<p>Yes, I wonder if the OP applied to any public safeties as very few of them are Profile schools.</p>
<p>Also, haven’t you mentioned that you have won a bunch of outside scholarships? Those become part of your EFC as well.</p>
<p>“I have won about $31k in scholarships for college”. The college expects this. Every cent.</p>
<p>And your parents can’t put your $800 income on their tax return. Something is off there.</p>
<p>I know colleges expect every cent of my scholarships. It sounds like to me the issue is living in my grandmother’s home. I believe rent income was included on the FAFSA. I did apply for public universities, but crazily enough, USC had the best offer, even in state. </p>
<p>so are you saying that your parents earn 50k from jobs…plus get 900 a month from rent?</p>
<p>how much is grandma’s home worth today?
how much is the rental home worth today/?</p>
<p>do your parents own a business?</p>
<p>did you get accepted to any UCs? if so, those should have been the best aid. cal grant plus pell.</p>
<p>or are you talking about oos publics?</p>
<p>^The $900/month rent would not all be income on the 1040, at the least they are still paying on a mortgage. It seems like there should be a line-by-line review of the Profile if that is where the issue is.</p>
<p>the mortgage is low, so some of that 900 per month rent would be income. </p>
<br>
<br>
<p>however, I think the half ownership of granny’s paid off home is an issue.</p>
<p>OP…do your parents work for others? or are they self-employed, independent contractors.</p>
<p>If you have scholarship money for the upcoming year, this REDUCES the amount of need based aid USC would be giving you. But your net shouldn’t really change. The outside scholarships would be replacing aid awarded to you by the college.</p>
<p>The worth of your share of grandma’s home could be partially the issue. </p>
<p>What is the equity in the residence that USED to be your home which is now rented out. How come I thought it was paid for?</p>
<p>The rental property may show a ‘loss’ on the tax return from various expenses, including depreciation expense, which might contribute to the reported income (AGI) under $50,000. However under CSS Profile, are paper losses from depreciation expenses disallowed or added back?</p>
<p>Very often some of the allowable deductions per IRS are NOT allowed for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>To everyone who has given advice on this issue, thank you. Here is the latest: called the financial aid office and we found our problem. We will see how the appeal turns out, but my financial aid offer should probably be more reasonable if we are successful.</p>
<p>Glad you found the problem. If it’s something that will help someone else in the future, perhaps you can share the issue.</p>
<p>what was the problem?</p>
<p>Simply put, two numbers should have been zeros, but instead they were 7,000 and 20,000</p>
<p>and I am guessing that those numbers were in the student section?</p>
<p>This is a VERY common problem, for example:</p>
<p><a href=“165,000 students become millionaires after FAFSA mistake | Daily Mail Online”>165,000 students become millionaires after FAFSA mistake | Daily Mail Online;
<p>One of the common errors that may lead to that is filling the parental income/asset under the student section.</p>
<p>You mean as was mentioned way back in Post #11?</p>
<p>^ I did not notice thumper1 has mentioned that earlier too, but that is what I have heard repeatedly at the financial aid information sessions over the years. ;)</p>
<p>Yep. I wasn’t trying to poke you in the eye @billcsho. I just remember the first thing anyone mentions when an issue like this comes up (or a change in an FA award) is to go over the SAR line by line. Since this was Profile it wouldn’t be the SAR but the same recommendation applies.</p>
<p>Post 11, and reiterated in post 13! </p>
<p>But unless this was in an oddball spot, I can’t see an additional $23,000 in aid!</p>