I just applied to community college as a transfer student from university. I applied for financial aid and was surprised to find that I was not offered any pell grants and that my EFC is around $6,600.
I am 26 years old and my income in 2018 was around $15,000. I do receive some financial support from my parents still to help me pay my bills, but even then I was under the assumption that with my low income and independent status I would be offered at least a small grant.
Could this be an issue with information carrying over from my previous university somehow? As far as I can tell my FAFSA is accurate. It seems like most people in my income range have a much lower EFC if not 0, so I don’t really understand where that number is coming from and why I don’t qualify for a grant.
Anyway, sorry if I’m kind of ignorant here, I don’t understand this as well as I thought I did.
An independent student without dependents other than a spouse will be expected to contribute a very large portion of their income to their education. You would not have an EFC of 0, but your EFC would still be low unless you have savings … or if you reported that your parents gave you support (depending on how much). If you were a dependent student in the year the FAFSA asks about, your parents were expected to provide support. In that case, I tell students not to report that support. If you were an independent student, you would report the amount your parents paid for any bills IN YOUR NAME. For example, if your name is on the cell phone bill, it’s in your name … but if you are on your parents’ plan, it is not in your name.
You’re single and independent and have no children. You earned about $15k.
Think about it…how much of that $15k should go towards your living expenses? A chunk of it. That’s where your EFC is coming from.
If I remember correctly there is about an $8k or 9k exemption for independent people. That would mean that the first $8-9k of your income is assumed to be unavailable to go towards college COA. And much of the rest is. So there’s an assumption that about 6k of your income can go towards your food, living expenses, transportation, etc.
You can’t compare yourself a a student who is a child of parent who only earns $15k. That parent has to use most/all of that $15k to support the parent’s household, so literally none of that $15k can go towards their child’s college or that child’s college living expenses.