<p>I live with my mom who is single with 4 kids, rents a house.
I did my fasfa and we had to estimate the amount of income she made for last year. My EFC turned out to be 0016* which I'm told is really good because I am eligible for a pell grant. First off is this true? and what are my chances?</p>
<p>And our income was an estimate, so lets say she made closer to 40,000 last year, is this going to greatly change my efc?</p>
<p>All help is appreciated!</p>
<p>First, it would be a good idea to get the taxes done and get a hard number for your EFC. What did you estimate for income? I would think that with what little you’ve described, your EFC will still be very low. That means Pell Grant and all the things that go with it. Be warned that there are few schools where just a Pell is going to make going to school easy, but get a solid number in that FAFSA and go from there. Are you going to be a college freshman somewhere in the fall?</p>
<p>I’m a sophmore and this would be my first semester with aid.
I never got any, and trust me it SUCKS! lol</p>
<p>My mom estimated 33,000. She says it cant be and more than 40,000 with all her deductions. </p>
<p>And shes getting the taxes done asap.</p>
<p>Any one? I need some major help here.</p>
<p>First of all if there is a star by your EFC (as you’ve typed it here) I believe that means you’ve been selected for verification. The school will contact you for tax and W-2 forms in order to verify your EFC. </p>
<p>Sounds like you’d get a Pell Grant close to the max of $2300 per semester. </p>
<p>Also you can use the FAFSA forecater to play with the numbers … try sticking in $40,000 and see how your EFC changes.
[FAFSA4caster</a> - U.S. Department of Education](<a href=“http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/]FAFSA4caster”>http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/)</p>
<p>I’m not really an expert on this stuff … anyone else?</p>
<p>The Collegeboard.com estimator is the best one for FAFSA this year.</p>
<p>What happened that you did not qualify for aid last year but you do now for almost the max Pell (which is $5350/yr) this year?</p>
<p>Again, your mother needs to do her taxes and follow the steps in the FAFSA site correctly. Your deductions really don’t matter. It is the adjusted gross income. There is an allowance for some things like FICA, actual taxes paid, a tax allowance for your state, etc that are calculated or entered. Non taxable income, like 401k contributions and child support are assessed in the FAFSA. So make sure you are following the instructions correctly. </p>
<p>Best bet is to get the taxes finished and see if your FA office has a FAFSA help day or they will take you in by appointment. You need verification anyway, and some schools offer this as a service. You do not want to have incorrect data in your FAFSA, it will just lead to headaches later.</p>
<p>I lived with my father last year, that is why I did not qualify. He refuses to help, so I moved and now I qualify.</p>
<p>Could you see my EFC changing that much? I mean the max she coulda made is 40, which she is saying its probably much less. </p>
<p>The taxes are in the process of being done, I just need to hear something that will ease my mind or give me hope, since i have struggled the past two years to pay for my school.</p>
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<p>You do know the AGI (adjusted gross income) that you report on FAFSA is not the figure after all deductions right? It is the figure from a line on the tax return *before *most deductions. </p>
<p>If you showed $33k as income on FAFSA and it is actually higher then your EFC will be higher. How much higher depends on the actual income (before deductions).</p>
<p>She is a real estate agent, so she gets a lot deducted for her own business.
Does this not count?</p>
<p>eithe way she still didnt make that much, plus she has 4 kids.</p>
<p>It’s really hard for anyone to tell you for sure. You have the “best guess” anyone can give right now by having filed estimates. Now you will have to get mom to move it on her taxes — if you miss your school’s priority filing date, you might miss out on grants that you could have received had you filed on time. Get the actual figures in & then you’ll know for sure.</p>
<p>Yeah I know. For summer classes my school is putting my account on hold so when fin aid pays up (if they do) my classes will be paid for. But its just stressful thinking about this! Its driving me nuts.</p>
<p>She is an independing contractor so after deductions she makes very little. Thats why I was asking if they take deductions into account.</p>
<p>As Kelsmom says, hard to tell until she gets the taxes filed. I was thinking more of deductions like itemized deductions and standardized deductions, I don’t know anything about self employed and business deductions but hopefully they will count. The sooner she can get it completed the better though. There are several types of aid out there that are limited so filing before they run out is important. Good luck.</p>
<p>Hopefully they take that into account, or I’m screwed!</p>
<p>The way they make this aid thing work is pretty ridiculous sometimes.</p>
<p>PROBLEM SOLVED =D</p>
<p>Just called the tax guy and the Adjusted Gross Income is AFTER her self employment deductions.</p>
<p>Good news. Sorry I scared you for nothing.</p>
<p>Income is wages from a W2, business income, and farm income. You’ll see the 1040 line for business income listed on the FAFSA when you go to fill it in.</p>
<p>haha its okay, atleast we know now. But that is just with self employed people, if it were reg deductions it would’t count.</p>