That must be why you were asked about your income and assets.
What was your EFC?
@mommdc My EFC was 0.
@mommdc @BelknapPoint I believe I will still be asked about my income tax even with the free/reduced lunch
Yes, you should try and correct the FAFSA. The 2016/17 FAFSA asked about federal means tested benefit in 2015 or 2014 and you said you met that.
When you correct your FAFSA you will need to resubmit it.
Then the FAFSA for 2017/18 should ask for federal means tested benefit in 2016 or 2015 so you should still qualify for auto zero EFC because tax year 2015 income will be used again and you mom is under the $25,000 limit.
You might get auto zero EFC for next year too and it would be great if your income and savings wouldn’t affect your EFC.
@kelsmom, is that correct that auto zero EFC would mean that student income and asset questions will be skipped on the FAFSA?
Some states ask for the parents’ assets and student income/assets even if you are auto $0 or simplified assets. It depends on which state you use for your residence, not where you attend college. IIRC, it wasn’t every question, but a few more than the ‘federal FAFSA’ required. The additional questions did not change the EFC.
If it’s an auto 0 EFC, the student income/asset info will be skipped. It’s true that some states may ask for the income/assets … when you indicate the state of residence, that’s how the FAFSA know if it should ask for that info.
@kelsmom I live in Florida, do you know if it will still ask it?
Will FAFSA make some type of notice on my correction? Will it alert them to something? @kelsmom @mommdc
Florida does not ask for the extra info if it is Auto $0 or simplified assets.
It was just a surprise when I had a different state residence this year and I needed more information than I was prepared to enter when filling out FAFSA. I went back to see if I’d entered something wrong, then realized it was the different state of residence that caused the skip logic to not skip some of the questions.
@mommdc @BelknapPoint I went in and updated my FAFSA to say that I had free lunch in 2014/2015 because I did in high school. It skipped the question regarding my income, assets, and whether I filed/what I filed!
@mommdc The only thing now is that some of the information on my SAR has a small blue “h” with a circle. I’m not sure if this is bad?
I don’t know what the blue h means.
Thanks for reporting back!
@kelsmom, does the blue h in a circle mean anything problematic?
OP, see post #24 if interested in the possibility of free money. You could print it and take it to your mom’s accountant.
@Madison85 If the mom only qualifies for the $1,000 maxiumum refundable AOTC ($16,000 income) and the OP would then have to declare an extra $4,000 in taxable scholarship income (which might result in $400 or more of tax owed and penalties) and pay to have her mom’s tax return amended and hers filed ($200 fee?), there might not be much money left to make it worth it for 2015.
The income for FAFSA should not change but I wonder if an amendment would still delay FA (they might have to notify the FA office even if it doesn’t change the EFC).
But they could definitely look into this for 2016 tax year.
@liz1497, call your school’s FA office and tell them you corrected FAFSA because you realized that you hadn’t said “yes” to the free lunch question on the original FAFSA. Ask if they need a letter from your high school stating that you received free lunch in the 2014/15 school year.