<p>In July, the NJ Higher Education Student Assistance Authority said that my NJ eligibility index number was 3440. At the time, the letter that had the eligibility index number on it said that my widowed mother's adjusted gross income was $0; her untaxed income was $10,092; and her net assets were incorrectly assumed by HESAA to be $85K. I received $6148 in grants.</p>
<p>Because HESAA messed up my mom's net assets, I had to send in all her bank statements saying she had only about $60K as of the day I submitted my FAFSA.</p>
<p>Today, I got a new letter saying that although my mother's adjusted gross income is still $0; her untaxed income is $10,092; and her net assets are now CORRECTLY around 60K, my NJ eligibility index is somehow 4722 and I'm going to be receiving only $4624 in grants.</p>
<p>That's over $1524 less than when they had reported my mom's net assets higher than it really was!</p>
<p>The only other things that HESAA indicates they look at when determining my fin aid is my family size, the # in college, and dependency status. None of those have changed. The only thing I changed was the correction made to my mom's net assets. This is so bizarre.</p>
<p>How is this possible? Is there something I'm missing here?</p>
<p>I'm going to call HESAA and find out tomorrow, but they always take over an hour for a rep to pick up the phone. The last time I called them, the rep I was speaking to meant to put me on hold so she can ask her supervisor a question but she hung up on me on purpose so I had to call back and wait another hour for someone to pick up. It's very frustrating.</p>
<p>I hope someone out on this site can shed some light on this in the meantime. I'm sooooo worried and very confused. Thanks in advance!</p>