<p>So, I don't know if this a question, or a rant :) but, I'm in the position where I received a one time $15K bonus in 2012 that won't be repeated in 2013, and a child with disabilities that we started paying for additional services oop this year (will total about $14K in 2013). So, we are effectively down $29K this year over last year in available income (a significant double-digit percentage loss) - and obviously this wasn't reflected in our FAFSA filing. However, I sent all documentation to every school in advance back in Jan, and again in March with copies and explanations of everything. When you look at what this would do to our EFC on FAFSA it is about a $12K difference in EFC.</p>
<p>UVA FA basically said "sorry" to me when I called to discuss. They use the filed FAFSA EFC number based on last year, this year doesn't matter and they'll adjust next year - I could appeal, but appeals will only adjust your aid if your adjustment makes you fall below $5K EFC, even though your aid would have been different using the adjusted EFC originally. Makes no sense to me and obviously doesn't help us pay for this year - which is what we will need to pay for now.</p>
<p>However, oddly enough, I was notified by FAFSA that another school went in and changed my FAFSA (who knew a school can do that?) to reflect the 2013 decreased numbers and generate a new EFC (which shows the $12K decrease). They have told me they are preparing a new aid offer based on that.</p>
<p>So... this brings a few questions to mind:
1. Are we truly stuck with UVa's original package with no room for adjustment - even though it appears other schools will look at the 2013 picture? UVa is the first choice school, but $12K is a large difference. Is it worth continuing to pursue a discussion with UVa FA on this, or is it pointless frustration?
2. We could probably swallow the difference at UVa for a year if we knew that next year would truly be adjusted to a newer FAFSA number. But, I'm worried this year sets a baseline precedent for following years. Which is true?</p>
<p>Of course, regardless of the financial details, I'm still stunned that a school can go in and change your FAFSA on their own without your knowledge - and it says "SIGNED by student and parent", which it obviously was not.</p>
<p>wow this is very weird, never heard of anything like it. uva guarantees to meet 100% demonstrated need, seems very strange they would not accurately reflect your need. How much is your time and your child’s first choice school worth basically? Make some more calls and appeal to highest person who will listen. At worst you wasted a few more hours and nothing has changed, at best kid gets to go to UVA. Good luck. Not sure about your other questions maybe some others can chime in.</p>
<p>I second what Hazelorb told you. We had a major change in our income a year ago. UVA worked with us. The financial aid office asked for so much documentation but in the end it worked out. I would think a one time bonus that doesn’t repeat is the same as a permanent lower income. Since UVA is your son’s first choice, I would suggest you pursue this.</p>
<p>@hazelorb, Thanks. The way they stated it to me was (I’m paraphrasing, but close): “We base your 2013-2014 need and aid on 2012 reported income, period - it doesn’t matter what your 2013 income is/will be, we won’t take that into consideration until the 2014-2015 year. Your only option would be a formal appeal in August and no additional aid would be awarded unless your EFC is proven to drop to under $5K and you could then get a Pell grant.” When I asked if simply a lower EFC (not the $5K level) would have caused a larger grant package originally, I was told “Yes, it would not have been restricted by the limits as an appeal is.” Obviously the problem for us is that this first year will be very hard to handle without significant extra private loan debt while we wait and hope for an adjustment next year. </p>
<p>I understand that they want accurate figures - so people can’t just claim “I’m going to make less this year, really.” But I have the documentation on all of this, and already sent it in, to no avail. Have tried to talk to someone “higher” as you mention, but have really just been pushed back to FA “counselors” who provide the same information. </p>
<p>Of course we all know the financial piece is just one part of a college decision - but it’s still an important one. My other kids would love to eat while their big brother is away at school :)</p>
<p>I agree (?) with you - if they do not adjust the financial aid then it is a VERY MAJOR part of the decision and it sounds like your child should not attend if they cannot adjust.</p>
<p>Well, I wasn’t saying it was the deciding factor. It’s right at that borderline place - somewhere between uncomfortable and “ouch!” (Makes my think of a Bing/Danny scene in White Christmas). Nothing’s perfect in life, and nothing is free. My frustration here has just been on the logic, which I can’t tell if it’s etched in stone or a first-line story. It’s been a long time since I was in school, and this is our first run-through in modern times. So, there are good things and there are bad. I’ve always wanted to help my kids have better opportunities than I had (that could be a long discussion) and they are responsible and cost-conscious. UVa wouldn’t be on the list if it hadn’t been in the “doable with anticipated aid” group - I just don’t want to pay more than it should be, if it should be less. OOS costs are already not cheap (anywhere), even with a good aid package.</p>
<p>So, I have to ask this: does anyone know of someone in FA who would really be a good person to talk to about this? I’ve looked at the contact page linked below, but don’t who the right person might be. If it’s someone too high they won’t email back, and if it’s someone without any real authority I just get shuffled around to the “counselors” who all go by only a first name, with no direct contact info, and all provide the same stock reply, which makes me think they really don’t have the ability to review anything. Finding the right person to talk to seems to be quite a challenge.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth - we had our FAFSA updated two times this year by a school. I was also very surprised they can do that - I always assumed if there was a mistake, they would contact us. The second time (just yesterday) was a mistkae I made, and they caught it after verification. But, they changed the FAFSA and it raised our EFC by over $3000. It would have been nice to have a heads up from them. I had no idea what change was made - just got an email stating a new FAFSA had been processed with changes from a school. I don’t know which school made the changes - my guess is UVA but I’m not sure. Regardless, I had to print out the old FAFSA and the new one to figure out what they changed that caused our EFC to go up.</p>
<p>I have a question though - I thought UVA used the CSS, not so much the FAFSA EFC. Just curious, as we’re still waiting for our aid package.</p>
<p>In answer to a question above, the Fafsa must be used for federal aid and loans. UVa uses the Profile for entering students for UVa aid, and then uses a simplified form of its own for the following years to supplement the fafsa</p>
<p>CSS was completed very early in the game back in November (before taxes and other information was available), and it also cannot be updated once it’s filed - so it seems odd that it would be used as the authoritative basis of final FA awards.</p>
<p>I just updated our CSS this past week. You have to update it at the school level - through the Financial Aid office. I spoke with someone in financial aid at UVA and they told me what I needed to do. You print out the completed CSS. Write in your corrections next to where they go. I highlighted the changes also. We were visiting so I dropped it off in person - but you can also mail and fax. It was returned to me as my son and I needed to sign it. We signed, faxed it back to them and they told me they would update the changes.</p>
<p>Thanks ljrfrm. When you say “at the school level” what exactly do you mean? And, can I ask: did you talk to someone in particular? I have not been given this information at all, so I certainly want to get this in as well. And, were your changes to your actual 2012 numbers or for expected 2013 numbers? Did they indicate it may change your aid? Thanks.</p>
<p>I also received a letter today from my company’s HR VP stating that $15K I received in early 2012 was a one time discretionary payment (for 2011) that will not be repeated - and I’d like to get that to someone who might actually care or be able to do something about it if possible (because they’ve counted that as ongoing income) :)</p>
<p>I didn’t speak to anyone in particular - I just told them I had a question regarding a change to the CSS and they transfered me to someone. My changes didn’t have to do with 2012 tax return numbers - but they also didn’t ask what my changes were which makes me wonder if it matters. We hadn’t received our FA award yet - as our FAFSA had to be verified and I returned the CSS corrections with all the verification papers. So maybe that timing makes a difference. As I mentioned above, I don’t have any experience with the CSS so I’m certainly no expert - but it might be worth a try.</p>
<p>Well, just went back and looked at my CSS Profile (thanks for making me do that - I was hung up on FAFSA). It looks like not only did I not appropriately reduce the income in the 2013 Expected Income area (didn’t know it at the time), but I also appear to have double-counted the untaxable income amounts of 401K & HSA - included it as both “untaxable” in field PF-115A and included that same amount in the total of the “wages” value of field PF-100A. But I believe PF-100A is supposed to be AGI which excludes the tax deferred income. So I’m showing about $20K more than I should have. There are several words which come to mind, but none of them are appropriate for the forum…</p>
<p>I would recommend that you print out the CSS, make your corrections, sign it along with your child (they will return it if it’s not signed) - and send it in immediately along with your letter from your employer. I would fax them all in immediately. I don’t know their policy for updating award offers, others may know that better as I’m new to UVA. But, it can’t hurt to get them the documents - it can only help. Good luck.</p>
<p>With a job loss at the beginning of 2012 we had a huge drop in income. There is no spot on the FAFSA form to input this information. When my husband and I called the 3 colleges that our children were attending, each asked for different forms of written information. UVA basically wanted a signed letter from my husband with the details and a copy of his last pay stub along with a letter from his previous employer that he was laid off. Honestly there was not a lot of movement in the EFC from UVA. But one of the biggest reasons is probably because our son who is at UVA had significant income from jobs on campus and summer employment. Additionally, we are in state residents. </p>
<p>It was difficult to reach a live person at the UVA financial aid office but when we did get through, we found them helpful with explaining details of what they wanted but they were not forth coming with any estimates of EFC. I would suggest calling the financial aid office back and telling them you have changes to your CSS profile. FAX the changes to them and tell them you need them to rush it through before decisions are due on May 1. Hopefully, you can light a fire under them. </p>
<p>Your EFC for your son’s 2nd year at UVA should definitely drop with income adjustments. We saw our EFC change every year as our family situation changed. This included a younger child starting college in 2011 (the one year we had 3 in college) as well as the overall permanent change in income which hit us in January 2012.</p>
<p>Good luck with all of this. Certainly hope you can make UVA work for your son since it is his first choice.</p>
<p>ljrfm, wirefox: UVa has 3 different “levels” of financial aid staff: administrators, advisors, and counselors. Do you recall which level staff you actually talked to who could make decisions or changes with you? I believe the counselors are just there to help you understand the details of the things that “are” but have no ability to do anything about an issue you may have - kind of like first line technical support. I haven’t been able get past that yet. </p>
<p>And, again, thank you all for all of the information you share here. I have to say, the UVa forum here is one of the most helpful, and with actual targeted questions and answers, of any of the boards I watch - at least from a parent’s perspective.</p>
<p>Hi,
I’m sorry, I don’t know exactly who I spoke with. I initially spoke with the person who answered, explained my question and they passed me on to someone else. I don’t know what level that person was. If I were you, I’d Fax in the changes first thing tomorrow, and then call after to ensure the changes arrived and were logged in to your account. Sorry I can’t give you any more information - I have a lot of experience dealing with my older S financial aid office - but this is my first experience with UVA. Good luck.</p>
<p>Probably spoke to a counselor. To be honest I don’t know. However, neither my husband nor I ever asked to speak to someone with more knowledge or higher up. We were only asking what we needed to fax to them to show the change in income. I will say however, the financial aid office at UVA moves at a snail’s pace. We were told last year after faxing in all additional forms and information that we would hear what the financial aid package was in the summer of 2012. (I think we were told it would be July 1, 2012.) In any event, my son had already started his 3rd year before we received the information. I think it came near the end of this past October. This after many phone calls.</p>
<p>I know this doesn’t work for you but our son made numerous trips to the financial aid office last summer because he was at UVA working in the E-school. There was never a sense of urgency in regards to financial aid. Fortunately for us, it wasn’t a case of him not being able to return to school but it was frustrating.</p>
<p>I would fax everything UVA wants like ljrfrm suggested. Also call them to make sure they received it. That was another issue that was frustrating. We would call a day or two after faxing something (that was request by UVA) and get told it had not been received. Also had two times when we faxed numerous pages and one or two pages would go missing although we would have confirmation of a successful transmission. That was real fun because no one would notify us. It was our son who would find out after making a trip to the financial aid office.</p>