Hello:
Seeking collective wisdom for the totally unexpected EFC we received for a whopping $90,000. Our income is mid 100s and the only other real asset is a property we inherited that we share with my sisters. We don’t earn any income from it, but it is valued at @300,000 (so my share is @100,000). Is that enough to explain that huge of an EFC? If so, we’re screwed!
Yes, it is. Sorry.
did you perhaps put an extra 0 on that 100,000 – and have it valued at 1,000,000?
that is really high; seems off (coming from someone with similar numbers – and a $38K EFC) . . . . NOT an expert here; just my two cents.
It would seem that you may have entered the full value of the property as being your own. as @bgbg4us proposed. At the regular conversion rate of 0.12, your assets should only add $12,000 to your annual income. If EFC is about 47% of annual income after taxes, a 90,000 EFC would require a salary of almost $180,000 AFTER taxes. However, if you entered another amount, like the full value of the property, or another error, you could come out with that high an EFC. As it is, your EFC should be somewhere in the $45,000-$55,000 range, depending on your state, how much income tax you pay, etc, unless you kid is making a bunch of money.
Thank you–SO helpful!
Assets don’t add to your income. They are added as ASSETS on the financial aid forms. So $100,000 in assets would add $5600 to the FAFSA EFC for this family…if entered correctly!!
With mid $100,000 income…let’s say $150,000…the FAFSA EFC would likely be in the $40,000-$50,000 or so range. Does that income of $150,000 include your contributions to tax deferrred retirement accounts for you and your spouse in 2017? That could add $40,000 or more to your income.
Any chance you did a retirement rollover in 2017?
Did you use the IRS Data Retrieval tool…or did you manually enter your incomes and taxes paid. If you entered manually…check your entries for errors!
Clarify and maybe someone can help you.
@thumper1 That should have been that “it’s like adding 12,000 to your income”, which would, as you write, add $5,600 to EFC (assuming 47%). It does not, however, change the result.