I had reduced lunch last year but was denied this year. Will that impact my FASFA this year by increasing my EFC?
If you were using the reduced lunch qualification to qualify for simplified assets/needs on the FAFSA, you’d now have to report any assets (parents and students). That may change your EFC. If you qualified for reduced lunch because of a low income and now that income is higher, it most likely will change your EFC, but remember income is from the prior tax year, so this Oct you will use 2016 income.
Does your family qualify for any other means tested benefit?
No
If an only or youngest child, a high school senior who gets free lunch, submits FAFSA which ignores family assets, gets a low EFC…but then when he submits FAFSA the following year, he’s obviously not free lunch, then would his EFC significantly rise if family has assets? If so, I wonder if this situation causes problems
Quoted from https://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/071017EFCFormulaGuide1819.pdf (page 4 and 5):
So if you qualified for reduced lunch in 2016 you should be ok for simplified needs for this 2018/19 FAFSA, if parents earned less than $49,999 in 2016.
^^Sorry had some trouble with copy/pasting, I think I fixed it.
You apply for free/ reduced lunch every year. When he files the FAFSA he puts down his free/reduced status for 2016/ 2017. He may meet the criteria this year but will not next year. Op will not be able to claim the benefit on the 2019-2030 FAFSA.
He needs to do the FAFSA forecaster with and without assets so he can see what the difference in the EFC will be.
This is the number one thing we tell kids on the first day of school- get the lunch forms in. If you receive PUblic assistance In NYC your free lunch status is automatically updated because there is a separate code for free lunch due to public assistance benefits than free lunch based on income
In NYC every student can now get free lunch. However it does not mean that every student is eligible for free lunch so you must still fill out a lunch form for fee waivers
If a kid who gets free lunch senior year, I believe they can use the benefit for only one year after graduation then they must meet one of the other criteria. If they have younger siblings still getting free/reduced lunch they are good.
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If a kid who gets free lunch senior year, I believe they can use the benefit for only one year after graduation then they must meet one of the other criteria. If they have younger siblings still getting free/reduced lunch they are good.
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That’s what I suspected. So an only or youngest child could find that they have an EFC 0 for frosh year, but then have a high EFC the next year once they lose their free lunch if they don’t meet another criteria.
They might still qualify for simplified needs if the parent was eligible to file 1040A, or was a displaced worker.
But if income was too high to qualify for reduced lunch, it may have been over $49,999, so then simplified needs doesn’t apply.
Unless they don’t qualify for reduced lunch anymore because there are no younger siblings still in school. Or are home schooled.
A look at asset protection allowance based on older parent’s age will give the amount over which parent assets will count. The parents might not have assets over that amount.
Absolutely…look at the asset protection allowance.
Does your family have significant assets?