I know FAFSA is based of off 2019 Taxes. I have had my salary reduced 25% due to CoVid
issues within my industry. How would I reflect that on the upcoming FAFSA application?
We are new to this, first child headed off to college in Fall of 2021 (hopefully!). Any advice would be appreciated.
You re correct in that the 2021-2022 FAFSA will use 2019 income. There is no way to reflect that on the FAFSA form.
You would have to ask for a special circumstances consideration or professional judgement from each college in order for an income reduction to be considered.
So…get everything in order in case you need to do so. You will need written documentation of the income reduction.
Keep in mind, these special circumstances considerations are not required to be done at all. Some colleges will do them. And some won’t. In addition, they are done on a case by case basis.
There are thousands upon thousands of families like yours where incomes have been reduced, or even totally lost. I’m not sure how colleges will handle these requests when so many families are similarly challenged.
Also, if your kid’s college doesn’t guarantee to meet full need for all, your reduced income might not net you additional aid anyway.
Thank you very much for the info!
My daughter’s school was receptive when we asked for special consideration. We didn’t get a ton more, but it was several thousand a year, and that helped a lot. It was through talking to the FA office that I learned about a music scholarship for non-music majors - she got free jazz piano lessons and a yearly stipend. I wouldn’t have found out about that if we hadn’t asked for more assistance.
Earlier this week I spoke to a FA officer at a school that meets full need. He said that, although I would need to use 2019 for the FAFSA and CSS forms, they have an appeal process in place and its very rare that they aren’t able to make things work out. My son will apply ED to this school and I’m confident that it will be affordable.