<p>I just happened to go on the FAFSA site to verify my EFC number and noticed that on May 1, 2009 it was changed. It says the Transaction Source is: FAA Corrections on the Web.</p>
<p>I have not made any changes to my profile since February so was very surprised my EFC went down.</p>
<p>Does anyone know why? </p>
<p>I looked through the posts and did not see anything about this so if has already been discussed I apologize.</p>
<p>The only thing I can tell you is that a school can submit changes to your FAFSA during their evaluation. Last year my daughter was accepted to 4 schools. One school actually calculated her EFC lower and we were sent notice of it. When I forwarded that to the school she was actually looking to go to, they said they did their own calculations and would be submitting a change in FAFSA that would make her EFC higher! That school still gave her the best FA package but I did think it was odd that schools could change your EFC.</p>
<p>Were you verified? Print out your SAR and compare it line by line to the one you did in February to find the changes.</p>
<p>FAA on the web is used by aid officers to make changes. You can go into your FAFSA online & find out what changes were made. Some possible items that could have been reported incorrectly: income from work reported as AGI, AGI reported as income from work, Hope/Lifetime Learning tax credit not reported on FAFSA, income tax reported incorrectly. There might have been enough difference that the EFC dropped. Also … if both parents worked & income was all reported under one parent … fixing it can drop the EFC. Sometimes dad works a regular job & mom has business income. If dad’s income is reported under dad’s income from work but mom’s business income is not reported under mom’s income from work, the EFC will be higher than it should be.</p>
<p>As for aid officers making changes … that is what happens when verification reveals discrepencies between the FAFSA & the tax returns.</p>
<p>This happened to my daughter’s FAFSA. She was selected for verification and her EFC changed twice when two seperate schools she was accepted to made corrections. The first change was correct, but the second was an error.</p>
<p>First check the FAFSA, any changes made will have a * next to the information/number. </p>
<p>Next (if you do not agree with the change or do not understand it), call FAFSA and ask them which school made the change(s). </p>
<p>Then you have to call that school’s financial aid department to discuss the change. I did so and they agreed that they had indeed made an error and corrected it. </p>
<p>It was a pain, but it is so important that you follow up on this. Good luck.</p>