Am I a Dislocated Worker? - for FAFSA

<p>I think I am a "Dislocated Worker," but my husband does not think so. I find the definition on the FAFSA app a bit ambiguous.</p>

<p>I have been laid off from my last 2 jobs due to lack of work. I have been unemployed for over two years, and no longer receive unemployment checks. My field, and especially in my region, is not hiring very much, but some people DO have jobs in the field. At my age, frankly, I do wonder if I am "likely" to return to this work. </p>

<p>My husband thinks the dislocated worker status applies to industrial-type jobs that have completely diappeared, and that if I mistakenly refer to myself as one that our financial aid possibilities could be jeopardized.</p>

<p>College Confidential experts, please weigh in, and thank you!
(Also, what sort of proof might a financial aid office ask for?)</p>

<p>FAFSA says:</p>

<p>"In general, a person may be considered a dislocated worker if he or she:</p>

<p>is receiving unemployment benefits due to being laid off or losing a job and is unlikely to return to a previous occupation;
has been laid off or received a lay-off notice from a job;
was self-employed but is now unemployed due to economic conditions or natural disaster; or
is a displaced homemaker. A displaced homemaker is generally a person who previously provided unpaid services to the family (for example: a stay-at-home mom or dad), is no longer supported by the husband or wife, is unemployed or underemployed, and is having trouble finding or upgrading employment.
If a person quits work, generally he or she is not considered a dislocated worker even if, for example, the person is receiving unemployment benefits.</p>

<p>Note: If you answer Yes, the financial aid administrator at your college may require proof that your parent is a dislocated worker."</p>

<p>The dislocated worker question is to help determine your eligibility for one of 2 special formulas in the EFC formula. One is the simplified needs test which requires an AGI of below $50,000, the other is the auto 0 with requires an AGI below $31,000. Is your income in these ranges? If not the question is irrelevant anyway.</p>

<p>When did your unemployment run out? There are varying lengths of time and a combination of federal (TBD your type of company/job) and state benefits (with every state slightly different) When when your last layoff? Have you actively been looking for work? When I was laid off and checked that box I had to send a copy of the determination letter. This might be key for you as proof (when last layoff occured and if you are actively seeking work or taking contract/temp/consulting jobs etc).</p>

<p>I don’t know for certain Swimcats because even when I was laid off my AGI (because of severance plus unemployment plus savings withdrawals etc. put me above the $50,000 mark (I’m the sole income earner). My S1 did receive a Perkins that year (and we were full pay prior to this) which I guess I attributed to the dislocated status so it might open up that option which might not typically be available, it’s a loan but it’s cheaper in the long run than withdrawing from retirement savings to cover a short term situation.</p>

<p>swimcatsmom, Our income (unfortunately!) IS below $30,000 right now.</p>

<p>momofthreeboys, my unemployment ran out almost 1 year ago. I am looking for work. I was employed over two years ago (outside of my field) in a temporary job, and before that I was contracting part time in my field. Before that I had a regular full time position in my field, but was laid off due to lack of work. My career has been in a creative service, office environment.</p>

<p>With that information, do you think I should call myself a dislocated worker? </p>

<p>It is sounding like if I do, and the college financial aid offices disagree, there won’t necessarily be any consequences except that the financial aid package could be lower - is that correct? But no jeopardizing of FA, generally?</p>

<p>And digging up some papers or whatever they may ask for, shouldn’t be a problem.</p>

<p>I would put that you are a dislocated worker. If the school asks to verify this and disagrees they will just change it. (I don’t know what sort of thing they would require to verify it). There would not be any negative consequences. If your AGI is under $31k you can also qualify for the auto 0 by being filing a 1040a or ez (rather than 1040) and receiving means tested benefits such as free school lunches.</p>

<p>Thank you swimcatsmom! I will go ahead and specific myself as such. </p>

<p>Do you think one can qualify for the “Auto 0” is they do qualify for “free/reduced lunch” but did not pursue it, and does not file the -A or -EZ versions of the tax forms?</p>

<p>for the auto 0 EFC you have to meet the income requirements (<$31k) and one of the other criteria. </p>

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<p>I believe you have to have actually received the benefits to qualify that way.</p>

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<p>You EITHER have to have received one of the means tested benefits (free lunch, food stamps, for example) OR file the 1040A/1040EZ.</p>

<p>If you file a regular 1040 tax form and have never received the means tested benefits, I believe you do NOT qualify for the auto $0 EFC or the simplified needs test.</p>

<p>they qualify if she is a dislocated worker. You only have to meet one of the criteria (in addition to the income one of course).</p>

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<p>If you’re not sure that you will be able to prove your status as a dislocated worker, I would advise calling the main office of your child(ren)'s school and filling out the application for reduced school lunches. Based on your income, you’d likely qualify (I think the eligibility criteria are published on the web) and your child does not actually have to eat the school lunch or use the benefit. But simply having qualified may make it much easier to pay for his/her education next year.</p>

<p>Yes, sk8rmom! I just realized that, since we are talking about 2010, we DID fill out that form, and qualified, but never used the benefit. </p>

<p>We did not fill it out for the 2010-11 school year, but we did for the 2009-10 school year, which obviously included January through June 2010, so I think we can claim that?</p>

<p>Yes, there is a 2 year lookback period so the 09/10 benefit will suffice for the 11/12 FAFSA. But, unless you complete the 10/11 app, you will not qualify under the reduced lunch clause when you complete the FAFSA next winter…just what you need, more paperwork!</p>

<p>My husband lost his job in Oct 2010 and is receiving unemployment benefits. I found the “dislocated worker” term a bit confusing at first. But after reading Paying for college… and re-reading the description on the form, I checked him off as a dislocated worker. As far as I know, you do not have to be in a certain industry to qualify. Our AGI is much higher than the limits discussed here for 2010. I wanted to make sure that the FAOs saw that he is unemployed and that his income for 2011 is a big question mark.</p>

<p>upstatemom, are you also going to request professional judgement? That may help you much more than simply answering the dislocated qualifier question.</p>

<p>There is no requirement that someone be from a particular industry to be considered a dislocated worker.</p>

<p>sk8rmom- I’m on the fence about pj. Am waiting to see how it all plays out–what schools accept her and what the aid will be. I wrote a letter to one university that D applied to explaining the situation. It may be all moot soon as H has a decent shot for a new job–interviewing next week. I filed the FAFSA and Profile early in Jan. and have completed all necessary forms except those going through IDOC so it’s pretty much done for 2010.</p>

<p>All answering “yes” does is FLAG the fafsa for the FA office to see if you need an income adjustment (because you were recently laid off) from a prior year.</p>

<p>Since it appears your income is already low, and has been for awhile (no drastic drop in income anticipated from last year) then all this debate is for nothing.</p>

<p>They aren’t going to adjust the income because, you are already poor!</p>

<p>Just be sure you don’t count on your child getting enough aid to cover all his costs unless you are willing to take out parent PLUS loans… he needs to choose a school that he can afford without putting you and hubby in the poor house!</p>

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This is completely WRONG. The question is used within the EFC formula (along with the AGI) to determine a persons eligibility for the simplified needs test or the automatic 0 EFC. In the simplified needs test all assets are ignored by the formula. In the automatic 0 calculation everything is ignored (assets, student income and assets, untaxed income) and the EFC is set automatically to 0. It can make a HUGE difference to the EFC calculated by the EFC formula and sent to the schools.</p>

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Again, this is completely wrong information. A person with an AGI below $31k will not have a 0 EFC without the auto 0 calculation. And depending on the schools policies a 0 EFC can make a big difference to aid. Many schools use the auto 0 EFC to determine a students eligibility for limited aid such as SEOG.</p>

<p>It is important to correctly answer the questions asked in FAFSA. There is a reason for them and the can make a huge difference to the calculated EFC. Some schools may additionally use the information to make other decisions about aid. But the main reason for the dislocated worker question is to determine eligibility for the 2 special calculations within the EFC formula.</p>

<p>hanaviolet, you should be okay for now even if you can’t use dislocated worker. The school lunch program looks like it will work. For the future, you should check out what is needed to file a 1040a versus a 1040. When I did my analysis, I thought it would cost me a number of deductions, but most of that turned out to be on the state tax forms and not federal. You can claim the deductions on your state taxes according to the people at fafsa, and still file a 1040a federally, so it isn’t so bad.</p>