<p>1) If my husband and I have filed our 2011 return jointly, how do we determine our separate incomes for 2011? FAFSA wants us to answer these questions by adding up lines 7, 12, and 18:</p>
<p>"How much did you earn from working (wages, salaries, tips, etc.) in 2011?"
"How much did your spouse earn from working (wages, salaries, tips, etc.) in 2011?"</p>
<p>How can we do that if we filed jointly? Do we put the amounts from our W2's that have not been adjusted to reflect costs/living expenses as demonstrated on the 1040?</p>
<p>2) My husband and I both had 2 part time jobs in 2011, and we each lost a part time position. Does this make us dislocated workers? We still have another part time job each, and thus are not receiving unemployment benefits of any sort.</p>
<p>Please help. So confused and my financial aid office is not getting back to me with these questions.</p>
<p>Income from work for you and your husband should total the amount on line 7 of your 1040 (plus line 12, if you have anything on that line). If all your income is on line 7, your W2’s should total that amount … so add up your W2 income on line 7, add up your husband’s W2 income on line 7, and report it.</p>
<p>Did either of you have full time jobs in the past? Is there a reason you had part time, rather than full time, jobs? I am not asking this to be mean, but to get the necessary information to answer your dislocated worker question.</p>
<p>Thats the confusing part… our income from W2’s totals something like 14000 for me, 11000 for him, but on line 7 it is 12,500 or something like that. that’s why i’m confused. we did get the earned income tax credit. so maybe that’s why it’s lower. but i just don’t know how to accurately report our separate adjusted incomes given this number…</p>
<p>we both couldn’t get full time hours from our primary jobs. they would only give us 15-30. So we had other part time gigs, both of which were lost due to the economic downturn.</p>
<p>Line 7 is supposed to be the total of wages from all your W2 forms (unless you filled out a 1040EZ, in which case it is line 1, not line 7). Something is wrong if your wages total more than what you reported.</p>
<p>You did get laid off, in which case you would be dislocated workers. Note that it doesn’t really make much difference in the EFC. It allows an automatic 0 EFC if you meet the other criteria (you would have to have children to qualify), and it would allow assets to be ignored if you have income under $50,000 - but you probably don’t have a lot of assets, anyway, if you have been underemployed.</p>
<p>I have to clarify about “dislocated worker.” It is a narrow definition, but part of it says “laid off.” You are not completely laid off, so you probably are not technically a dislocated worker. As I said, it most likely makes no difference to your EFC, anyway, so you may not want to check that box.</p>
<p>However, in addition to dislocated worker allowing you the 0 EFC or simplified needs formulas, you can also qualify if you are eligible to file a 1040A or 1040EZ. Were you? If so, it doesn’t matter whether or not you check the dislocated worker box.</p>