<p>Alright, just wondering how this situation will affect me. Although my parents are divorced, my mother received child support from him while he was working. It wasn't a ton, but she's no longer going to receive it.</p>
<p>Assuming I can get my mother's info on the FAFSA...just how much would this affect my EFC? I know my EFC was about 8800 last time, and my mother went from making 52k a year to about 55k due to a raise, so will that balance it out or will I still see an increase?</p>
<p>Oh, and if anyone has any advice on making this college thing work (I hate to ask again...), open to ideas. My mother can't pay, and I can't stay at home when I'm in college, and she might not give me her info again for the FAFSA...and I'm trying to get a car.Oh, and I don't have a cosigner for a loan. I've looked at Americorps,too. So...I'll have that with ice, thanks.</p>
<p>Your Mom's income and assets (along with your income and assets) get plugged into the FAFSA, not your Dad's. BUT the child support he's previously given is included as part of her income for FAFSA purposes. So if that's not going to continue, you can eliminate it when estimating her '07 income. So if the child support amount was similar to the 3K raise she received, it won't result in much of a change in EFC.</p>
<p>With about 52K per year in parental income, though, 'm surprised that your EFC was $8800-- that seems high. Did you show assets in your name? Assets in the student's name can drive EFC up faster than anything else.</p>
<p>I have/had zero assets, I didn't even have a checking account when we did the FAFSA, nor any income. All we had was my mother and I suppose the child Support, which is I believe is around 3k a year. I wish I knew how they came up with the number.</p>
<p>Use this calculator with various inputs to see what difference it makes on the EFC (the goal being to get the EFC as low as possible); also you can see from the output exactly where the EFC came from (student assets, student income, Mom's assets, or Mom's income). In your case, the full EFC is due to your Mom's income.</p>
<p>Your aid will be based on your Mother's 2007 income. If it includes support from your father which will not continue, write to the financial aid of each school and let them know the situation so that they can make the adjustment. The raise won't come into effect in full until your mother receives all of the additional money. What she actually made in 2007 is what is important.</p>