I received an email that a college changed my D’s FAFSA - when I checked, our EFC had increased by $4000! Then one of the colleges she applied to changed the amount of the grant they were giving us - they lowered it over $3000. I have no idea which college made the change (she applied to 8 different ones). Does this change go to all the schools she applied to or is it just for that university?
What numbers changed that made the EFC go up that much? Did you have to send tax returns or W2s to any colleges? Did you update the FAFSA with IRS data retrieval tool prior to this change?
If they are still on the FAFSA I would think to all. The main reason you would delete a college is because you applied to more than 10 or were no longer planning to attend.
If you filled out the CSS profile, when they reviewed it they found an inconsistency and adjusted the fafsa, for example if you forgot to add your 401k contributions back in (which is considered income) on your fafsa but put it on your CSS or they saw it on your tax return.
Call the school and ask or review your fafsa against the prior print out and see what changed.
401k contributions are not listed on tax return, but should be on W2.
Was an example of something that they might have forgotten. Depends on the return, I thought it was listed if you itemize.
I did use the IRS retrieval tool, and I thought that meant I was good. We use TurboTax, so I assumed that my taxes were correct, and that after using the IRS Retrieval Tool, I didn’t need to change anything else on our FAFSA. But yes, it was retirement contributions that was added to our FAFSA. BUT WAIT!! I just double checked, and they got that amount from line 12 DD - which is the value of our health-care coverage, NOT pension or retirement. I think a college made a mistake!
Then you need to contact them all and ask about the change and reference the amount listed in box 12DD on your W2. I would start with the college that reduced the grant.
I just contacted FAFSA - they couldn’t tell me which college made the change (which is very aggravating), so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.