<p>hi,
i just got back our efc for this year (my daughter is now a freshman and will be a sophomore next year. last year our efc was 5600 this year it says 7600. our income went up $3000 and hers went up $2000. It seems high for the efc to jump up $2000 just because of an additon $5000 in income. i am hoping we dont lose our state grants or subsidized loans. does anyone know if we will? the only other thing i can think of was we did get a lifetime learning credit of $1680 on our taxes. would this affect our aid?? we have very little savings and my daughter has none.<br>
kim</p>
<p>Her income could be part of it depending on what other income she has. Student protected income is a little over $3000 and anything over that 50% goes to the EFC. So if she was already over the protected income level then a $2000 increase in her income would increase the EFC by 1000 (assuming it is not WS which should not affect the EFC).</p>
<p>The 3000 increase in your income will increase your EFC. The amount depends on your total income. Parents have a higher protected income and it depends on number in family, students in college etc. Over the protected income it varies from 22% to 47% depending on income levels.</p>
<p>Hope tax credit should not affect it. It does reduce your taxes but is offset on worksheet C.</p>
<p>That makes sense -- the +$3000 for you would typically mean an increase of about $1300 -- and the +$2000 for her could easily account for the rest, since her non-protected income is assessed at about 50%. If she had some extra in the bank at the time of doing the FAFSA that could also make a big difference.</p>
<p>I hear you, though... my income is a lot higher on paper this year than last, as is my daughter's -- so I'm expecting very unpleasant news with the FAFSA.</p>