<p>I recently filed one, and recieved my EFC back-- and was shocked to see the high number, which was about $15,000. </p>
<p>Now, I know that FAFSA numbers vary widely, and wildly, but I'm very worried that this is just wrong in some way. It's possible I'm just being naive about how the FAFSA works, but my mother only made $34,000 last year, and they've said I'm ineligible for the Pell Grant (and given me an unattainable EFC number). We have no investments, and almost nothing elsewhere (monetarily). I had a friend tell me the limit was about $40,000/yr income for the Pell Grant, but I've been unable to confirm it anywhere...</p>
<p>I guess I'm just wondering, is it obvious I've gone horribly wrong in filing my FAFSA (and thus I can go in and correct it) or do they really expect 44% of my mom's income to go towards college? I saw in another thread that an EFC of $9,000 was high, so I'm very worried about $15,000. </p>
<p>Any comments would help, I'm just a little worried I did it wrong (haha).</p>
<p>Well, I’m worried it was because we paid no taxes. (We filed the tax, we just didn’t have to pay anything as an income tax.) </p>
<p>It was all child support (excepting a few hundred dollars my mother made as a crossing guard.) so the taxes had already been deducted. Could that be my problem? </p>
<p>I’ll triple check my numbers in a second…</p>
<p>_</p>
<p>They seem to be correct:</p>
<p>Parents’ 2008 Adjusted Gross Income: $ 34,075<br>
Parents’ 2008 U.S. Income Tax Paid: $ 0<br>
Mother’s / Stepmother’s 2008 Income Earned from Work: $ 146<br>
Parents’ Education Credits: $ 1,321<br>
Parents’ Child Support Received: $ 33,000 </p>
<p>Is $15,000 really supposed to be a reasonable amount for me?</p>
<p>Child support is counted as income by FAFSA. So as far as FAFSA is concerned the income is @ $67,000. As the income is not from work there are no work related allowances against it (such as FICA). And as there is no tax paid the income is not reduced by taxes paid. So the full $67k is used in the FAFSA EFC formula. So I am afraid the 15,000 EFC is probably fairly accurate.</p>
<p>Is any of the child support stopping once you turn 18 or start college? You may be able to get an adjustment made to reflect that. You would have to talk to your school’s financial aid officer.</p>
<p>Just reread your post - was the child support included in the AGI? Usually child support is not filed as income to the recipient. It it was - why was it? If you showed the child support in the AGI and as child support received you have double reported the income. And again - why was the child support even reported on a tax return if it, if it was?</p>
<p>It looks like whoever did you mother’s taxes included child support in the AGI. Alimony is listed as income but child support is not. Basically, when your EFC was calculated your mother’s AGI was added to the child support. Your EFC was based on 77,000 dollars of non-taxable income.</p>
<p>You need to go back and change the AGI to 146 (or less if there are adjustments to income). Your mother should also refile her taxes because if you are verified the numbers need to match.</p>
<p>Who did your Mom’s tax return? If the child support was included in the AGI then this has really messed up your financial aid. With an AGI below $30,000 you would probably be eligible for an automatic 0 EFC.</p>
<p>that is actually very weird - when I was first replying I also put $77k then realized I had made a mistake before I posted it. How odd. Maybe spending too much time on CC does something weird to our brains.</p>
<p>Alimony is included in AGI and is already taxed because of that. You don’t put that anywhere on the FAFSA, because it is included in AGI. Child support is untaxed & is reported on the FAFSA as Child Support Received, part of the untaxed income section. Alimony can mess up the automatic 0 EFC, because auto 0 is AGI < $30,000. Child support doesn’t count toward the income for auto 0 efc. </p>
<p>So, Yurtle … did you use the actual figures off the tax form? If not, please look at the 1040 & provide the numbers from the lines you are asked to report. It’s really, really important to report everything correctly. I would be REALLY surprised is your EFC is supposed to be $15,000. I bet once you correct the info, it will be quite a bit less.</p>