<p>I know that every year you have to do the FAFSA if you are receiving financial aid. </p>
<p>I want to get a part-time job so that I can start paying off loans. Would a financial aid office recalculate my rewards so that I receive less help because of money earned from my job? If that's the case, then it would really defeat the purpose of working in college...</p>
<p>You can earn up to about $6k per year w/o it hurting your aid. But, you have to spend the money, you can’t have sitting in savings when you file the next FAFSA. </p>
<p>So, you can either start paying off loans, and/or borrow less unsub loans in the future.</p>
<p>Part of my financial aid package was federal work study. Does that count as something separate, or part of my income (and subject to that $6k limit)?</p>
<p>Work study does not count. Also keep track of the work study funds, so that you don’t have to report them as assets but as unused financial aid on the next year’s FAFSA. The same with any other financial aid funds. Where you really get whacked is with any assets you report on FAFSA since students get no asset exclusions and twenty cents of each dollar goes directly to the student EFC. For income, you get a $6K income exclusion for the year, and work study proceeds do not count. 50% of anything over that goes directly on to the student EFC.</p>
<p>Cool, cool.</p>