I was surprised when we filled out the FAFAS for DS3. Last year, our EFC was approx 13K. This time, came to 41K. We had 3 in college last year - but even when we had 1 or 2 in the past, it was consistently around 13K. My husband is retired, so income hasn’t changed much. Savings, investments etc. up a bit (2K?) but that seems like a big jump. I’ve gone through last year’s v. this year’s and the only thing I see is decreasing back to 2 in college.
Any insight? DS3 receives a need-based academic scholarship and I"m a bit concerned that this will decrease with the increase in EFC. The school does not use CSS.
I’m not sure about that big a jump, but I’m afraid this might be your new reality. Not only do you have fewer in college, but your family size is smaller. Our kids all went to schools that only had need-based aid and the change in family size was a BIG hit for us as each older child graduated.
Yep - was around 13K for each before. So far, only filled out FAFSA for 1 of the 2 remaining in college and it came to 41K for that one! And yes…shows 6 in household (forgot to drop to 5 for the 1 who is graduating) and 2 in college. I wouldn’t be as surprised if previous FAFSAs with 1 or 2 in college (we had 3 at the same time this year) hadn’t shown around 13K each back in 2014-2016. Didn’t think 1 graduating would make such a big difference when there is still 1 who hasn’t started college.
My husband is retired, so income hasn't changed much.
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How long has your H been retired? Is his income from that tax year from a pension or from where? Do you have an income?
Income that isn’t from “work” is assessed more harshly.
He’s been retired from US Govt since before the kids started college. His income shows as 0 because it’s all pension. I make $18,500 working part time. Our AGI is about $135K. My DS has no income or assets. (has a 529 owned by grandfather). Our assets about $100K. None of that has really changed in the past 4 years - other than the number of kids at home and the number in college. 1 HS Junior, 1 college senior, 1 college junior, 1 college freshman. I’m assuming that everything transferred correctly from IRS - because using the tool, none of the values actually show up.
$41,000 sounds like it should be your total EFC…not the EFC for one kid.
Check again…make sure you did indicate two kids in college. Are they both undergrads?
Also, if you DID do a rollover…this would not be taken into consideration by the DRT…and you would have needed to answer certain FAfsa questions correctly AND check a box of some sort.
Yes! I had forgotten about that. 105K rolled from one fund to another. I will go back and take see if I can figure out how to revise it. I guess because it doesn’t show up on income etc (and is hidden on new FAFSA), I completely forgot about it. Thank you so much.
If you can’t, then you need to contact the colleges…provide the necessary documentation…and they should be able to make the change in their calculations.
That $100,000 basically doubled your income…almost. That explains the large EFC increase.
Ok - now I’m seeing all of the threads about the rollover checkbox/amounts/drt thing. Wish I’d remembered that we did the rollover. Thanks, @thumper1 for reminding me. Better now than when the need based scholarship disappeared!!
Parent retirement income from a pension would not be reported on FAFSA line 88 or 89 (parent earnings from work) because it’s not an entry on 1040 lines 7, 12 or 18 (or the equivalent lines on a 1040A or 1040EZ). Pension income is listed on 1040 line 16. Parent pension income is accounted for on a FAFSA through reporting AGI on line 85.
Correct - my DH’s income shows as “0” on the FAFSA line 88. His pension income rolls in as part of the AGI. He has a “traditional pension” from the US Government (thank heavens). Fortunately, I will only have to straighten this out with one school (so far) because I don’t have any kids starting college for the first time next year.
I am going to make sure I bring up the rollover issue at the Federal Student Aid conference next month. They need to figure out a way to make sure people don’t miss that … it can make a big difference! And just think how many people don’t have an online community like CC to help them figure it out & fix it.