<p>alright guys heres the thing that im facing...my parents are married and only one works, i have 2 little brothers that are age 2, my 1 working parent makes less then $40,000 a year, i work and make $10,000-$11,000 a year, i file my taxes separetly from my parents(they dont claim me)...but when i fill out my fafsa i still have to claim their income because im under 24 or whatever so im considered a dependent...but heres the thing....my parents dont contribute any money to my college, they barely make it through with the payments they have to make(car, house, etc) and paying for the stuff for my brothers(diapers, milk, all that crap) so i pay for all of my college out of my own pocket, my EFC last year was like $5,000 which is roughly half of my income...is there anything that i can do to make it so that im not considered a dependent or what? i mean its kinda rediculous that i have to account for my parents income when they dont contribute anything because they really cant...im having a hard time paying for it on my own..paying half of my yearly earnings for tuition for a year is really hard when i have bills to pay every month....is there any help?!</p>
<p>Nothing you can do about the dependent thing. Last year has passed, and you didn't reach age 24 or get married last year, so you're a dependent.</p>
<p>That said-- there are probably some things you can do to reduce your EFC if you haven't filed FAFSA yet.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If both you and parents can file '05 taxes using short form, you might qualify for the simplified needs test, which will drop EFC to 0 for anyone making less than 50K per year (assets aren't counted). Check on this-</p></li>
<li><p>Since you work-- your work income is raising your EFC and hurting your financial aid prospects. Nothing you can do about that now-- but your (student's) assets also severely raise your EFC and hurt your financial aid prospects. Check and see what you put down last year for student assets (remember, there is no asset allowance for students like there is for parents). If you put down, for example, $8,000 (funds in checking or savings or savings bonds), then this incresed your EFC by $2,800 (.35 X $8,000),, and reduced your aid by the same amount.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So, in this hypothetical example, if you had some expenses you were considering paying, or purchases you were considering making (buying a car, let's say), buy it from your assets before you complete the FAFSA. That will greatly reduce your EFC, and increase your aid.</p>
<p>More on the simplified needs test here:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.finaid.org/educators/needs.phtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.finaid.org/educators/needs.phtml</a></p>
<p>Yous sound like a good candidate for this. You probably already file short form, check and see whether your parents are willing to do the same this year (if they've been filing long form, it may make sense to file short form in order to increase your financial aid this year).</p>
<p>Just to clarify: a familys EFC is the sum of a percentage of four factors: parents income, students income, parents assets and student assets. Under the simplified needs test, if the parents AGI (adjusted gross income) is under 50K and the parents use a short form (1040A or 1040EZ), then two of the factors (parents assets and student assets) will not be used when your EFC is calculated. So, although it appears that your family may meet the simplified needs test (assuming they file short forms), meeting the test will not drop your EFC to 0. It only eliminates the parents assets and student assets from the EFC determination.</p>
<p>Sblake is right about your income hurting your financial aid. As to your income, you state that you made 10-11K. Under the federal methodology (FAFSA), approximately the first $2700 will be excluded when you EFC is determined. Unfortunately, the remaining amount you earned will be assessed at a 50% rate. As to your parents, you state that they made less than 40K and it appears you are a family of 5. Under FAFSA, approximately the first 26K of your parents income will be excluded when your EFC is determined (Income Protection Allowance), leaving around 14K. Of this 14K, your parents would be expected to contribute approximately $3K. So if your parents meet the simplified needs tests and assets are out of the equation, Ill guess that your EFC is around $7K. </p>
<p>Make sure you take every tax deduction and tax credit that you can. See if you can get work study as money earned from work study doesnt count against you in determining aid. Also have you and your parents make a list of every expense that you have and send it to the financial aid office. Assuming that your parents and your expenses are for food, housing, clothing and not for things like credit cards, or vacations, a FAO has the power to make adjustments to an aid package under a special circumstance situation. Good luck.</p>
<p>I stand corrected-- Jugularor10 is correct-- Simplified Needs Test will allow you to exclude Parent and Student assets from assessment, but not income. I'll paste more about it below, along with a link to the source.</p>
<hr>
<p>(from Princeton Review Online)
<a href="http://www.princetonreview.com/college/finance/articles/save/aidandtax.asp%5B/url%5D">http://www.princetonreview.com/college/finance/articles/save/aidandtax.asp</a>
By filing one of the short forms, and meeting certain other requirements, you may be able to have all of your assets excluded from the federal financial aid formulas, which could qualify you for increased federal aid. This is a relatively new middle class financial aid loophole known as the "Simplified Needs Test." Here's the way it works: If the parents have adjusted gross income below $50,000, have income earned from work (i.e. wages reported on a W-2) below $50,000, and everyone in your family who must file a tax return uses the 1040EZ or the 1040A form (or doesn't file at all) then all your family's assets will be excluded from the federal financial aid formulas. This means that eligibility for the Pell Grant and the subsidized Stafford loans will be determined without regard to how much money you have in the bank or your brokerage accounts.</p>
<p>It can also be vital to parents with large assets, but little real earned income. You can have $49,999 of interest income, and still possibly meet the simplified needs test -- in which case even assets of several million dollars will not be used in calculating your EFC. This can be particularly vital to parents with income below $40,000 but who have significant assets because they now may be able to qualify for the Pell Grant, which is free money that does not have to be paid back. Of course, many colleges use the institutional methodology (which does not utilize the simplified needs test) in awarding their own grant money. They may also insist that assets be used to determine eligibility for certain federally funded campus-based aid programs</p>
<p>thanks for the help i really appreciate the responses..</p>
<p>our assets themselves arent as much a problem as just the money made, we have next to nothing in our checking accounts(100$) at most so the simplified needs thing isnt a big deal since it only the assets it doesnt count...</p>
<p>as for making a list for my FAO im not real keen on that idea because the ladies in the office are far from friendly, i emailed one of them once to talk about my bill and they were absolutly no help, they basically said tough $h!t...</p>
<p>i guess ill just have to keep saving my pennies during the year and not spending it on anything much...just hope my car doesnt die! :-)</p>
<p>thanks again for the help</p>
<p>Bottom line is that your parent's income is having little impact on your EFC. It's that $11,000 you're earning that is driving it. That is very high for any student. On the one hand, I'm impressed. On the other hand, ouch.</p>
<p>cdodge04 -- do you live with your parents for any part of the year?</p>
<p>if not, got to your financial aid officer at your school, explain the situation (and emphasize that it can be documented for the past year) and see if there is an option.</p>
<p>in rare cases, students under 24 have been declared independent -- usually student in cases like yours, where no support has been provided already for a period of time, student works significantly and all can be documented. You have to be careful about making sure the FA officer understands that this has been the case for the past year and will continue.</p>
<p>It is worth you while to spend some time at the FA office and see if you can get some help.</p>