<p>My mother made 49k last year and it shows from her AGI
but she only makes 29k a year which shows from her Income</p>
<p>this is because she won some money from the casino.</p>
<p>im not really sure but, she told me she wrote off her casino earnings on her taxes or something..</p>
<p>Would this lessen my chances of getting alot of money from student aid?(such as grants) cause of her high AGI even though she only makes 29k a year</p>
<p>Your mom is claiming that she had $20k in “gambling losses” to offset a $20k win?</p>
<p>If so, that sounds like she gambles a lot of money and has a lot of losses. Why doesn’t she just not gamble her income so she’ll have money to pay for college?</p>
<p>i am actually not sure of what she did, but her winnings weren’t from gambling… she won them from raffles. I’m just wondering if her high agi would have an effect of how much money i will receive(grant wise) from student aids even though her income is low.</p>
<p>She had to report the money she won from raffles as “other income” on her return because she owed taxes on it. This is what pushed her AGI up. You will have a higher EFC than you would without that income (because she did make more money that year). Your Pell grant will be lower than it would be if she only had her wages to report. It may or may not make any difference in your total aid package, depending on the school and its aid policies. However, it is what it is … she made the money, which was theoretically available for her to save to use for college.</p>
<p>"this is because she won some money from the casino.</p>
<p>i am actually not sure of what she did, but her winnings weren’t from gambling… she won them from raffles."</p>
<p>??? how do you win money at a casino and have it not considered to be “gambling”???</p>
<p>^ Raffles are not necessarily gambles. For example, I went to a casino and signed up for one of their cards and was automatically entered into a raffle. I did NOT need to gamble anything to win the raffle. That’s the difference…</p>
<p>At the end of the day, it does NOT matter how the mom got the money. She is still required to list it as unearned income, AND she is still required to pay taxes on it, AND the amount will be used to determine this student’s federally funded need based aid awards. It was money added as income for 2011 which is the income year used for financial aid purposes for the upcoming academic year.</p>