Since your kiddo is a continuing student, I would strongly suggest she take her FAFSA printout with her, and make an appointment at the financial aid office. She can ask about this. If the FAFSA isn’t reducing the co-op money…then perhaps they can.
What tax form was issued to your daughter in 2016 for her coop earnings? A W2? A 1099?
thanks for all the comments.
yes $500 at fafsa first filing day, spent down prior to filing upon my advice.
w-2 coop income
We are going to try one more thing before talking to finaid person.
reduce 44f (coop income) by enough to make it affect EFC in a minimal positive manner according to my calculations.
So basically report 44f as $5400 instead of $10000 (it should be ok to report less than what it is)
That would make the student contribution form AI = $20 (instead of negative in my calculations)
so total EFC should be $120.
This will help with 2 things:
maybe once all the negative numbers in the calculations go away, everything just works
or
EFC is unchanged with a reduction in 44f
Either of these outcomes should indicate that currently they are ignoring 44f.
IF EFC is unchanged with a reduction in 44f that would be ammunition when talking to finaid office.
If EFC goes up, then I dont know what it could be, but I cannot see how that could happen, as I currently believe the it is already assuming 44f equal zero in the calculations.
Maybe some of you think my relationship with my ex is too non-adversarial.
My current wife thinks the same thing! 
Don’t worry, I will come back and let everyone know the progress and outcome.
I don’t think you can make up a number to put on your FAFSA form. You have to put what was ON the W2 form.
Is there any chance your former spouse did an IRA or TSA rollover in 2016? Any chance?
It sounds like you are doing this to get $3000 or so in Pell Grant money…is that correct?
Read posts 10 and 13 again from Kelsmom. She completely understands how the FAFSA formula works…are is a financial aid officer at a college.
And again I ask…any chance your former spouse did a retirement rollover in 2016? Even a smallish one?
And your ex wasn’t a dislocated worker in 2016? If she made 1/2 as much that year, compared to other years.
No, my ex-wife and daughter give me access to their tax returns. no rollover
I dont know what a dislocated worker is, she did not have some license(it expired) to exercise her profession for part of the year.
yeah pell grant and any other aid like work study.
the made up number is an experiment to try to prove my hypothesis.
I understand #10 #13 from kelmom.
contribution from AI is large(~5500) when income = 16k
contribution from AI is negative when income = 6k
My daughter just informed that with the reduced coop number, the EFC i did not change. hmmm… that points more towards the fact that the number is being ignored.
next step is to put it back to what it really is, get that SAR and go talk to finaid dept.
keep ya’ll updated.
A dislocated worker is someone who was laid off from their job for one reason or another.
Was your wife let go from a job in 2016?
Could you please explain this? “Made up number”…what do you mean by that?
@thumper1, I think OP is playing with a calculator to see which categories are driving the EFC. If he put the coop earnings in as $0 and the EFC doesn’t change, some other entry is causing the EFC. But if the EFC fluctuates when he changes the coop amount, that line is affecting the EFC.
report 44f as $5400 instead of $10000 was the experiment.
wife was not let go of job, just temporarily suspended until license came through.
Yes I am playing with the spreadsheet posted.
I believe the custodial parent will need to go the the financial aid office…and/or the student.
The financial aid office is not going to give info about the FAFSA to the non-custodial parent.
Student going was the plan, especially considering she lives thousands of miles away.
@mommdc you asked this question earlier and I kinda brushed it off.
Could my ex-wife be considered a displaced homemaker?
Definition of Displaced Homemaker
A displaced homemaker is someone who satisfies all of the following criteria:
They provided unpaid servicers to family members in the home, such as a stay-at-home parent.
-> Yes this was true for 7 years long time ago. (marriage ended 12 years ago)
They ware supported by income from another family member but are no longer supported by that income.
-> Yes this was true for 7 years long time ago
They are unemployed or underemployed and are having difficulty obtaining or upgrading employment.
-> She was underemployed due to her licensing issue.
I know her recent underemployment is not directly related to the other 2 questions, but that is not how the 3 questions are posed.
As far as I know she was not laid off nor did she quit. She just earned less that year because of a licensing issue that prevented her from working for part of the year. So I dont think she could qualify for straight dislocated worker. But maybe she could also.
I am not sure, the displaced homemaker status I thought would be for a stay at home parent supported by a spouse and then the support from that spouse is no longer there, and the stay at home parent is unemployed or underemployed.
I also think this would need to apply at the time of FAFSA filing, and you said she was working again then.
Your D could reach out to the school’s financial aid office and find out if her mom’s temporary unemployment due to the licensing issue would qualify her for dislocated worker.