Does having a paid job affect financial aid?

Paying for College
1

<p>I am a senior and I have a paid job afterschool. I get paid by check but I never filled out a W4 form to pay taxes. Will colleges be able to find out that I have a job? Will I receive less financial aid?</p>

2

<p>As a student, you can make up to about $6K before your earnings affect your aid. Do run the numbers though the FAFSA calculator to be sure. If you have other income this may not be the case, but that is the usual result.</p>

<p>What can make a big difference to a student is how much money or other assets s/he has sitting there on the day FAFSA or PROFILE is filled out. If you are accumulating money, saving it, investing it better to reimburse your parents for expenses and have them save it for you in an account in their names and ssns since they get a protection allowance and are assessed at about 5% of assets whereas you get no allowance and get hit 20% right to the EFC.</p>

<p>Be aware that you are completing federal forms here and the penalities for fraud on them can be hefty. Whether a college can find out if you have a job or not, no one can answer. Colleges have found out a lot of thing that students, parents wanted to keep hidden. The question is whether you are doing the right thing here. The legal thing. The question you are asking is similar to asking if the IRS is going to find out that you are earning money, or if you are going to get caught if you lie on any sort of application form. Maybe not. Maybe so. But the consequences of getting caught can be severe. And unless you are earning a huge amount of money, due to the allowance for students, it may not make any or much difference in your aid award.</p>

3

<p>My earnings are definitely under $6k, so I shouldn’t worry that much should I?</p>

4

<p>No. As a rule not. You should familarize yourself with the process and where you and your family fall in it, however. A process that will benefit you for the rest of your life if you always do this.</p>

5

<p>Ok, thank you!!</p>

6

<p>jcabelleta – You are required to file a tax return if you make over $400 in self-employment income. If you are not having taxes withheld, then you are considered self-employed. If the company you work for pays you over $600, they are required to report it to IRS. Like cptofthehouse says, if you make less than $6000 it won’t affect your FAFSA EFC, but be aware that you may owe taxes on the money that you are making.</p>