made me a little worried but after reading your blog I realized that it may take longer than 2-3 days for everything to show up. So for those out there still freaking out, it's ok! =] Just wait and be patient. Once again, thank you for all the blogs =].

Posted by: Kathy on February 17, 2007

thank you for the answer, i feel more relaxed now.

gee, financial aid app is harder than SAT

Posted by: me on February 17, 2007

sarab
its 617-253-9859

Posted by: bhushan on February 17, 2007

what the hell is IDOC packet now

Posted by: 0 on February 17, 2007

Thanks so much for these blogs! They're wonderful!!
I have a question: I have not sent the foreign income tax return to MIT, but I did attach my father's tax records. It's just that they aren't the exact papers MIT requests. I sent it at the same time I sent my aid app and on MyMIT, the international aid app shows, but it is written that MIT has not received tax returns of any form. What do I do??
Thanks!!

Posted by: Akilez on February 17, 2007

my tracking says I am missing Business/farm supplement. is it necessary? I mean, i have listed that it's annual profit is no more than 500 dollars. And yes, what is the IDOC. i cannot understand it at all. Is not the financial aid application complete now?

Posted by: Vishal Upadhayay on February 17, 2007

hey, thanx for the answer!! hope you have a nice time reading all those apps

as for the income tax form-well, i´ve tried to translate it and mailed it to you, but it may be a bit confusing. most of those taxes and regulations don´t exist in america (germany really loves regulations :/) and it was quite hard to find out what it is-i still don´t really know. thats why the translation may sometimes be a bit, well, you´ll see... . i´m sorry for that, but i´m neither a translater nor a specialist for the german income tax, so i hope you´ll forgive me

have fun

Posted by: help on February 17, 2007

Dear Mr. Daniel,
Thanks for solving my query, but this blog has arised a new question in my mind.In India the income tax application deadline is 30 June 2007, but my father's employer will give him the goverment's acknowledgement certificate only by end of july,207.Does that mean that till that date my admissions decision will be uncertain or what ? I am seriously deeply concerned with this issue and underlying is my explanation for the same. Please tell me if you require anything else.

I want you to understand that at all goverment offices in India themselve submit the income tax but give the acknowledgement receipot of income tax only in end July 2007 or may be more late than that.

My father's employer is under constant obligation to deduct income tax at source of income i.e. from his salary, and I have already furnished the details of income earned upto 31 January 2007. And tax deducted at source and deposited by his employer in the goverment of India's treasury.

If required I can further get it confirmed or give an undertaking from my father's employer which is the National Inusrance Co. Ltd. that income tax will be deducted from my father's salary as per the rules till the date.Also as my father is paying income tax since the date of his employment i.e. since 25 years from now, so he is under constant obligation to pay his income tax. There is no way out.

In the end I would like to just tell you in short that National Insurance Co. Ltd. is a goverment office where my father works. And govt. offices need not submit income tax seperately or seperately go to the income tax office and file the return.It automatically gets deducted from its employers account and there is no way the income tax is not deducted from any of the govt. employees account.

Further I communicated regarding some part of this matter to Maxence Mateyar and MIT has received the certificate of the compay that income tax has already been deducted from his account till 31 Jan 2007.Plus he/she asked for a income tax return of financial year 2004-2005 which also has ben received by MIT.

And you can get the above information confirmed from the Indian goverment or my father's company as well in case it is required.Again if required I can submit an undertaking as stated above.

Thanking You
Sincerely
Utkarsh(Going to be course 6 student)

Posted by: Utkarsh on February 17, 2007

Thank you very much Mr. Barkowitz. I really appreciate your effort.

Posted by: Solomon on February 17, 2007

Thank you very much for your clarification.

Posted by: Yohini on February 17, 2007

i thank you for clearing my doubt about the financial aid form but iam still unclear about the process to contact my conseellAR AND financial aid officer,please brief me about that on my id

Posted by: deepak p singh on February 17, 2007

MIT really does a great job of answering questions in the blogs, and it clarifies a lot without having to actually send an email myself! Thanks!

"We don't speak German" in German is "Wir sprechen kein Deutsch" or "Wir können kein Deutsch," just so you know!

Posted by: Justin on February 17, 2007

thanks for answering my question Mr. Barkowitz!! I was still able to send out my info - the snow wasn't too horrible.. :D
thanks again.

Posted by: theresa on February 17, 2007

I have completed all of the financial aid documents, but upon reviewing the FAFSA SAR my parents have noticed that the calculated EFC is not realistic to what they can pay. How can we evaluate this information? (is the FAFSA EFC usually about the same, lower, or higher than the MIT financial aid EFC?) thank you very much for your help.

Posted by: JL on February 17, 2007

Sorry if you have already answered this question. Is there a time lag for the CSS Profile to show up on the portal as well?

Posted by: gp on February 17, 2007

Just a question: How many German applicants are there? I mena its impressive how many different Germans I discover trough all the blogs?!
Maybe you can state it, just for statistics;)

Posted by: Monika on February 18, 2007

why does finaid@mit.edu not answer my emails

Posted by: 0 on February 19, 2007

does everybody at MIT have a grt sense of humour??

Posted by: Saurav on February 19, 2007

okay.. I'm really sorry if you have already answered this and I just missed it, but my dad doesn't file taxes and he is a non-custodial parent. I just recently got him to send me his W-2's from this year and last, but the NCSS profile is a problem because he does not have internet and I doubt he will do it. What should I do? Is this a necessary part of the application or will his W-2's suffice?

Posted by: Heather Whippie on February 19, 2007

I sent my fin aid documents through Fed Ex on jan 23 and till now they have not shown up . Moreover, for the last 2 weeks fin. aid office has not answered any of my queries.

Posted by: Wahaj on February 20, 2007

Spent several hours myself today posting mail on our system. We are caught up through all mail RECEIVED by us on Feb. 14. This does not include any IDOC documents yet. Look for a new blog post tomorrow or Thursday at the latest as to answers to these questions. Thanks for your patience. We return you now to your regularly scheduled blog...

Posted by: Daniel Barkowitz on February 20, 2007

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