<p>My EFC for 2008-2009 was 00060 and now, for 2009-2010, it's 03773.
My dad hasn't filed his taxes yet (usually files in August), so I estimated his AGI.
He certainly earned more last year than in 2007.</p>
<p>Is my dad's increase in income the reason why my EFC is higher?
He doesn't claim me as a dependent. But according to the fafsa app., I'm still dependent.</p>
<p>Any tips?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Yes – it probably comes from your dad’s increase in income. Depending on circumstances, it might not take much of an increase – I think that if his income went up by about $9000, that would account for it. </p>
<p>Also, have you been working and saving money? If you have more money in your own bank account this year than last, that can also push up the EFC. </p>
<p>But there’s some good news – with those numbers you are still Pell-eligible, and the top Pell grant is going up for next year, so you may still be able to get a little more grant money than you could have last year with the same numbers.</p>
<p>Whether your dad claims you on his taxes or not is irrelevant for financial aid purposes. You are still a dependent for FAFSA if you are under 24 and cannot answer yes to one of the dependency questions (marries, have a dependent of your own etc etc).</p>
<p>Yes the increase in your dad’s income will increase your EFC. The EFC is based on income and assets of both the parent and of the student. If your EFC stays at 3773 then your Pell s/b @ $1600. If EFC increases or decreases once the actual tax return is filed and you correct FAFSA then the Pell will go up (if EFC decreases) or down (if EFC increases). he really needs to get it filed so that your aid is available once school starts.</p>
<p>Yes, I worked during 2008 but I actually earned more money in 2007.
I think what really increased my EFC is my dad’s income.</p>
<p>I’m bit worried about my expenses since I’m transferring from a community college to a 4-year school. </p>
<p>Thanks for the info guys…</p>
<p>swimcatsmom, you are right.
I checked my financial aid and the pell grant amount is $1600.
It doesn’t really help but oh well…better than nothing.</p>
<p>I don’t see why your Dad wouldn’t claim you…is there a reason? It would help your Dad’s AGI go down…swimcatsmom, wouldn’t that increase his pell in that case?</p>
<p>It would make no difference to the AGI whether the dad claimed him as a dependent or not. The deductions for dependents are after the AGI on the tax return, not before it. So no it would make the AGI lower or reduce the EFC or affect Pell eligibility. </p>
<p>Actually it could possibly make the EFC a little higher as the dad would pay less taxes (because of the extra $3500 deduction) making the available income higher in the EFC calculation. (taxes paid are deducted from the AGI by FAFSA before calculating the EFC).</p>
<p>I think my EFC went up because I screwed up.
Since my dad hasn’t filled his taxes yet, I used his 2007 tax return to estimate his 2008 Income. For some reason, I put his untaxed income (line 16a-16b) from the 2007 tax return in the 09-10 FAFSA.</p>
<p>I calculated my EFC without entering the untaxed income from 2007 and it dropped from 03773 to 806.</p>
<p>Does that make sense?</p>
<p>Where did you put that amount? In income? If so, that can make a difference. It should have been put in the parent untaxed income section … not in the income from work section. You do have to report that untaxed income (just in the right place).</p>
<p>Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>I put the amount under “Your Parents’ Untaxed Portions of Pensions:”
I just spoke to my dad and he certainly didn’t have any pensions, benefits (or other untaxed income) in 2008.</p>
<p>Does that mean I can make corrections to the FAFSA?
I’m worried I will be selected for verification since his 2008 tax return has not been filed yet.</p>
<p>You will have to update the FAFSA with the correct numbers when your father’s taxes are done, anyway. You should probably just wait until his taxes are done & do your updates then. Your money will not pay out until you do the updates (and update “will file” to “filed”).</p>
<p>You can always call the school & ask them what they would prefer.</p>
<p>OK, my dad finally filed his taxes!
But for some reason, his AGI is negative.
He’s a small business owner.</p>
<p>I entered the AGI in the fafsa but it doesn’t “like it.”
Could I enter 0?</p>
<p>Yes, enter 0. FAFSA will not accept a negative AGI.</p>
<p>You can enter a negative AGI on the FAFSA. Are you getting an error message?</p>
<p>Yes, I can’t enter a negative AGI.
It gave me an error but I can’t see it anymore 
I went ahead and put O. I hope that’s OK.</p>
<p>I would call the Fafsa help line about that. I think I read somewhere that not entering a negative number would impact your EFC, but that may have been a few years ago. If kelsmom thinks you should be able to, and you can’t, definitely call.</p>
<p>A negative AGI is considered (while negative business/farm income is not … you are to use 0 for that). I don’t understand why you can’t enter a negative AGI. Look at the FAFSA instructions: [What</a> was your adjusted gross income for 2008?](<a href=“http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/help/fotw04c.htm]What”>http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/help/fotw04c.htm).</p>