In 2011, my father lost his job and since then my mother has been working as a cashier. She makes a little under $10,000/yr. I filled out my FAFSA, CSS, and sent documents through IDOC. But, a couple of the colleges I applied to have sent me emails stating that there is a possibility that my family’s monthly expenses exceed our monthly income or that I made an error. I emailed one of the colleges back and they said that they needed a better understanding of how we are living with so little money and not seeking government help or something. He also said that there might be a money source we have that I failed to list. I’m worried the guy was implying that there is no way we could be so poor.
I live in a family of 4, parents are married, and I have a younger sister. We have about $15,000 in savings. Our house we bought for $100,000 (with money previously saved up) and thus don’t pay rent, mortgage, etc. I get free lunch at school, but no other government help. We do not have health insurance.
I’m really worried and am not sure what to do. I didn’t think that our situation seemed implausible and am really confused. Can anyone please shed some light on my situation? Thanks so much.
So your parents pay for all food, clothes, utilities (heat, gas/electric cell phones, water, TV) health insurance, cars (insurance, maintenance, gas, repairs), property taxes, incidentals, for 4 people on $10,000 per year?
You likely have a $0 EFC. In the majority of cases, the colleges will want to verify that you do not have other sources of income. That is their right. You are asking them for a LOT of their money.
All you need to do is be able to prove that you can cover your monthly bills with the income your mom makes. If you have been honest about that, must send the schools the documentation they are requesting.
It does sound impossible to support a family of 4 with $10k/year without help. Also, you should be able to get subsidized health insurance. By law, you need to have one.
Does your family charge some of the expenses to credit cards? Can you supply them CC statements to prove this? Was the balance of the savings account higher last year and you used some of the money and you could show that the balance of the account is less now?
Did your parents borrow against home equity or did they withdraw some money from a retirement account?
Can you have your parents add up all the expenses they paid for your family last year?
If they withdrew money from a tax deferred retirement account, it would have shown up as income this year.
I think the school will want to see their monthly bills, plus things like car insurance, house insurance, property tax bills, utilities. The school needs to see that the income and exoenses go together. If there are more expenses, the school is going to want to know where the money is coming from.
@Madison85 We do spend a little more than my mom makes and the little we have in our bank account is dwindling. We are pretty thrifty with groceries and don’t usually buy clothes, etc unless it is necessary. I asked my dad, and our property tax is a little over $1000 a yr.
@billcsho I’m not sure how we don’t have it, but we for sure do not have health insurance.
@mommdc In 2014, my dad’s brother gave us $10,000 dollars, but the the FAFSA didn’t ask us to include that and we listed it under “Enter the amount of cash your parents received and any money paid on their behalf (e.g., bills) in 2014.” We filled everything exactly as our tax return docs stated.
Also, with tax returns we got about $5000 back so that is another source of money. My dad is currently trying to start a company so hopefully we will have a better source of income soon.
Checking for clarity. You had less than $10,000 in income and you got $5000 BACK?
Basically, yes. And so they’re asking you to prove that you’re not. You understand how implausible your situation seems. You own a home. Even if you own it outright, you’re paying property taxes, I’m going to guess, very conservatively, and amount that would work out to $100-$200 a month. You have to heat that home in the winter, flush the toilets and shower with some kind of water. The 4 of you need to eat and if your mom drives to work, you buy gas and have to pay insurance on a car. You all wear clothes and shoes. Your income is less than $1000 a month. You can see why the colleges would ask? Your expenses nodoubtedly exceed your income and it looks like that savings won’t last much longer.
You may need to have a conversation with your parents. There may be help from a family member or other source that you don’t know about. I’ve known people to live off HELOCs in dire situations as the interst only payments can be very low. Be as forthwright as you can with the school. There’s some discretion involved in putting together a fin aid package, for example making it loans heavy or grant heavy or leaving a huge gap. You need a huge FA package. I’d urge you to be very compliant with and respond quickly to all requests from the fin aid office.
@thumper1, yes but they might not have known that they needed to report it as income.
Yes it is possible to get a tax refund if your income is too low to pay taxes. Additional tax crefit is refundable and earned income credit is refundable.
Thanks everyone for your helpful responses. With my mom’s income and the $10,000 my uncle gave us, that is around $20,000 we had to live with for 2014 so I guess that’s why I never really thought anything about it.
And my dad did have a job before, so that’s how we saved up to buy a small house. We bought it entirely (without loans) so we wouldn’t have to pay rent and such.
I can take a picture of my CSS Profile/FAFSA if that would clear things up?
Total Income
$10,000
- Adjustments
$0
- Deductions
$12,400
- Exemptions
$15,800
Taxable Income =
$0
Tax
$0
- Alternative Minimum Tax
$0
- Credits
$0
- Other Taxes
$0
- Withholdings & Estimated Payments
$0
- Refundable Credits
$5,010
Refund =
$5,010
Quick tax estimator, family of 4 married filing jointly, one child under 17, one 17 or over and student, $10,000 income. Refundable credit about $5,000. The college should see that on the tax form, so maybe send them a copy?
Sorry meant additional child credit.
Also maybe mention the gift from the uncle.
You ought to get that health insurance plan now. In a few months, you’re gonna have a hefty fine if you don’t.
Earned income credit was probably about $4,000 and additional child credit about $1,000.
Does your state have a children’s insurance program like CHIP? You should really have insurance. In our state it is free for certain incomes and costs a premium if you make over that. It also covered dental and vision coverage and had low copays.
Was your dad ever in the military, could he maybe qualify for VA health benefits?
Here are pictures of my CSS Profile. (Sorry if they are unclear and I wasn’t sure how to upload on here, so I had to upload on another website and just get the image url)
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https://40.media.■■■■■■■■■■/b0d9cae49406e926b66db449b852b531/tumblr_nll4shGyvi1qm4ysfo2_540.jpg
https://40.media.■■■■■■■■■■/bfb8808691b115492f59167c7fa8fec1/tumblr_nll4shGyvi1qm4ysfo3_540.jpg
I think the tax returns, money from my uncle, and such was included. So wouldn’t all the money we gained in 2014 be included and add up to over $20,000? I understand that that is still an incredibly small amount, but shouldn’t it be plausible enough for my family to live of off?
@mommdc I live in Georgia and he has not been in the military. We are actually immigrants that came to the US in 2003. My dad was a scientist.