<p>I don't understand why person who had handled my financial aid award letter would increase my EFC by that much.
Through elementary and high school I had received free or sometimes reduced lunch, so it was obvious to me that my parents did not make a ton of money. I live in a household of six people with a total annual income of about $66,000.
When I submitted my Fafsa I was given a pell grant estimate of about $5700 and so I had been selected for verification. If someone could please tell me if the corrections this administrator made is right, because I don't understand why I did not receive even a little amount from the pell grant due to my circumstances.</p>
<p>With an income of $66,000 and a family of 6 you wouldn’t meet the income qualifications for the reduced meal program unless you live in Alaska or Hawaii. <a href=“Income Eligibility Guidelines | Food and Nutrition Service”>http://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/income-eligibility-guidelines</a>. Most likely the EFC is correct and was caught through verification.</p>
<p>I actually do live in Hawaii. What impact would that have?</p>
<p>What you need to find out is what was changed. Look at the FAFSA you completed, and look at the changes made during verification. What changed?</p>
<p>Review your SIR after your school updated your FAFSA</p>
<p>We can’t tell you if the changes are correct without knowing what they are. As noted above, you need to compare your original FAFSA to the updated one, and see if you can identify the changes. If you can’t find them, then you need to contact the financial aid officer directly and ask him or her to go over the changes with you, so that you understand what they are. And if you don’t understand, ask.</p>
<p>It’s possible they’re correct, but it’s also possible that an error was made. There’s no way to know until you review the changes.</p>
<p>With an income of $66k, even if you were eligible for free lunch, you would not be eligible for an automatic 0 EFC.
You are probably going to have a EFC that is more than 0.
Do you have siblings who are also attending college?</p>
<p>What were the changes made on your FAFSA? If you tell what they were, perhaps folks can tell you what’s up. If you were verified, what info were you asked to provide? That should give you some indication of what didn’t look right. </p>
<p>Yes, it IS possible for your FAFSA EFC to change, and yes, by that amount. Any error on your FAFSA…any info that is not consistent with your tax return, or whatever other information requested in the verification process could very well result in a change. In fact, during verification, if an error is noted, it must be corrected.</p>
<p>That being said…mistakes do happen. Look at your first submitted FAFSA…print it out. Then go and print out the amended one…and compare line by line. </p>
<p>Question…you say you live in a household of 6 people? Who are they? Two parents and four dependent children? </p>
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Through elementary and high school I had received free or sometimes reduced lunch, so it was obvious to me that my parents did not make a ton of money. I live in a household of six people with a total annual income of about $66,000.
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<p>that is still a decent income and doesnt net a 0 EFC. Are you saying that when you first submitted FAFSA, you were given a 0 EFC? that doesnt sound right. </p>
<p>66k is not low income.</p>
<p>To be honest, a $9000 EFC sounds more consistent with your family income than a $0 EFC. </p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>True…frankly, I am shocked that families earning $66k are getting free/reduced lunch. My goodness!</p>
<p>^ $66K qualifies for reduced (not free) lunch for families of 6 in Alaska & Hawaii, just under 66K for a family of 6 in the states. They have a sliding scale for income/# of family members and different income limits for free or reduced lunch. Here’s a link to a chart of current levels (and kind of interesting) <a href=“http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2014-04788.pdf”>http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2014-04788.pdf</a></p>
<p>I realize that, but my goodness…no wonder this country is broke.</p>
<p>I think a lot more families qualify for reduced lunches and don’t know it.</p>
<p>Dont know about that…each year , at the beginning of the school year, the paperwork gets included in registration.</p>
<p>Funny that the govt thinks that a family with that income/size can pay $9k per year towards college NEXT YEAR, but not pay for lunches this past year. that is part of the cray-cray.</p>
<p>The paper work gets included…but so does a LOT of other beginning if the year paperwork. Some folks probably just toss this without reading, figuring they wouldn’t qualify anyway. </p>
<p>I qualified for free/reduced lunch when I was in high school.
No paperwork EVER got sent home with me about it and we had no idea we qualified until my senior year. (And I was an auto-0 EFC student) </p>
<p>This country is NOT broke from feeding poor people. It is VERY small slice of the federal budget, but that’s a whole 'nother topic. </p>
<p>I made a mistake when filing the FAFSA that I did not know where to put in the IRA contribution. As a result, I got a lower EFC initially. When I did the DRT, that error was corrected and the EFC jumped up around $5000. Anyway, a $9000 EFC for $66K AGI sounds reasonable. </p>
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This country is NOT broke from feeding poor people
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<p>feeding POOR people is fine. I hope that you are NOT suggesting that a family that earns $60k+ is POOR!!!</p>
<p>and you have to realize that once a family qualifies for free/reduced lunch, some other entitlements are forthcoming.</p>
<p>FYI. $60k is around (or slightly above) median household income in the US. That means more than 50% families make less than that.</p>