@GMTplus7 I know I won’t get much aid from W&M as they said they’re limiting OOS financial aid to 25% of COA if you qualify for aid - and the figure of grant aid the NPC shows is around that much so I’m aware of that. But UVA says they meet full need of OOS applicants so why exactly wouldn’t they meet my need if they calculate that I need financial aid?
@thumper1 I honestly don’t know what the loss is from…and I doubt my dad will tell me(but I know for a fact that it’s not business related - my parents can’t hide that from us). I’m the one that is so stressed about this finance stuff, not my dad. He honestly thinks I should be focusing on getting into the colleges I want instead of thinking about finances and what not, but how can I not think about this? And I’m not sure whether they made the same loss this year.
The thing is, the calculator never asks about this so how am I supposed to know how this effects the amount of aid I get?
Contact the schools. I would start with UVA. There are likely other expats applying for admission and they likely have dealt dealt with this before.
But this is what you wrote…and I’m summarizing.
Your parent income is $113,000. They have a loss of some sort of $93,000. What family can absorb a $93,000 loss on a $113,000 income? I’m just saying…this will likely take some explaining…especially if your father is saying it happened in 2013, will happen in 2014, and will continue in 2015.
Re: Post #75:
By the way, total income minus adjustments IS AGI. AGI stands for adjusted gross income. Entering each item of ‘total income’ and ‘adjustments’ separately instead of one net number for AGI likely makes it easier for the financial aid office to see the components of AGI in order to determine what pieces will be disallowed.
@thumper1 I asked my dad what the loss was - he said it’s the foreign earned income exclusion (the exact value is $97,600 and he showed me the 2012 one which was inputted under other income - $95100) - the values were inputted there to calculate AGI. It’s not an actual loss. And the income exclusion value is inputted elsewhere on the tax return as foreign income exclusion. Sorry for the confusion!
My dad has finally given me an approximate amount he can pay HIMSELF - $20K/year max. My mom said the employer may help pay for college tuition if it’s really high but it depends, my dad will need to negotiate.
Plus my dad’s company offers scholarships to strong students so I may be able to get that, but it depends on the competition.
I thought that was it for the ‘$97000’ loss, it’s the foreign income exclusion, which brings his AGI down to about $15k. This sounds correct. It might be brought back in by CSS but isn’t by FAFSA.
@twoinanddone And what effect will adding in the foreign income exclusion have on aid (increase EFC)? Why may colleges want to add it in?
I apologize for asking so many question - I’m pretty clueless about all of this stuff 
The FAFSA establishes your EFC for federal aid. I don’t think it adds back any of the foreign income so you should have a very low EFC and if so, would get a Pell grant and subsidized Stafford loan. What the CSS does with it I don’t know, and the schools could view you as low income or add it back and consider you high income.
Wait, so this student whose dad works overseas and earns $100k+/year, pays little to no taxes, and has a bunch of living expenses paid for by his company can qualify for Pell while a student on another thread whose parents work and live in the US on $66k/year doesn’t? How is that possible?
^ Because the FSAFA was written that way. How could small business owners (business with less than 100 employees) have a lot of business assets but the assets are not counted on the FAFSA?
@austinmshauri, ask the “poor” OP who qualifies for Pell, whether family has domestic servants (maid, driver, nanny, etc)
The exclusion for business owner’s is a fair ruling! I am a small business owner. What am I supposed to do with the business assets…sell a few desks to come up with tuition?
^ It depends on each business. One of my extended in-law members has a business with 2 fully paid properties and cash in business account. He also has a fully paid 800K house and 4 expensive cars in the family. He paid very little for the UC.
A CSS profile college requires parents to list all business assets and personal assets.
Coolweather is correct. And those Profile schools often add back in deductions which the IRS allows.
And…if schools see a gross income that does not align with the net…like $500,000 gross, $50,000 net…they are going to scrutinize.
I used the FAFSA4caster to see what our EFC is. It came out as 0 and it says I’ll receive $12.7K of federal aid. Is that per year or is that the amount I’ll receive over the 4 years?
@GMTplus7 No, we don’t have any domestic help. But even if we did, it’s really cheap in the country I live in so most people (middle-middle class and above) can afford domestic help so it doesn’t really mean anything!
Per year, but that’s not all free money -some is a loan.
@Madison85 Yep, it’s $5700 pell grant, around $1500 work study and a loan.
I got a reply from the W&M domicile officer. It was pretty general? He didn’t really answer my questions. This was his reply:
Thank you for your emailed questions. Since the burden is no the applicant to supply relevant information about their application you will have to decide what information you should supply to try and gain in-state tuition. I have supplied you with a link to the Code of Virginia. This Code is the Law of Virginia and all public schools must follow these guidelines in determining if an applicant can gain in-state tuition.
If you feel you are eligible I encourage you to apply for the in-state tuition privilege.
So it seems like there is a chance that I might get in-state privilege but whether I do depends on whether I meet the requirements that are detailed in the Code of Virginia. Nothing I didn’t know already. So…??
So he’s laid out the procedure for you. You apply as in-state; you provide whatever documentation you can rustle up to lay out your case; you wait for an answer (first, are you admitted, and second, does the school agree with you that you are in-state) and then make a decision.
W&M is not going to waste resources investigating your documents and devoting time to determining if you are instate or not since you haven’t even been admitted yet.
Got it?